Best PlacesHot Springs, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Hot Springs metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Fetchcomms, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Hot Springs ranks 352nd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on biking and empty homes. It does better on tree cover, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Hot Springs metro
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Hot Springs
The towns and districts of the Hot Springs metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Pearcy & Rockwell
More households have young kids, it is quieter, and more residents vote.
Hot Springs Village
Tree cover is thicker, though heat risk is higher.
Downtown Hot Springs
Commutes are shorter, though crime runs higher.
Piney & Royal
Homes cost less, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Scores across Hot Springs run from about the 2nd to the 81st percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Hot Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Hot Springs ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Tree cover is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. Low property taxes and state finances follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: biking, empty homes, and health outcomes all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Hot Springs ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$671 a month, better than 83% of metro areas
- Short commute21.4 minutes each way, better than 72% of metro areas
Where Hot Springs ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Hot Springs
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hot Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,663, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Hot Springs' effective rate of 0.49%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hot Springs
Hot Springs runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hot Springs.
Who works in Hot Springs, and how
Work in Hot Springs centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Hot Springs
Hot Springs has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hot Springs and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Hot Springs growing, and who is moving in?
Hot Springs has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Little Rock, AR.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Hot Springs go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Hot Springs, month by month
Hot Springs sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 43° | 34° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 53° |
| July | 93° | 83° | 74° |
| October | 78° | 65° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Hot Springs
The nearest airport, Memorial Field, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 179 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hot Springs
Schools across Hot Springs average a C+, better than 41% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Park Magnet An Ib Pyp World Class SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Lakeside Intermediate SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Lake Hamilton Elementary SchB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bismarck Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Lakeside Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Fountain Lake Middle School Cobra Digital Prep AcademyB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Bismarck High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Lakeside High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Lake Hamilton High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hot Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hot Springs measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Hot Springs against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Hot Springs suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Hot Springs
Is Hot Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hot Springs ranks 352nd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on tree cover, low property taxes, and state finances, and lowest on biking and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hot Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $201,544. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $63,663 median income, cost of living beats 11% of metro areas.
Is Hot Springs safe?
Hot Springs is safer than 34% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $576 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hot Springs?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 54 with lows near 34. That works out to about 84 pleasant days a year, more than 46% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Hot Springs?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Pearcy & Rockwell, Hot Springs Village, and Downtown Hot Springs. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Hot Springs good for families?
Schools beat 41% of metro areas, crime safety beats 34%, and childcare runs $671 a month.
Is Hot Springs good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 11% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 38% of metro areas. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Hot Springs with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hot Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hot Springs represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Hot Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hot Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hot Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hot Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hot Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hot Springs detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.