Best PlacesLittle Italy, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Little Italy, 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.
Little Italy ranks 28,176th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Air quality pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a stable housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Little Italy
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.
Little Italy's strengths and weaknesses
Where Little Italy ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 86% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 84% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of towns
Where Little Italy ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 13% of towns
- Short commute33.7 minutes each way, better than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Little Italy
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Little Italy home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,444, 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 Little Italy's effective rate of 0.44%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Little Italy
Little Italy runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Little Italy.
Who works in Little Italy, and how
Work in Little Italy centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Little Italy
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Little Italy.
What the weather is like in Little Italy, month by month
Little Italy sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 40° | 31° |
| April | 74° | 62° | 51° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 77° | 64° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Little Italy
The nearest airport, Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Field, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 146 miles away.
The best schools in and around Little Italy
Schools across Little Italy average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mayflower Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Joe T. Robinson Elem. SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Anne Watson Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Joe T. Robinson Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Mayflower Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Bigelow High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Joe T. Robinson High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Mayflower High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Little Italy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Little Italy 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 Little Italy against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Little Italy
Is Little Italy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Little Italy ranks 28,176th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, tree cover, and state finances, and lowest on air quality and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Little Italy expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $248,911. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $85,444 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Little Italy safe?
Little Italy is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $553 per resident a year.
Compare Little Italy with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Little Italy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Little Italy 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.
Little Italy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Little Italy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Little Italy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Little Italy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Little Italy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Little Italy 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.