Best PlacesPulaski County, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Pulaski County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pulaski County ranks 1,775th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on noise and air quality. It does better on transit, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Pulaski 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 Pulaski County
The parts of Pulaski 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.
Maumelle
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Sherwood, Jacksonville & North Little Rock
Crime runs lower, though fewer households have young kids.
Little Rock
Health care is harder to reach and schools score lower.
Pulaski County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Pulaski County's strengths and weaknesses
Pulaski County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Transit, cell coverage, and biking carry most of that.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. Air quality and crime also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Pulaski County ranks high
- TransitBetter than 94% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of counties
- BikingBetter than 88% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 88% of counties
Where Pulaski County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Pulaski County
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pulaski County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,130, 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 Pulaski County's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pulaski County
Pulaski County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Pulaski County.
Who works in Pulaski County, and how
Work in Pulaski County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Pulaski County
Pulaski County has more parkland per resident than 70% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 75% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pulaski County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Pulaski County growing, and who is moving in?
Pulaski County has grown about 2% 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 Pulaski County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Pulaski County, month by month
Pulaski County sees roughly 73 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 Pulaski County
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 134 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pulaski County
Schools across Pulaski County average a C−, better than 20% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Baker Interdistrict Elem. Sch.A+ · 75% proficient
- Forest Park Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Don Roberts Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pinnacle View Middle SchoolB+ · 47% proficient
- Joe T. Robinson Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Lisa Academy North Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Maumelle Charter High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Bryant High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Lisa Academy North High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pulaski County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pulaski 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 Pulaski County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Pulaski County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 75% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Pulaski County
Is Pulaski County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pulaski County ranks 1,775th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on transit, cell coverage, and biking, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pulaski County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $235,402. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $74,130 median income, cost of living beats 75% of counties.
Is Pulaski County safe?
Pulaski County is safer than 10% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $902 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pulaski County?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 53 with lows near 33. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 26% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Pulaski County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Maumelle, Sherwood, Jacksonville & North Little Rock, and Little Rock. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Pulaski County good for families?
Schools beat 20% of counties, crime safety beats 10%, and childcare runs $671 a month.
Is Pulaski County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 75% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 88% of counties. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Pulaski County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pulaski County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pulaski 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.
Pulaski County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pulaski County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pulaski County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pulaski County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pulaski County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pulaski 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.