Best PlacesWelcome, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Welcome, 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.
Welcome ranks 30,843rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Welcome
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.
Welcome's strengths and weaknesses
Where Welcome ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 81% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 77% of towns
Where Welcome ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of towns
- Short commute36.9 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 11% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Welcome
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Welcome home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,031, 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 Welcome'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 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 Welcome
Welcome 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 Welcome.
Who works in Welcome, and how
Work in Welcome centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Welcome
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Welcome.
What the weather is like in Welcome, month by month
Welcome sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 38° |
| April | 78° | 65° | 55° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 80° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Welcome
The nearest airport, South Arkansas Regional at Goodwin Field, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas Love Field, about 199 miles away.
The best schools in and around Welcome
Schools across Welcome average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Taylor Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Emerson Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Taylor High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Emerson High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Welcome school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Welcome 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 Welcome against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Welcome
Is Welcome a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Welcome ranks 30,843rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, affordable childcare, and state finances, and lowest on air quality and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Welcome expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $201,900. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $78,031 median income, cost of living beats 72% of towns.
Is Welcome safe?
Welcome is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $587 per resident a year.
Compare Welcome with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Welcome. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Welcome 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.
Welcome detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Welcome: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Welcome: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Welcome: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Welcome: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Welcome 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.