State relocation profile · Federal data
Arkansas
Cost of living, fair-market rent, wages, safety, schools and childcare for Arkansas - every figure straight from federal data.
- 86.9
- Cost index (US=100)
- $943
- 2BR rent / mo
- $58,446
- Median salary
- 52.1
- Life Score
The verdict
As of June 2026, Arkansas scores 52.1/100 (D) on the composite Life Score, with its strongest marks in cost of living and rent.
- 52.1
- Life Score · D
- 86.9
- Cost of living (US=100)
- $58,446
- Median annual salary (BLS)
- $943
- 2BR fair-market rent / mo (HUD)
Weakest dimension: wages (2/100). State-level figures are a benchmark, individual metros can diverge sharply, so weigh each dimension against your own priorities.
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and five other federal agencies, Arkansas has a cost-of-living index of 86.9 (100 = national average), a median 2-bedroom rent of $943/mo, and a median salary of $58,446. Its composite Life Score is 52.1/100 (D), with its strongest marks in cost of living and rent.
How Arkansas ranks nationally
Where Arkansas's composite Life Score falls among all 51 US states scored.
Arkansas has life score of 52.1. Distribution: 0 US states at 0-10; 0 US states at 10-20; 0 US states at 20-30; 5 US states at 30-40; 16 US states at 40-50; 24 US states at 50-60; 6 US states at 60-70; 0 US states at 70-80; 0 US states at 80-90; 0 US states at 90-100.
Evaluating Arkansas as a relocation target starts with the statewide BEA Regional Price Parity of 86.9 - where 100 is the national average, so every point above or below translates to percent-level cost of living difference. Housing costs in Arkansas index at 58.2, goods at 93.6, and services at 74.7. HUD Fair Market Rents averaged across Arkansas counties put a 2-bedroom at $943/month, the figure HUD uses to cap Section 8 voucher payments, so it reflects real submarket rents rather than listings bias.
On the income side, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics report a statewide median salary of $58,446 with a mean of $62,901 across 1,290,100 tracked jobs. For safety context, FBI UCR data shows a violent crime rate of 580 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 1940 per 100K. These state-level reads let you benchmark Arkansas against both your origin state and national medians before zooming into specific metros.
Family and education costs often decide a move. Department of Labor data for Arkansas shows center-based infant care running N/A/year. Arkansas contains 5 metropolitan statistical areas in our dataset - Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Fort Smith, Hot Springs and more - each with its own rent, wage and crime profile that can diverge sharply from the statewide average. The composite Life Score of 52.1/100 (D) folds all seven federal sources into one number for quick comparison.
Key Metrics
Life Score Breakdown
Arkansas's composite Life Score is 52.1/100 (D), computed across 7 dimensions.
Arkansas - Life Score dimensions
Percentile vs all US states (100 = best in the nation for that dimension)
- Cost of living
Cost of living
100 /100
- Rent
Rent
96 /100
- Environment
Environment
80 /100
- Schools 32
Schools
32 /100
- Safety 6
Safety
6 /100
- Wages 2
Wages
2 /100
What this shows Arkansas's strongest dimensions are cost of living and rent; its weakest is wages at 2/100. Each dimension is a federal-data percentile; the composite folds all seven into one comparable figure.
Metros in Arkansas
Explore detailed relocation data for 5 metropolitan areas in Arkansas.
Relocation Guides
In-depth guides to help with your relocation research.
Relocating within or to Arkansas?
State figures are the benchmark, drill into a metro before you commit.
- Arkansas has 5 metro areas with rent, wage and crime profiles that diverge from the statewide average, start with Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers. View Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers
- Put two places on the same scorecard across cost, rent, wages, safety and schools before you decide. Compare metros
- See how every US metro ranks on the composite LiveAbility Score, then re-weight it to your priorities. Rankings
Cost, rent and wages are state-level reads; safety, schools and childcare use state data where metro-level isn't published. Always verify the latest figures at the official source before you move.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS OES, FBI UCR, NCES, DOL, EPA June 2026
Data Sources
- Cost of Living: Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Regional Price Parities
- Rent: HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR)
- Wages: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES)
- Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR)
- Schools: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
- Childcare: Department of Labor (DOL)
- Environment: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
This information is for research purposes only.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Verify with U.S. Census Bureau →
Every figure on PlainRelocate is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.