Bull Shoals, AR

The affordability dashboard for Bull Shoals, AR aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 1,936 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of D (44/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $45,042, median home value of $161,600, median rent of $825 per month, and 19.5% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $908 per month (studio $650, 1BR $692, 3BR $1,132, 4BR $1,280).

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are income, education. Unemployment currently reads 11.0% and poverty 13.8% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.