Best PlacesWheatley, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wheatley, 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.
Wheatley ranks 45,799th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wheatley
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.
Wheatley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wheatley ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Cheap childcare$463 a month, better than 96% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 72% of towns
Where Wheatley ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Household income$47,719 median, better than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wheatley
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wheatley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $47,719, 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 Wheatley's effective rate of 0.34%, 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 Wheatley
Wheatley 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 Wheatley.
Who works in Wheatley, and how
Work in Wheatley centers on manufacturing 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 93%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Wheatley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wheatley.
What the weather is like in Wheatley, month by month
Wheatley sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 42° | 35° |
| April | 74° | 63° | 54° |
| July | 92° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 77° | 65° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Wheatley
The nearest airport, Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Field, is about 65 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wheatley
Schools across Wheatley average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Palestine-wheatley Elem. Sch.B− · 44% proficient
- C.b. Partee Elementary SchoolF · 8% proficient
- Anna Strong Learning AcademyF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- Palestine-wheatley Senior HighC · 32% proficient
- Brinkley High SchoolD− · 12% proficient
- Lee High SchoolF · 5% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wheatley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wheatley 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 Wheatley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wheatley
Is Wheatley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wheatley ranks 45,799th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, affordable childcare, and low property taxes, and lowest on summer heat and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wheatley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $121,756. The overall cost of living runs about 25% below the national average. Set against a $47,719 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Wheatley safe?
Wheatley is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $925 per resident a year.
Compare Wheatley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wheatley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wheatley 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.
Wheatley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wheatley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wheatley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wheatley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wheatley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wheatley 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.