Best PlacesRitchie, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ritchie, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ritchie ranks 27,325th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ritchie
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.
Ritchie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ritchie ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute17.4 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
Where Ritchie ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 14% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ritchie
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ritchie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,674, 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 Ritchie's effective rate of 0.40%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Ritchie
Ritchie runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ritchie.
Who works in Ritchie, and how
Work in Ritchie centers on admin & support services and other services. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Ritchie
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ritchie.
What the weather is like in Ritchie, month by month
Ritchie sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 44° | 35° |
| April | 77° | 63° | 53° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 79° | 65° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Ritchie
The nearest airport, South Arkansas Regional at Goodwin Field, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 190 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ritchie
Schools across Ritchie average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hugh Goodwin Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Yocum Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Hampton Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Washington Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Norphlet Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- El Dorado High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Smackover High SchoolD · 18% proficient
- Hampton High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ritchie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ritchie 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 Ritchie against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ritchie
Is Ritchie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ritchie ranks 27,325th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, short commutes, and tree cover, and lowest on air quality 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 Ritchie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $137,750. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $76,674 median income, cost of living beats 61% of towns.
Is Ritchie safe?
Yes, Ritchie is safer than 63% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $390 per resident a year.
Compare Ritchie with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ritchie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ritchie 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.
Ritchie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ritchie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ritchie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ritchie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ritchie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ritchie 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.