Best PlacesLafe, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lafe, 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.
Lafe ranks 32,872nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lafe
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.
Lafe's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lafe ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Lafe ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 14% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Household income$57,073 median, better than only 22% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lafe
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lafe home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,073, 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 Lafe's effective rate of 0.25%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lafe
Lafe runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lafe.
Who works in Lafe, and how
Work in Lafe centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Lafe
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lafe.
What the weather is like in Lafe, month by month
Lafe sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 38° | 31° |
| April | 72° | 60° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Lafe
Memphis International sits about 85 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 Lafe
Schools across Lafe average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Park Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Marmaduke Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Rector Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oak Grove Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Marmaduke High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Paragould High SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Greene Co. Tech High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lafe school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lafe 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 Lafe against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lafe
Is Lafe a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lafe ranks 32,872nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and a stable housing market, and lowest on civic engagement and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lafe expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $107,507. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $57,073 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Lafe safe?
Yes, Lafe is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $375 per resident a year.
Compare Lafe with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lafe. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lafe 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.
Lafe detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lafe: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lafe: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lafe: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lafe: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lafe 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.