Best PlacesLacey, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lacey, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lacey ranks 42,360th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lacey
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.
Lacey's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lacey ranks high
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 83% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 80% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 72% of towns
Where Lacey ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 8% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lacey
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lacey home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,645, 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 Lacey's effective rate of 0.45%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Lacey
Lacey runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lacey.
Who works in Lacey, and how
Work in Lacey centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Lacey
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lacey.
What the weather is like in Lacey, month by month
Lacey sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 45° | 36° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 79° | 66° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Lacey
The nearest airport, Greenville Mid-Delta, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 154 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lacey
Schools across Lacey average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Drew Central Elem. SchoolD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hamburg Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Drew Central Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Hamburg High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Drew Central High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lacey school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lacey 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 Lacey against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lacey
Is Lacey a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lacey ranks 42,360th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state finances, and low property taxes, and lowest on internet speeds and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lacey expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $210,500. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $62,645 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Lacey safe?
Yes, Lacey is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $383 per resident a year.
Compare Lacey with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lacey. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lacey 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.
Lacey detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lacey: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lacey: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lacey: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lacey: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lacey 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.
- 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.