Best PlacesOuachita, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ouachita, 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.
Ouachita ranks 43,317th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ouachita
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.
Ouachita's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ouachita ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 136 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
Where Ouachita ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ouachita
A household needs to earn about $21,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ouachita home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,158, 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 Ouachita's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 Ouachita
Ouachita runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ouachita.
Who works in Ouachita, and how
Work in Ouachita centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Ouachita
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ouachita.
What the weather is like in Ouachita, month by month
Ouachita sees roughly 136 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 Ouachita
The nearest airport, South Arkansas Regional at Goodwin Field, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 184 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ouachita
Schools across Ouachita average a C−, better than 21% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Harmony Grove Elem. SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Gurdon Primary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cabe Middle SchoolD · 19% proficient
- Camden Fairview Middle SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Harmony Grove High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Bearden High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- Gurdon High SchoolD− · 12% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ouachita school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ouachita 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 Ouachita against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ouachita
Is Ouachita a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ouachita ranks 43,317th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, affordable childcare, and a stable housing market, 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 Ouachita expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $84,668. The overall cost of living runs about 27% below the national average. Set against a $56,158 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Ouachita safe?
Ouachita is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $906 per resident a year.
Compare Ouachita with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ouachita. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ouachita 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.
Ouachita detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ouachita: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ouachita: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ouachita: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ouachita: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ouachita 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.