Before you decide to relocate to Arkansas, it’s important to research the exact cost of living around the state. And that’s what we’re going to help you do.
These are the places in Arkansas that cost a pretty penny — the most expensive cities in the state.
We used Saturday Night Science to compare the 2020-2024 American Community Survey on cost of living for the 68 places in Arkansas with more than 5,000 people.
After we saved up for months and could finally afford it, we landed on this list of the ten most expensive cities in Arkansas for 2026.
$146,473 median income · $570,143 median home · #1 home prices in Arkansas
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$112,792 median income · $488,112 median home · #3 home prices in Arkansas
Located in
Benton County, Arkansas
Bentonville is the ninth-largest city in Arkansas and the county seat of Benton County. The city is centrally located in the county with Rogers adjacent to the east. The city is the headquarters of Walmart, which is the world’s largest retailer. Originally named Osage after the Osage Indians who hunted in the area when white settlers first moved to the area in 1837, the community was renamed to Bentonville in 1906 in honor of New York inventor Linn Boyd Benton, after being first incorporated on April 3, 1873. It is one of the four main cities in the four-county Northwest Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is ranked 109th in terms of population in the United States with 463,204 in 2010 according to the United States Census Bureau. The city itself had a population of 35,301 at the 2010 Census, with an estimated population of 47,093 in 2016.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$85,603 median income · $508,471 median home · #2 home prices in Arkansas
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$62,695 median income · $377,910 median home · #5 home prices in Arkansas
Located in
Washington County, Arkansas
Fayetteville is the third-largest city in Arkansas and county seat of Washington County. The city is centrally located within the county and has been home of the University of Arkansas since the institution’s founding in 1871. Fayetteville is on the outskirts of the Boston Mountains, deep within the Ozarks. Known as Washington until 1829, the city was named after Fayetteville, Tennessee, from which many of the settlers had come. It was incorporated on November 3, 1836 and was rechartered in 1867. The four-county Northwest Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area is ranked 105th in terms of population in the United States with 463,204 in 2010 according to the United States Census Bureau. The city had a population of 73,580 at the 2010 Census. At 1,400 feet of elevation, it is also one of the highest major US cities between the western Great Plains and the Appalachian Mountains.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$103,333 median income · $307,539 median home · #12 home prices in Arkansas
Located in
Pulaski County, Arkansas
Maumelle is an affluent city in Pulaski County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 17,163. The city is located northwest of Little Rock, bordering the opposite shore of the Arkansas River and is part of the Little Rock metropolitan area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$115,713 median income · $349,882 median home · #7 home prices in Arkansas
Located in
Benton County, Arkansas
Centerton is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 9,515 at the 2010 census. Centerton is part of the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR-MO Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$95,521 median income · $348,118 median home · #8 home prices in Arkansas
Pea Ridge is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. The name Pea Ridge comes from a combination of the physical location of the original settlement of the town, across the crest of an Ozark Mountains ridge, and for the hog peanuts or turkey peas that had been originally cultivated by Native American tribes centuries before European settlement, which later helped to provide basic subsistence once those pioneer settlers arrived.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$78,330 median income · $238,641 median home · #22 home prices in Arkansas
Located in
Crittenden County, Arkansas
Marion is a city in and the county seat of Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 12,345 at the 2010 census, a 38.7% increase since 2000. The city is part of the Memphis metropolitan area. It is the second largest city in Crittenden County, behind West Memphis.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$90,469 median income · $333,516 median home · #10 home prices in Arkansas
Located in
Washington County, Arkansas
Farmington is a city in Washington County, Arkansas. The community is nestled in a valley among the Boston Mountains, a subset of the Ozark Mountains. Although the first settlers came from the Deep South in 1828, the community did not incorporate until 1946. Located immediately west of Fayetteville in the Northwest Arkansas metropolitan statistical area, Farmington has been experiencing a population boom in recent years, as indicated by a 66% growth in population between the 2000 and 2010 censuses. It has been characterized as a bedroom community by the University of Arkansas Community Design Center.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$63,003 median income · $216,519 median home · #31 home prices in Arkansas
Located in
Pulaski County, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. It is also the county seat of Pulaski County. It was incorporated on November 7, 1831, on the south bank of the Arkansas River close to the state’s geographic center. The city derives its name from a rock formation along the river, named “la petite roche” by the French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bnard de la Harpe in the 1720s. The capital of the Arkansas Territory was moved to Little Rock from Arkansas Post in 1821. The city’s population was 193,524 at the 2010 census. The six county Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area is ranked 75th in terms of population in the United States with 724,385 residents according to the 2013 estimate by the United States Census Bureau.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Arkansas’s statewide median.
Arkansas statewide median: $222,050
Arkansas statewide median: $60,773
On the map
Mapping the most expensive places in Arkansas
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Natural State For 2026
The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford a city in Arkansas are how much money you make and how much you have to spend to live there.
You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.
For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing, it’s actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.
With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2020-2024 around incomes and costs. They are:
- Overall Cost Of Living Index
- Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
- Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
- Median Home Price
You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Arkansas to figure out which is the most expensive.
You are left with a “Cost of Living Index” by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.
So we used that cost of living index to rank all of the 68 places in Arkansas that have more than 5,000 people.
The place with the highest cost of living in Arkansas according to the data is Cave Springs. We updated this article for 2026. This article is our eleventh time ranking the most expensive places to live in Arkansas. The median Arkansas home is 37 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Most Expensive Cities In Arkansas
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Cost Of Living | Population | Median Income | Average Home Price | Home/Income Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cave Springs | 114 | 6,008 | $146,473 | $570,143 | 3.9x |
| 2 | Bentonville | 106 | 58,249 | $112,792 | $488,112 | 4.3x |
| 3 | Tontitown | 102 | 6,425 | $85,603 | $508,471 | 5.9x |
| 4 | Fayetteville | 101 | 99,319 | $62,695 | $377,910 | 6.0x |
| 5 | Maumelle | 101 | 19,373 | $103,333 | $307,539 | 3.0x |
| 6 | Centerton | 100 | 21,920 | $115,713 | $349,882 | 3.0x |
| 7 | Pea Ridge | 100 | 8,108 | $95,521 | $348,118 | 3.6x |
| 8 | Marion | 97 | 13,623 | $78,330 | $238,641 | 3.0x |
| 9 | Farmington | 97 | 9,094 | $90,469 | $333,516 | 3.7x |
| 10 | Little Rock | 96 | 203,436 | $63,003 | $216,519 | 3.4x |
| 11 | Conway | 96 | 67,642 | $63,004 | $244,316 | 3.9x |
| 12 | Rogers | 94 | 72,981 | $86,728 | $385,743 | 4.4x |
| 13 | Sherwood | 94 | 33,070 | $81,328 | $236,102 | 2.9x |
| 14 | Jonesboro | 93 | 80,137 | $55,424 | $222,893 | 4.0x |
| 15 | Prairie Grove | 93 | 7,798 | $70,701 | $317,577 | 4.5x |
| 16 | White Hall | 93 | 5,512 | $78,092 | $136,021 | 1.7x |
| 17 | Cabot | 92 | 26,960 | $75,000 | $247,085 | 3.3x |
| 18 | Bryant | 92 | 21,504 | $83,024 | $254,713 | 3.1x |
| 19 | Siloam Springs | 92 | 18,699 | $72,065 | $284,971 | 4.0x |
| 20 | Lowell | 92 | 10,849 | $95,527 | $360,677 | 3.8x |
| 21 | Greenbrier | 92 | 6,018 | $57,214 | $278,685 | 4.9x |
| 22 | Sheridan | 92 | 5,165 | $62,453 | $218,333 | 3.5x |
| 23 | Benton | 91 | 36,595 | $72,876 | $239,101 | 3.3x |
| 24 | Searcy | 91 | 23,340 | $52,170 | $216,680 | 4.2x |
| 25 | Mountain Home | 91 | 13,108 | $41,274 | $233,820 | 5.7x |
| 26 | Ward | 91 | 6,573 | $72,734 | $207,462 | 2.9x |
| 27 | Paragould | 90 | 30,215 | $56,980 | $191,096 | 3.4x |
| 28 | Texarkana | 90 | 29,177 | $45,835 | $167,818 | 3.7x |
| 29 | Beebe | 90 | 8,707 | $59,476 | $210,268 | 3.5x |
| 30 | Springdale | 89 | 88,160 | $69,787 | $338,447 | 4.8x |
| 31 | North Little Rock | 89 | 64,538 | $52,707 | $165,643 | 3.1x |
| 32 | Hot Springs | 89 | 37,920 | $47,760 | $243,826 | 5.1x |
| 33 | Jacksonville | 89 | 29,221 | $49,666 | $168,541 | 3.4x |
| 34 | Russellville | 89 | 29,162 | $50,877 | $212,079 | 4.2x |
| 35 | Greenwood | 89 | 9,616 | $66,844 | $238,464 | 3.6x |
| 36 | Wynne | 89 | 8,120 | $43,250 | $128,058 | 3.0x |
| 37 | Alma | 89 | 5,906 | $68,562 | $245,962 | 3.6x |
| 38 | Heber Springs | 88 | 7,161 | $50,636 | $248,325 | 4.9x |
| 39 | Morrilton | 88 | 7,080 | $47,572 | $163,947 | 3.4x |
| 40 | Arkadelphia | 87 | 10,099 | $48,657 | $183,376 | 3.8x |
| 41 | Fort Smith | 86 | 89,805 | $54,816 | $193,977 | 3.5x |
| 42 | Forrest City | 86 | 12,646 | $35,689 | $73,436 | 2.1x |
| 43 | Batesville | 86 | 11,445 | $51,856 | $176,299 | 3.4x |
| 44 | Barling | 86 | 5,007 | $54,387 | $193,772 | 3.6x |
| 45 | West Memphis | 85 | 23,929 | $42,674 | $131,757 | 3.1x |
| 46 | Van Buren | 85 | 23,763 | $61,149 | $204,826 | 3.3x |
| 47 | Harrison | 85 | 13,350 | $44,056 | $230,382 | 5.2x |
| 48 | Malvern | 85 | 10,953 | $46,250 | $142,161 | 3.1x |
| 49 | Hope | 85 | 8,671 | $37,500 | $113,808 | 3.0x |
| 50 | Osceola | 85 | 6,688 | $46,202 | $117,994 | 2.6x |
| 51 | De Queen | 85 | 6,058 | $52,522 | $171,114 | 3.3x |
| 52 | Blytheville | 84 | 12,790 | $47,865 | $96,161 | 2.0x |
| 53 | Magnolia | 84 | 10,894 | $56,127 | $145,079 | 2.6x |
| 54 | Clarksville | 84 | 9,526 | $37,373 | $186,109 | 5.0x |
| 55 | Monticello | 84 | 8,257 | $27,238 | $163,404 | 6.0x |
| 56 | El Dorado | 83 | 17,115 | $49,244 | $133,853 | 2.7x |
| 57 | Stuttgart | 83 | 7,903 | $49,399 | $118,229 | 2.4x |
| 58 | Mena | 83 | 5,582 | $47,428 | $192,538 | 4.1x |
| 59 | Walnut Ridge | 83 | 5,434 | $45,027 | $129,711 | 2.9x |
| 60 | Cherokee Village | 83 | 5,046 | $37,326 | $150,230 | 4.0x |
| 61 | Pine Bluff | 82 | 39,743 | $42,718 | $75,017 | 1.8x |
| 62 | Helena-West Helena | 82 | 8,935 | $36,019 | $86,458 | 2.4x |
| 63 | Pocahontas | 82 | 7,538 | $44,216 | $140,492 | 3.2x |
| 64 | Trumann | 82 | 7,410 | $38,881 | $131,845 | 3.4x |
| 65 | Warren | 82 | 5,353 | $36,788 | $101,650 | 2.8x |
| 66 | Camden | 81 | 10,307 | $49,361 | $105,164 | 2.1x |
| 67 | Berryville | 80 | 5,707 | $42,283 | $237,505 | 5.6x |
| 68 | Newport | 78 | 8,024 | $34,764 | $84,278 | 2.4x |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, Zillow research. 68 places with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: Taking A Chunk Out Of Your Paycheck In Arkansas For 2026
Well, there you have it, the places in Arkansas that have the highest cost of living, with Cave Springs ranking as the most expensive city in the Natural State.
The most expensive cities in Arkansas are Cave Springs, Bentonville, Tontitown, Fayetteville, Maumelle, Centerton, Pea Ridge, Marion, Farmington, and Little Rock. Not sold on Arkansas? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
