Best PlacesSheppard, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sheppard, 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.
Sheppard ranks 42,806th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sheppard
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.
Sheppard's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sheppard ranks high
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 83% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 81% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 72% of towns
Where Sheppard ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sheppard
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sheppard home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,035, 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 Sheppard's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 Sheppard
Sheppard 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 Sheppard.
Who works in Sheppard, and how
Work in Sheppard centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Sheppard
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sheppard.
What the weather is like in Sheppard, month by month
Sheppard sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 77° | 65° | 55° |
| July | 95° | 84° | 75° |
| October | 79° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Sheppard
The nearest airport, Texarkana Regional-Webb Field, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas Love Field, about 188 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sheppard
Schools across Sheppard average a D+, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Spring Hill Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Yerger Junior High SchoolF · 12% proficient
Top high schools
- Spring Hill High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Hope High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sheppard school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sheppard 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 Sheppard against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sheppard
Is Sheppard a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sheppard ranks 42,806th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state finances, and tree cover, and lowest on civic engagement and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sheppard expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $159,171. The overall cost of living runs about 25% below the national average. Set against a $60,035 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Sheppard safe?
Sheppard is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $494 per resident a year.
Compare Sheppard with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sheppard. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sheppard 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.
Sheppard detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sheppard: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sheppard: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sheppard: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sheppard: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sheppard 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.