Best PlacesLittle Rock, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Little Rock 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.
Little Rock ranks 308th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on air quality and noise. It does better on a stable housing market, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Little Rock 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 Little Rock
The towns and districts of the Little Rock 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.
Benton, Bryant & Alexander
Crime runs lower, fewer homes sit empty, and prices have run up less.
Conway
Schools score higher, though fewer households have young kids.
Maumelle & Greenbrier
It is quieter.
Cabot, Jacksonville & Sherwood
Fewer adults hold degrees and biking is worse.
Downtown Little Rock
Transit reaches more jobs and streets are more walkable.
North Little Rock
Tree cover is thinner and heat risk is higher.
Mabelvale, Sheridan & Hensley
Local pay stretches less far and incomes run lower.
England
Homes cost less, though fewer residents vote.
Little Rock shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Little Rock's strengths and weaknesses
Little Rock ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. A stable housing market, state finances, and affordable childcare carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: air quality, noise, and distance from a big city all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Little Rock ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$671 a month, better than 83% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 82% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 72% of metro areas
Where Little Rock ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 14% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 18% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Little Rock
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Little Rock home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,191, 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 Rock's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Little Rock
Little Rock's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Little Rock.
Who works in Little Rock, and how
Work in Little Rock centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Little Rock
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Little Rock.
Is Little Rock growing, and who is moving in?
Little Rock has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Fayetteville, AR.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Little Rock go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Little Rock, month by month
Little Rock sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 42° | 33° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 53° |
| July | 93° | 83° | 74° |
| October | 77° | 65° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Little Rock
The nearest airport, Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Field, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Little Rock
Schools across Little Rock average a C, better than 29% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Baker Interdistrict Elem. Sch.A+ · 75% proficient
- Greenbrier Springhill Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Forest Park Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Greenbrier Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Bethel Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Ruth Doyle Intermediate SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Greenbrier High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Maumelle Charter High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Des Arc High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Little Rock school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Little Rock 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 Rock against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Little Rock suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Little Rock
Is Little Rock a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Little Rock ranks 308th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on a stable housing market, state finances, and affordable childcare, and lowest on air quality and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Little Rock expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $229,309. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $75,191 median income, cost of living beats 54% of metro areas.
Is Little Rock safe?
Little Rock is safer than 16% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $675 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Little Rock?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 53 with lows near 33. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 28% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Little Rock?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Benton, Bryant & Alexander, Conway, and Maumelle & Greenbrier. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Little Rock good for families?
Schools beat 29% of metro areas, crime safety beats 16%, and childcare runs $671 a month.
Is Little Rock good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 54% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 62% of metro areas. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Little Rock with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Little Rock. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Little Rock 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 Rock detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Little Rock: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Little Rock: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Little Rock: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Little Rock: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Little Rock 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.