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Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
"Affordable" for students means: can rent fit a part-time paycheck? Are groceries reasonable? We analyzed 1 cities in Arkansas, weighting rent and food highest. Little Rock takes the top spot.
#1 Ranked: Little Rock — cost index 89, rent $1,171/mo, income $60,583
Student-budget scoring: rent $1,171/mo, food index 87, cost index 89 — survival-level affordability
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
| Rank | City | Cost Index | Median Rent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Little Rock | 89 | $1,171 | Details |
"Affordable" for students means: can rent fit a part-time paycheck? Are groceries reasonable? We analyzed 1 cities in Arkansas, weighting rent and food highest. Little Rock takes the top spot.
Dive into Little Rock's numbers: cost index 89 (23 points below national average), rent $1,171/month, income $60,583, and a home price of $214,773. The city's cost profile isn't flat — Housing is the cheapest category at 71, while Healthcare runs 91. With 203,842 residents, it balances mid-size city convenience with manageable costs (not adjusted for inflation, but still telling).
What to do with this data: use the ranking as a shortlist, then dig into the city profiles for trend lines and category breakdowns. The difference between #1 and #5 is often smaller than the difference between "good on paper" and "actually fits my life." Compare your top picks with our calculator to see real take-home numbers.
203,842 residents · Arkansas
Dive into Little Rock's numbers: cost index 89 (23 points below national average), rent $1,171/month, income $60,583, and a home price of $214,773. The city's cost profile isn't flat — Housing is the cheapest category at 71, while Healthcare runs 91. With 203,842 residents, it balances mid-size city convenience with manageable costs (that's pre-tax, of course).
Our persona scoring model weights cost of living, income, rent, healthcare costs, tax burden, and population size differently based on what matters most to students. Each factor contributes 10-25 points to a 0-100 composite score. Cities with the highest composite rank first. All data is sourced from federal agencies and verified research institutions. Cost of living indices are normalized to 100 (national median) using Zillow rent as the primary signal, with sub-category adjustments derived from regional BLS price data. Rankings are updated monthly as new data is released.
Little Rock ranks #1 in Arkansas for this analysis with a cost index of 89 and median income of $60,583.
Little Rock scores highest for students due to its below-average cost of living, median rent of $1,171/mo, and competitive median income of $60,583.
Our cost of living index uses real Zillow rent data as the foundation, indexed to 100 (national median). Sub-categories (housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare) are derived from the overall index with regional adjustments. Data is updated monthly.
City data is refreshed monthly from Census Bureau population estimates, Zillow rent and home price indices, BLS salary data, and Tax Foundation tax rates. Last updated: 2026.
The median 1-bedroom rent in Little Rock is $1,171/month as of 2026, based on Zillow's Observed Rent Index. This is $724 below the national median of $1,895/month.
The median home price in Little Rock is $214,773, which is 3.5× the local median income. It's on the edge of affordability for median-income households. The national median home price is $467,370.
Arkansas has a 3.9% state income tax rate. Combined state and local sales tax averages 9.47%, and the effective property tax rate is 0.57%.
This ranking was generated using data current as of early 2026. Population and income data comes from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (5-year estimates). Rent and home price data is from Zillow's monthly releases. Tax rates are from the Tax Foundation's 2025 edition. Rankings are refreshed monthly.