Best PlacesOak Forest, Little Rock, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oak Forest, Little Rock, 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.
Oak Forest, Little Rock ranks 5,730th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Oak Forest, Little Rock
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.
Oak Forest, Little Rock's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oak Forest, Little Rock ranks high
- Cheap childcare$671 a month, better than 96% of neighborhoods
- State fiscal healthBetter than 92% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of neighborhoods
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of neighborhoods
Where Oak Forest, Little Rock ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 3% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of neighborhoods
- Household income$33,358 median, better than only 5% of neighborhoods
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Oak Forest, Little Rock
A household needs to earn about $20,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oak Forest, Little Rock home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $33,358, 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 Oak Forest, Little Rock's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Oak Forest, Little Rock
Oak Forest, Little Rock runs younger 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 Oak Forest, Little Rock.
Who works in Oak Forest, Little Rock, and how
Work in Oak Forest, Little Rock centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Oak Forest, Little Rock
Oak Forest, Little Rock has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of neighborhoods and more parkland per resident than 82% of neighborhoods. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Oak Forest, Little Rock and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oak Forest, Little Rock, month by month
Oak Forest, Little Rock sees roughly 74 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 Oak Forest, Little Rock
The nearest airport, Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Field, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 135 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oak Forest, Little Rock
Schools across Oak Forest, Little Rock average a C, better than 42% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Forest Heights Stem AcademyB+ · 50% proficient
- Bale Elementary SchoolF · 9% proficient
- College Station Elem. SchoolF · 7% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pulaski Heights Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Fuller Middle SchoolD− · 19% proficient
- Cloverdale Middle SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- Central High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Estem Public Charter High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Parkview Magnet High SchoolC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oak Forest, Little Rock school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oak Forest, 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 Oak Forest, Little Rock against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Oak Forest, Little Rock
Is Oak Forest, Little Rock a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oak Forest, Little Rock ranks 5,730th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state finances, and cell coverage, and lowest on health outcomes and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oak Forest, Little Rock expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $77,890. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $33,358 median income, cost of living beats 6% of neighborhoods.
Is Oak Forest, Little Rock safe?
Oak Forest, Little Rock is safer than 4% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,582 per resident a year.
Compare Oak Forest, Little Rock with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oak Forest, Little Rock. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oak Forest, 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.
Oak Forest, Little Rock detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oak Forest, Little Rock: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oak Forest, Little Rock: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oak Forest, Little Rock: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oak Forest, Little Rock: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oak Forest, 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.
- 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.