Best PlacesLocust Bayou, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Locust Bayou, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Locust Bayou ranks 34,107th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Locust Bayou
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.
Locust Bayou's strengths and weaknesses
Where Locust Bayou ranks high
- Cheap childcare$459 a month, better than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 141 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 83% of towns
Where Locust Bayou ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Locust Bayou
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Locust Bayou home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,026, 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 Locust Bayou's effective rate of 0.42%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Locust Bayou
Locust Bayou runs older 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 Locust Bayou.
Who works in Locust Bayou, and how
Work in Locust Bayou centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Locust Bayou
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Locust Bayou.
What the weather is like in Locust Bayou, month by month
Locust Bayou sees roughly 141 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 44° | 34° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 95° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 80° | 65° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Locust Bayou
The nearest airport, South Arkansas Regional at Goodwin Field, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 185 miles away.
The best schools in and around Locust Bayou
Schools across Locust Bayou average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hampton Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Hampton High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Locust Bayou school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Locust Bayou 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 Locust Bayou against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Locust Bayou
Is Locust Bayou a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Locust Bayou ranks 34,107th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, the weather, and low property taxes, and lowest on cell coverage and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Locust Bayou expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $109,000. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $68,026 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Locust Bayou safe?
Locust Bayou is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $464 per resident a year.
Compare Locust Bayou with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Locust Bayou. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Locust Bayou 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.
Locust Bayou detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Locust Bayou: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Locust Bayou: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Locust Bayou: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Locust Bayou: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Locust Bayou 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.