Best PlacesShell Lake, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shell Lake, 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.
Shell Lake ranks 47,186th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Shell Lake
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.
Shell Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shell Lake ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$503 a month, better than 91% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 77% of towns
Where Shell Lake ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 2% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shell Lake
A household needs to earn about $25,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shell Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,210, 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 Shell Lake's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Shell Lake
Shell Lake 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 Shell Lake.
Who works in Shell Lake, and how
Work in Shell Lake centers on manufacturing and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Shell Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shell Lake.
What the weather is like in Shell Lake, month by month
Shell Lake sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 41° | 34° |
| April | 73° | 62° | 53° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 77° | 64° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Shell Lake
Memphis International sits about 29 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.4 million passengers in 2025, with 78 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Shell Lake
Schools across Shell Lake average a D−, better than 2% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Faulk Elementary SchoolF · 10% proficient
- Earle Elementary SchoolF · 7% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wynne Junior High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- West Junior High SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Lincoln AcademyF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- Wynne High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Forrest City High SchoolF · 8% proficient
- Earle High SchoolF · 4% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shell Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shell Lake 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 Shell Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shell Lake
Is Shell Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shell Lake ranks 47,186th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, affordable childcare, and cell coverage, and lowest on the schools and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shell Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $98,154. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $62,210 median income, cost of living beats 36% of towns.
Is Shell Lake safe?
Shell Lake is safer than 3% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,241 per resident a year.
Compare Shell Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shell Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shell Lake 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.
Shell Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shell Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shell Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shell Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shell Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shell Lake 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.