Best PlacesRoland, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Roland, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Roland ranks 9,039th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Roland
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.
Roland's strengths and weaknesses
Where Roland ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$113,654 median, better than 91% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
Where Roland ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 31% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 33% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Roland
A household needs to earn about $88,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Roland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $113,654, 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 Roland's effective rate of 0.52%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Roland
Roland 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 Roland.
Who works in Roland, and how
Work in Roland centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Roland
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Roland.
What the weather is like in Roland, month by month
Roland 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 Roland
The nearest airport, Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Field, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 144 miles away.
The best schools in and around Roland
Schools across Roland average a C, better than 39% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Chenal Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Salem Elementary SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Mayflower Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bethel Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Joe T. Robinson Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Mayflower Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Bryant High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Bigelow High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Joe T. Robinson High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Roland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Roland 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 Roland against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Roland
Is Roland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Roland ranks 9,039th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, an educated workforce, and health care access, and lowest on air quality and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Roland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $352,000. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $113,654 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Roland safe?
Roland is safer than 35% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $525 per resident a year.
Compare Roland with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Roland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Roland 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.
Roland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Roland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Roland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Roland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Roland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Roland 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.