Best PlacesMadding, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Madding, 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.
Madding ranks 48,708th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Internet speeds pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a stable housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Madding
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.
Madding's strengths and weaknesses
Where Madding ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 72% of towns
- Cheap childcare$671 a month, better than 70% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 62% of towns
Where Madding ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Madding
A household needs to earn about $23,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Madding home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,376, 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 Madding's effective rate of 0.65%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Madding
Madding runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Madding.
Who works in Madding, and how
Work in Madding centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Madding
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Madding.
What the weather is like in Madding, month by month
Madding sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 43° | 35° |
| April | 75° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 78° | 65° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Madding
The nearest airport, Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Field, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Madding
Schools across Madding average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Star City Jimmy Brown Elementary SchoolD+ · 21% proficient
- Broadmoor Elementary SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top middle schools
- Star City Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Jack Robey Jr. High SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Star City High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Pine Bluff High SchoolF · 6% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Madding school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Madding 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 Madding against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Madding
Is Madding a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Madding ranks 48,708th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, state finances, and low taxes, and lowest on internet speeds and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Madding expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $88,600. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $71,376 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Madding safe?
Madding is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,235 per resident a year.
Compare Madding with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Madding. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Madding 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.
Madding detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Madding: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Madding: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Madding: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Madding: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Madding 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.