Best PlacesZent, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Zent, 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.
Zent ranks 50,193rd 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 Zent
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.
Zent's strengths and weaknesses
Where Zent ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Cheap childcare$476 a month, better than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 72% of towns
Where Zent ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$40,649 median, better than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Zent
A household needs to earn about $19,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Zent home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $40,649, 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 Zent's effective rate of 0.15%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Zent
Zent 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 Zent.
Who works in Zent, and how
Work in Zent centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Zent
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Zent.
What the weather is like in Zent, month by month
Zent sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 40° | 30° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 49° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Zent
The nearest airport, Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Field, is about 63 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 68 miles away.
The best schools in and around Zent
Schools across Zent average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Palestine-wheatley Elem. Sch.B− · 44% proficient
- C.b. Partee Elementary SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Palestine-wheatley Senior HighC · 32% proficient
- Brinkley High SchoolD− · 12% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Zent school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Zent 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 Zent against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Zent
Is Zent a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Zent ranks 50,193rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, and affordable childcare, and lowest on civic engagement and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Zent expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $81,646. The overall cost of living runs about 28% below the national average. Set against a $40,649 median income, cost of living beats 13% of towns.
Is Zent safe?
Zent is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,305 per resident a year.
Compare Zent with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Zent. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Zent 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.
Zent detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Zent: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Zent: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Zent: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Zent: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Zent 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.