Southeast · Updated October 2026
Arkansas in numbers, from the same public data Locustep uses to rank all 50 states: rent, pay, taxes, safety, disaster risk and weather, plus the cities worth a look.
Two-bedroom rent
$1,061/mo
U.S. average $1,759
HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 (40th percentile, population-weighted across the state)
Rent vs. income
20.5%
of median household income for a year of two-bedroom rent
HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 ÷ 2024 ACS 1-year estimates (Census B19013)
State income tax
3.7%
top marginal rate, single filer
State revenue departments, 2026 income tax rates (sources listed per state)
Property tax
0.52%
effective rate on owner-occupied homes
Everyday costs
94.7
index, housing excluded (U.S. = 100)
BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024 (released February 2026), housing and utilities removed
Natural disaster risk
54th
percentile, FEMA expected annual loss (lower is safer)
Where Arkansas stands out: the 2nd cheapest two-bedroom rent, the 6th lowest everyday costs and the 8th lowest top income-tax rate among the 50 states.
What to weigh: the 4th highest violent crime and the 4th lowest median household income.
Overall, a married couple on the U.S. median household income would pay about 5.8% of it in state and local income, property and sales tax here, the 14th lowest of the 50 states.
Average afternoon highs and overnight lows in Little Rock (Little Rock Airport Adams Field station), NOAA 1991–2020 normals.
| Season | High | Low |
|---|---|---|
| Winter (Dec–Feb) | 53°F | 33°F |
| Spring (Mar–May) | 72°F | 50°F |
| Summer (Jun–Aug) | 90°F | 70°F |
| Fall (Sep–Nov) | 74°F | 51°F |
$1,121/mo two-bedroom · $969 one-bedroom (Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR HUD Metro FMR Area)
Little Rock is a modest state capital on the Arkansas River with government, healthcare and finance employment and a very low cost of living. Central location, hot humid summers, and a small but real downtown scene.
$1,256/mo two-bedroom · $1,056 one-bedroom (Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR MSA)
Fayetteville is a lively Ozarks college town with a strong music scene, extensive mountain-bike trails and a booming regional economy. Cheap, green, four real seasons, and growing fast alongside the rest of Northwest Arkansas.
$1,256/mo two-bedroom · $1,056 one-bedroom (Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR MSA)
Bentonville is Walmart's headquarters town, transformed by corporate money into an unlikely hub for world-class mountain biking and a major art museum. Salaries are strong, housing is climbing, and the culture is corporate-outdoorsy.
$1,110/mo two-bedroom · $863 one-bedroom (Hot Springs, AR MSA)
Hot Springs is a historic spa town built around thermal baths inside a national park, with a lake, a racetrack and a large retiree population. Very affordable, tourism-dependent, and quiet outside the season.
$1,079/mo two-bedroom · $895 one-bedroom (Jonesboro, AR HUD Metro FMR Area)
Jonesboro is northeast Arkansas's regional centre, with Arkansas State University, healthcare and farm country all around. Low costs and steady growth; flat, humid and a drive from Memphis for anything bigger.
$979/mo two-bedroom · $748 one-bedroom (Fort Smith, AR-OK MSA)
Fort Smith is a working river city on the Oklahoma border with a manufacturing and logistics base and frontier history. Among the cheapest places to live in the country, with modest wages to match.
$1,005/mo two-bedroom · $768 one-bedroom (Carroll County, AR)
Eureka Springs is a tiny Victorian resort town built into steep Ozark hillsides — artsy, eccentric and notably LGBTQ-friendly for the region. Beautiful and cheap, with an economy that is essentially all tourism.
$948/mo two-bedroom · $725 one-bedroom (Pope County, AR)
Russellville is a small river-valley city between the Ozarks and the Ouachitas, with Arkansas Tech University and a nuclear plant as major employers. Cheap and outdoorsy, with a limited job market.
Rents: HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 (40th percentile, population-weighted across the state) (metro areas). City notes: Locustep.
Closest on Locustep’s match factors: cost, housing, taxes, safety, jobs, schools, healthcare, outdoors, disaster risk and climate.
Ranks compare the 50 states. Locustep updates these figures when the agencies publish new data.
Yes. Arkansas’s top marginal income-tax rate for a single filer is 3.7% (Arkansas tax law, 2026). Counting property and sales tax too, a married couple on the U.S. median household income would pay about 5.8% of income in state and local taxes (Locustep estimate, 2026).
A typical two-bedroom rents for about $1,061 a month and a one-bedroom for about $873, using HUD’s FY2027 Fair Market Rents averaged across the state by population. That is $698 less than the U.S. average of $1,759. Rent in the bigger metros can be well above the state figure.
Leaving housing aside, everyday prices (goods and services other than housing) index at 94.7 against a U.S. average of 100 (BEA, 2024), and the median home value indexes at 59.8 against the U.S. median (Census, 2024). Two-bedroom rent takes 20.5% of the state’s median household income of $62,106.
Arkansas recorded 579.4 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2024 (FBI), the 4th highest rate of the 50 states. Crime varies a lot between and within cities, so check the specific area you’re considering.
The main hazards are tornadoes. On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Arkansas’s expected yearly loss from natural hazards sits at the 54th percentile nationally (lower is safer). Risk differs sharply by county, so look up the county too.
Places people most often weigh include Little Rock, Fayetteville, Bentonville, Hot Springs and Jonesboro. Each has a different cost, climate and character; Locustep compares their rent, disaster risk, weather and pay side by side.