Best PlacesWalnut Ridge, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Walnut Ridge, 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.
Walnut Ridge ranks 41,981st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Walnut Ridge
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.
Walnut Ridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Walnut Ridge ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap childcare$482 a month, better than 93% of towns
Where Walnut Ridge ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Household income$44,436 median, better than only 7% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Walnut Ridge
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Walnut Ridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $44,436, 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 Walnut Ridge's effective rate of 0.23%, 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 Walnut Ridge
Walnut Ridge's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Walnut Ridge.
Who works in Walnut Ridge, and how
Work in Walnut Ridge centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Walnut Ridge
Walnut Ridge has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Walnut Ridge and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Walnut Ridge, month by month
Walnut Ridge sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 38° | 31° |
| April | 72° | 60° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Walnut Ridge
Memphis International sits about 90 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 Walnut Ridge
Schools across Walnut Ridge average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Westside Elementary SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Hoxie Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Walnut Ridge Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top middle schools
- Westside Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Pocahontas Junior High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- M.d. Williams Intermediate SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Greene Co. Tech High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Westside High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Walnut Ridge High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Walnut Ridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Walnut Ridge 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 Walnut Ridge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Walnut Ridge
Is Walnut Ridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Walnut Ridge ranks 41,981st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, low property taxes, and walkability, and lowest on noise and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Walnut Ridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $125,014. The overall cost of living runs about 25% below the national average. Set against a $44,436 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Walnut Ridge safe?
Walnut Ridge is safer than 41% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $489 per resident a year.
Compare Walnut Ridge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Walnut Ridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Walnut Ridge 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.
Walnut Ridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Walnut Ridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Walnut Ridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Walnut Ridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Walnut Ridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Walnut Ridge 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.