Best PlacesJonesboro, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Jonesboro 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 Mlnail, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Jonesboro ranks 330th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on noise and civic engagement. It does better on a stable housing market, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Jonesboro 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 Jonesboro
The towns and districts of the Jonesboro 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.
Downtown Jonesboro
Heat risk is lower and more adults hold degrees.
Lake City
It is quieter, though tree cover is thinner.
Bay
Local pay stretches less far and incomes run lower.
Bono
Fewer homes sit empty and more households have young kids.
Harrisburg
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Trumann, Marked Tree & Lepanto
Crime runs higher and disaster risk is higher.
Scores across Jonesboro run from about the 3rd to the 87th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Jonesboro's strengths and weaknesses
Jonesboro ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. A stable housing market, state finances, and low property taxes carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: noise, civic engagement, and low incomes all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Jonesboro ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 85% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$671 a month, better than 83% of metro areas
- Short commute20.3 minutes each way, better than 82% of metro areas
Where Jonesboro ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 11% of metro areas
- Household income$65,554 median, better than only 11% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 15% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 15% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Jonesboro
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jonesboro home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,554, 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 Jonesboro's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Jonesboro
Jonesboro runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Jonesboro.
Who works in Jonesboro, and how
Work in Jonesboro centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Jonesboro
Jonesboro has less parkland per resident than most metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 74% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Jonesboro and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Jonesboro growing, and who is moving in?
Jonesboro has grown about 9% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Little Rock, AR.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Jonesboro go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Jonesboro, month by month
Jonesboro sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 39° | 32° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 52° |
| July | 92° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Jonesboro
Memphis International sits about 68 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.4 million passengers in 2025, with 78 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Jonesboro
Schools across Jonesboro average a C, better than 19% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Weiner ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Valley View Intermediate SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- International Studies MagnetB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Valley View Junior High SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Brookland Junior High SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Westside Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Valley View High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Bay High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Greene Co. Tech High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jonesboro school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jonesboro 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 Jonesboro against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Jonesboro suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Jonesboro
Is Jonesboro a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jonesboro ranks 330th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on a stable housing market, state finances, and low property taxes, and lowest on noise and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Jonesboro expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $194,344. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $65,554 median income, cost of living beats 34% of metro areas.
Is Jonesboro safe?
Jonesboro is safer than 42% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $545 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Jonesboro?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 32. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 19% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Jonesboro?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Downtown Jonesboro, Lake City, and Bay. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Jonesboro good for families?
Schools beat 19% of metro areas, crime safety beats 42%, and childcare runs $671 a month.
Is Jonesboro good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 34% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 64% of metro areas. About 7% of workers already work from home.
Compare Jonesboro with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jonesboro. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jonesboro 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.
Jonesboro detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jonesboro: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jonesboro: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jonesboro: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jonesboro: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jonesboro 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.