LivingCostFacts / state

Arkansas cost of living

Arkansas has an all-items price parity of 86.9 on the U.S. = 100 scale. Compare the statewide picture with county rents and metro price levels.

BEA 2024 · HUD FY2027 · ACS 2020–2024 · CPI through 2026-10

86.9
All-items price level

BEA 2024; U.S. = 100

$60,773
Median household income

ACS 2020–2024

$188,000
Median home value

Owner-occupied homes, ACS 2020–2024

$1,061
Typical 2BR benchmark

Population-weighted county FMR, FY2027

Read the local picture

Regional Price Parities (RPPs) compare prices across places in the same year. An index of 110 means prices are 10% above the U.S. level; 90 means 10% below. RPP measures relative price levels, while CPI measures price change over time.

Arkansas: RPP components

BEA 2024 regional context; each category is compared with its own U.S. = 100 benchmark. These are not county price estimates or spending shares.

  1. All items86.9
  2. Goods93.6
  3. Housing rents58.2
  4. Utilities74.7
  5. Other services95.3
0100.0

Black marker: U.S. benchmark = 100 in each row.

Put the benchmark in context

Fair Market Rent (FMR) is HUD’s estimate of the 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality rental homes occupied by recent movers. It includes rent and most tenant-paid utilities. A household’s actual rent can differ substantially by neighborhood, lease and property.

Monthly rent by bedroom

HUD FY2027 gross monthly FMR; includes most tenant-paid utilities. Dollars per month.

  1. Studio$818
  2. 1 bedroom$873
  3. 2 bedrooms$1,061
  4. 3 bedrooms$1,414
  5. 4 bedrooms$1,639
0$1,639

Income after benchmark rent is $48,043 a year: ACS median household income minus 12 months of the population-weighted 2BR FMR. This is a comparison between separate datasets and periods, before taxes and all other expenses; it is not disposable income.

The data in view

Price levels relative to the U.S.

BEA RPP, U.S. = 100 each year. This is not an inflation index.

View chart data
Period or categoryValue
200888.1
200986.4
201088.6
201189.4
201289.4
201389.5
201489.4
201589.0
201689.3
201788.6
201887.1
201987.7
202088.2
202188.9
202286.9
202386.8
202486.9

Price levels by category

Each category has its own U.S. benchmark of 100. Components are indexes, not spending shares.

Category2024 RPP
All items86.9
Goods93.6
Housing rents58.2
Utilities74.7
Other services95.3

Monthly Fair Market Rent by bedroom

HUD 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality units; includes tenant-paid utilities except telephone, cable and internet. These are benchmarks, not asking-rent medians.

Home sizeFY2027 monthly gross rent
Studio$818
1 bedroom$873
2 bedrooms$1,061
3 bedrooms$1,414
4 bedrooms$1,639

County cost comparison

Income: ACS 2020–2024. Rent: HUD FY2027. Rent / income = 12 × 2BR FMR ÷ median household income; it does not measure actual renter burden.

County or equivalent2BR rent / monthMedian household incomeRent / income
Arkansas County$942$53,16421.3%
Ashley County$909$44,26624.6%
Baxter County$995$48,45224.6%
Benton County$1,256$93,50616.1%
Boone County$909$55,14319.8%
Bradley County$909$41,47626.3%
Calhoun County$1,084$66,80919.5%
Carroll County$1,005$54,23022.2%
Chicot County$909$39,04527.9%
Clark County$928$52,03421.4%
Clay County$909$51,48121.2%
Cleburne County$997$55,79821.4%
Cleveland County$909$54,79419.9%
Columbia County$947$55,33420.5%
Conway County$909$54,18720.1%
Craighead County$1,079$59,54821.7%
Crawford County$979$64,13218.3%
Crittenden County$1,301$55,35828.2%
Cross County$909$50,86321.4%
Dallas County$909$42,50025.7%
Desha County$909$37,66229.0%
Drew County$909$42,82425.5%
Faulkner County$1,121$67,28920.0%
Franklin County$909$55,88619.5%
Fulton County$909$42,24125.8%
Garland County$1,110$57,18123.3%
Grant County$909$71,54915.2%
Greene County$935$57,83919.4%
Hempstead County$909$46,78723.3%
Hot Spring County$916$55,40519.8%
Howard County$909$45,60323.9%
Independence County$934$56,60919.8%
Izard County$909$49,40522.1%
Jackson County$909$44,21824.7%
Jefferson County$955$51,09622.4%
Johnson County$909$45,99523.7%
Lafayette County$909$41,27826.4%
Lawrence County$909$44,88224.3%
Lee County$909$34,37531.7%
Lincoln County$909$51,77821.1%
Little River County$909$53,34420.4%
Logan County$909$58,55518.6%
Lonoke County$1,121$72,82818.5%
Madison County$1,256$56,79826.5%
Marion County$915$48,61922.6%
Miller County$1,118$48,83627.5%
Mississippi County$909$52,54820.8%
Monroe County$909$43,21425.2%
Montgomery County$909$48,90622.3%
Nevada County$956$53,88621.3%
Newton County$909$48,98622.3%
Ouachita County$909$49,26822.1%
Perry County$1,121$55,76424.1%
Phillips County$909$40,13427.2%
Pike County$909$49,26922.1%
Poinsett County$909$46,70723.4%
Polk County$909$49,19122.2%
Pope County$948$57,34419.8%
Prairie County$909$51,64621.1%
Pulaski County$1,121$62,87321.4%
Randolph County$909$50,91121.4%
Saline County$1,121$79,04617.0%
Scott County$909$43,27025.2%
Searcy County$909$44,42624.6%
Sebastian County$979$57,79020.3%
Sevier County$909$53,52720.4%
Sharp County$909$44,63724.4%
St. Francis County$944$42,57426.6%
Stone County$916$40,94326.8%
Union County$962$55,25920.9%
Van Buren County$909$50,35421.7%
Washington County$1,256$70,63921.3%
White County$948$55,24920.6%
Woodruff County$909$48,15822.7%
Yell County$909$55,93419.5%

Metros with member counties in Arkansas

BEA 2024, U.S. = 100. Rent is a population-weighted mean of member-county benchmarks where available.

Metro areaAll-items RPPHousing RPP2BR rent / month
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR91.476.9$1,256
Fort Smith, AR-OK85.953.4$979
Hot Springs, AR85.757.3$1,110
Jonesboro, AR85.953.8$1,051
Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR89.468.3$1,116
Memphis, TN-MS-AR92.279.8$1,289
Texarkana, TX-AR84.049.9$1,101