Little Rock, AR

The affordability dashboard for Little Rock, AR aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 12 ZIP codes covering 214,454 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of C+ (64/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $66,356, median home value of $229,460, median rent of $1,077 per month, and 41.2% 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 $1,147 per month (studio $984, 1BR $989, 3BR $1,540, 4BR $1,822).

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. Strengths visible in the raw data for Little Rock, AR include commute, rent. Unemployment currently reads 4.5% and poverty 17.6% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.