Best PlacesWharton, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wharton, 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.
Wharton ranks 36,586th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wharton
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.
Wharton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wharton ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 76% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 74% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 72% of towns
Where Wharton ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 9% of towns
- Short commute34.1 minutes each way, better than only 16% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wharton
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wharton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $66,468; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Wharton's effective rate of 0.29%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Wharton
Wharton runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wharton.
Who works in Wharton, and how
Work in Wharton centers on transportation & warehousing and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Wharton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wharton.
What the weather is like in Wharton, month by month
Wharton sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 39° | 30° |
| April | 70° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 89° | 82° | 72° |
| October | 73° | 64° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Wharton
The nearest airport, Boone County, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 216 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wharton
Schools across Wharton average a C, better than 39% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kingston Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Huntsville Intermediate SchC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Huntsville Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Kingston High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Huntsville High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wharton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wharton 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 Wharton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wharton
Is Wharton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wharton ranks 36,586th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, state finances, and clean air, and lowest on civic engagement and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wharton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $303,143. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $66,468 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Wharton safe?
Yes, Wharton is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $421 per resident a year.
Compare Wharton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wharton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wharton 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.
Wharton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wharton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wharton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wharton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wharton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wharton 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.