Best PlacesPotter, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Potter, 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.
Potter ranks 43,809th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Potter
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.
Potter's strengths and weaknesses
Where Potter ranks high
- Short commute14.0 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 82% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
Where Potter ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Household income$45,153 median, better than only 8% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Potter
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Potter home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $45,153, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Potter's effective rate of 0.46%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Potter
Potter 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 Potter.
Who works in Potter, and how
Work in Potter centers on education and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Potter
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Potter.
What the weather is like in Potter, month by month
Potter sees roughly 106 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 42° | 33° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 51° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Potter
The nearest airport, Fort Smith Regional, is about 56 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas Love Field, about 186 miles away.
The best schools in and around Potter
Schools across Potter average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Holly Harshman Elem. SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mena Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Mena High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Potter school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Potter 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 Potter against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Potter
Is Potter a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Potter ranks 43,809th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, affordable childcare, and state finances, and lowest on noise and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Potter expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $207,200. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $45,153 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Potter safe?
Yes, Potter is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $393 per resident a year.
Compare Potter with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Potter. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Potter 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.
Potter detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Potter: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Potter: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Potter: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Potter: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Potter 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.