Best PlacesLonoke County, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lonoke County, 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.
Lonoke County ranks 1,789th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Air quality pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a strong job market.
The best neighborhoods in Lonoke County
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 Lonoke County
The parts of Lonoke County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Ward & Austin
More households have young kids, heat risk is lower, and incomes run higher.
Cabot
Fewer homes sit empty, though it is noisier.
Lonoke
Prices have run up less, though fewer residents vote.
England
Tree cover is thinner and crime runs higher.
Carlisle
Homes cost less, though local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Lonoke County run from about the 7th to the 69th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Lonoke County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lonoke County ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 86% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 84% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 82% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 82% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 74% of counties
Where Lonoke County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of counties
- Short commute29.5 minutes each way, better than only 18% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 20% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lonoke County
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lonoke County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,344, 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 Lonoke County's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lonoke County
Lonoke County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lonoke County.
Who works in Lonoke County, and how
Work in Lonoke County 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 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Lonoke County
Lonoke County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lonoke County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lonoke County growing, and who is moving in?
Lonoke County has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Little Rock, AR metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lonoke County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lonoke County, month by month
Lonoke County sees roughly 68 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 Lonoke County
The nearest airport, Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Field, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lonoke County
Schools across Lonoke County average a C+, better than 56% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Mountain Springs Elem SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Magness Creek ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Stagecoach Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cabot Junior High NorthB+ · 49% proficient
- Cabot Middle School NorthB · 46% proficient
- Joe T. Robinson Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Des Arc High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Cabot High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Joe T. Robinson High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lonoke County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lonoke County 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 Lonoke County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Lonoke County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of counties and 8% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Lonoke County
Is Lonoke County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lonoke County ranks 1,789th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on a strong job market, few empty homes, and a stable housing market, and lowest on air quality and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lonoke County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $196,003. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $75,344 median income, cost of living beats 72% of counties.
Is Lonoke County safe?
Lonoke County is safer than 42% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $533 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lonoke County?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 31. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 17% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lonoke County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Ward & Austin, Cabot, and Lonoke. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Lonoke County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lonoke County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lonoke County 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.
Lonoke County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lonoke County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lonoke County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lonoke County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lonoke County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lonoke County 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.