Hot Springs National Park, AR

The affordability dashboard for Hot Springs National Park, AR aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 2 ZIP codes covering 72,927 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of C- (54/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $55,001, median home value of $196,218, median rent of $921 per month, and 25.8% 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 $1,090 per month (studio $829, 1BR $834, 3BR $1,393, 4BR $1,670).

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. Unemployment currently reads 5.1% and poverty 17.5% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.