Best PlacesRoyal, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Royal, 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.
Royal ranks 32,259th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on state finances, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Royal
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.
Royal's strengths and weaknesses
Where Royal ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 83% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 72% of towns
- Cheap childcare$671 a month, better than 70% of towns
- Short commute24.9 minutes each way, better than 63% of towns
Where Royal ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 17% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Royal
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Royal home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,774, 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 Royal's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Royal
Royal runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Royal.
Who works in Royal, and how
Work in Royal centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Royal
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Royal.
What the weather is like in Royal, month by month
Royal sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 43° | 34° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 53° |
| July | 93° | 83° | 74° |
| October | 78° | 65° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Royal
The nearest airport, Memorial Field, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 189 miles away.
The best schools in and around Royal
Schools across Royal average a B−, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lake Hamilton Elementary SchB · 48% proficient
- Jessieville Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Lake Hamilton Interm. SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jessieville Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Mount Ida High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Lake Hamilton High SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Jessieville High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Royal school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Royal 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 Royal against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Royal
Is Royal a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Royal ranks 32,259th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, tree cover, and low taxes, and lowest on summer heat 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 Royal expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $223,738. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $73,774 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Royal safe?
Royal is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $451 per resident a year.
Compare Royal with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Royal. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Royal 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.
Royal detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Royal: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Royal: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Royal: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Royal: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Royal 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.