Best PlacesSouthside, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Southside, 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.
Southside ranks 36,258th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Southside
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.
Southside's strengths and weaknesses
Where Southside ranks high
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 154 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 85% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 82% of towns
Where Southside ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 16% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 17% of towns
- Short commute33.9 minutes each way, better than only 17% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Southside
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Southside home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,847, 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 Southside's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Southside
Southside runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Southside.
Who works in Southside, and how
Work in Southside centers on construction and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Southside
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Southside.
What the weather is like in Southside, month by month
Southside sees roughly 154 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 38° | 29° |
| April | 73° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 75° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Southside
The nearest airport, Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Field, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 140 miles away.
The best schools in and around Southside
Schools across Southside average a C, better than 37% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cowsert Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
- South Side Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clinton Jr High SchoolB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Clinton High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- South Side High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Southside school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Southside 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 Southside against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Southside
Is Southside a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Southside ranks 36,258th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, the weather, and state finances, and lowest on distance from a big city and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Southside expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $109,618. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $60,847 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Southside safe?
Southside is safer than 53% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $430 per resident a year.
Compare Southside with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Southside. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Southside 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.
Southside detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Southside: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Southside: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Southside: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Southside: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Southside 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.