Little Rock, AR
Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Little Rock ranks 189th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 213th for income. A household earns $68,344 a year while median rent runs $1,093/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 11% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is cost of living (48th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (273rd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 78th and home prices 74th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Little Rock, your take-home is worth about $65,539 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 213th of 300↑20.2%$68,344
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 48th of 30089 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $76,478
- Per-capita income
- $37,869
- Full-time pay
- $45,469
Housing
- Median rent
- 78th of 300↑31.8%$1,093/mo
- Home value
- 74th of 300↑47.9%$237,300
- Property tax
- $1,452/yr · 0.6%
- Sales tax
- 9.46%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 50th of 3003.3%
- Bachelor's+
- 132nd of 30035%
- Avg commute
- 109th of 30023.2 min
People
- Population
- 770,959
- Population change
- +3.6%
- Median age
- 38.0 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 5.7%
- Broadband
- 93.2%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 273rd of 30055
- Natural-hazard loss
- 226th of 300$18/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 229th of 30021.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 10.1%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Job market
Watch-outs
- – Household income
- – Air quality
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — little rock ap adams fld.
What jobs pay in Little Rock
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $205,910
- Pharmacists
- $136,700
- IT managers
- $129,700
- Financial managers
- $119,360
- Software developers
- $104,070
- Lawyers
- $97,870
- Civil engineers
- $83,030
- Registered nurses
- $81,070
- General & operations managers
- $76,080
- Accountants & auditors
- $65,810
- Secondary school teachers
- $60,480
- Web developers
- $60,010
- Elementary school teachers
- $58,580
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $57,050
- Police officers
- $54,840
- Plumbers
- $49,190
- Electricians
- $48,200
- Carpenters
- $48,050
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $45,270
- Customer service reps
- $38,160
- Construction laborers
- $37,190
- Janitors
- $29,660
- Retail salespersons
- $29,150
- Cashiers
- $27,720
- Waiters & waitresses
- $24,610
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Little Rock metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Arkansas are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Texas2,992
- Missouri1,138
- California1,119
- Colorado1,091
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Little Rock
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Little Rock metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Little Rock metro?
- Median gross rent across the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area is $1,093 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Little Rock.
- What is the median household income in the Little Rock metro?
- A typical household in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area earns $68,344 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Little Rock expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area runs about 11% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Little Rock metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $76,478 (versus its face value of $68,344). CityLedger rates the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Little Rock metro?
- The median home value across the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area is $237,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Little Rock metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area is 3.3% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).