AR metros
Cost of living across major AR metropolitan areas.
What living in AR costs
Across the 3 AR metros we track, the typical cost-of-living index is 89.5 against a national metro median of 95.7 — about 6% cheaper than the typical US metro. That ranks AR 4 of the 48 states we cover, counting from the cheapest.
The state is not uniform: Fort Smith, AR is the cheapest metro at 85.3, while Fayetteville, AR runs 91.5 — a spread of 7% between them.
A typical AR home costs $231,039, or about 3.7× median household income, and typical rent is $1,246/mo.
Taxes in AR
AR levies a state income tax on top of the federal one. Effective property tax runs about 0.6% of home value in a typical AR metro, and combined state and local sales tax is around 9.5%.
Property tax is the one that scales with housing, so it bites hardest in the pricier metros above. Per-metro figures are on each metro page.
| Metro | COL index | Median home | Median rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Little Rock, AR | 89.5 | $231,039 | $1,246 |
| Fayetteville, AR | 91.5 | $368,497 | $1,594 |
| Fort Smith, AR | 85.3 | $205,554 | $1,021 |
Cities & towns in AR (21)
Local property tax, home values and school scores for each place.