Cave Springs, Farmington, Centerton: These cities aren’t just some of the best places to live in Arkansas. They are also home to some of the richest people in the Natural State.
Cave Springs in particular houses the richest residents in the state thanks, in part, to a median household income of $140,195 and a ridiculously low poverty rate of 1.0315297781237835%.
If you’re thinking of moving to one of these towns, you’ll probably need to start saving. The richest places in Arkansas share common characteristics such as having a genius level populous, sky high home prices, and a Pleasantville level of married couples.
How did we come up with these mega wealthy cities? We analyzed Census data from the 2017-2021 American Community Survey for the 64 places in Arkansas with more than 5,000 people.
Here are the 10 richest places in Arkansas for 2023:
For more on how we calculated the top ten, read on or skip to the end for the full list of the richest cities in Arkansas.
Rich people not your cup of tea? Feel free to check out some more reading about Arkansas:
The 10 Richest Cities In Arkansas For 2023
1. Cave Springs
/10
Population: 5,224
Rank Last Year: –
Median Income: $140,195
Unemployment Rate: 1.1%
Poverty Rate: 1.0%
More on Cave Springs: Real Estate | Photos
2. Farmington
/10
Population: 7,601
Rank Last Year: 3 (Up 1)
Median Income: $77,443
Unemployment Rate: 0.4%
Poverty Rate: 3.5%
More on Farmington: Real Estate | Photos
3. Centerton
/10
Population: 17,455
Rank Last Year: 4 (Up 1)
Median Income: $90,793
Unemployment Rate: 1.6%
Poverty Rate: 5.4%
More on Centerton: Real Estate | Photos
4. Pea Ridge
/10
Population: 6,491
Rank Last Year: 2 (Down 2)
Median Income: $88,942
Unemployment Rate: 2.5%
Poverty Rate: 4.3%
More on Pea Ridge: Real Estate | Photos
5. Lowell
/10
Population: 9,630
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 4)
Median Income: $80,026
Unemployment Rate: 1.2%
Poverty Rate: 6.4%
More on Lowell: Real Estate | Photos
6. Bryant
/10
Population: 20,399
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 1)
Median Income: $76,965
Unemployment Rate: 2.8%
Poverty Rate: 4.9%
More on Bryant: Real Estate | Photos
7. Bentonville
/10
Population: 52,565
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 2)
Median Income: $89,653
Unemployment Rate: 3.2%
Poverty Rate: 7.1%
More on Bentonville: Real Estate | Photos
8. Rogers
/10
Population: 68,340
Rank Last Year: 8 (No Change)
Median Income: $69,582
Unemployment Rate: 3.1%
Poverty Rate: 9.6%
More on Rogers: Real Estate | Photos
9. Beebe
/10
Population: 8,343
Rank Last Year: 11 (Up 2)
Median Income: $51,975
Unemployment Rate: 0.9%
Poverty Rate: 9.9%
More on Beebe: Real Estate | Photos
10. Sherwood
/10
Population: 32,544
Rank Last Year: 10 (No Change)
Median Income: $67,964
Unemployment Rate: 3.6%
Poverty Rate: 7.7%
More on Sherwood: Real Estate | Photos
Methodology: How We Determined The Richest Places In Arkansas For 2023
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the richest places is to simply identify personal incomes. After all, rich people have really high salaries.
However, we don’t believe that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “richest places”. So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2017-2021 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
- Unemployment Rate
Median household income is the most digestible way to understand how rich a place really is. The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for more people to become rich. If more people are employed, the richer the future looks.
After we collected the data for all 64 places with more than 5,000 people in Arkansas, we ranked each place from 1 to 64 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the richest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Rich Score” with the place having the lowest overall Rich Score, Cave Springs, crowned the “Richest City In Arkansas For 2023”. You can download the data here.
You can learn more about the top ten below or skip to the end to see the rankings for all 64 places.
Summary: The Wealthiest Places In Arkansas For 2023
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the richest places in Arkansas, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Arkansas.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very top of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.
If you’re curious enough, here are the poorest cities in Arkansas, according to data:
Poorest: Helena-West Helena
2nd Poorest: Forrest City
3rd Poorest: Morrilton
For more Arkansas reading, check out:
Detailed List Of The Richest Cities In Arkansas
| Rank | City | RichScore |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cave Springs | 1.67 |
| 2 | Farmington | 4.0 |
| 3 | Centerton | 4.33 |
| 4 | Pea Ridge | 5.33 |
| 5 | Lowell | 6.33 |
| 6 | Bryant | 8.0 |
| 7 | Bentonville | 8.67 |
| 8 | Rogers | 11.33 |
| 9 | Beebe | 12.33 |
| 10 | Sherwood | 12.67 |
| 11 | Marion | 14.67 |
| 12 | Greenbrier | 14.67 |
| 13 | Maumelle | 15.0 |
| 14 | White Hall | 15.33 |
| 15 | Benton | 15.33 |
| 16 | Ward | 16.33 |
| 17 | Cabot | 17.33 |
| 18 | Greenwood | 17.67 |
| 19 | Stuttgart | 20.67 |
| 20 | Springdale | 22.33 |
| 21 | Little Rock | 22.33 |
| 22 | Siloam Springs | 22.67 |
| 23 | Conway | 23.67 |
| 24 | Prairie Grove | 23.67 |
| 25 | Batesville | 30.33 |
| 26 | Heber Springs | 31.33 |
| 27 | Van Buren | 32.0 |
| 28 | Fayetteville | 32.0 |
| 29 | Fort Smith | 33.0 |
| 30 | Mountain Home | 33.33 |
| 31 | Hot Springs | 35.0 |
| 32 | Paragould | 35.0 |
| 33 | Berryville | 35.0 |
| 34 | Jonesboro | 35.33 |
| 35 | Clarksville | 35.67 |
| 36 | Harrison | 36.0 |
| 37 | Jacksonville | 36.67 |
| 38 | Trumann | 37.33 |
| 39 | Warren | 39.33 |
| 40 | North Little Rock | 40.0 |
| 41 | El Dorado | 40.33 |
| 42 | De Queen | 41.0 |
| 43 | Hope | 41.0 |
| 44 | Arkadelphia | 42.33 |
| 45 | Searcy | 42.67 |
| 46 | Texarkana | 43.33 |
| 47 | Monticello | 43.67 |
| 48 | Camden | 43.67 |
| 49 | Russellville | 44.0 |
| 50 | Walnut Ridge | 44.33 |
| 51 | Blytheville | 49.0 |
| 52 | Magnolia | 49.67 |
| 53 | Wynne | 50.67 |
| 54 | Mena | 50.67 |
| 55 | Osceola | 52.67 |
| 56 | Pocahontas | 52.67 |
| 57 | Pine Bluff | 53.33 |
| 58 | Alma | 54.33 |
| 59 | Malvern | 55.67 |
| 60 | West Memphis | 55.67 |
| 61 | Newport | 56.33 |
| 62 | Morrilton | 56.67 |
| 63 | Forrest City | 58.67 |
| 64 | Helena-West Helena | 64.0 |
