Arkansas is known as the “Natural State”, and it’s often easy to see why: there’s an absolute abundance of natural scenic beauty, clear lakes and streams, and fascinating wildlife.
But, unfortunately, there are some cities and towns that are better places to live in Arkansas than others. Using scientific data, we’ve compiled a list of the worst places to live in Arkansas.
These are the places you don’t want to end up for reasons like high crime and unemployment rates, along with lack of access to quality education.
Here is the worst of the worst in Arkansas:
The 10 Worst Places To Live In Arkansas For 2023
Where are these places, you wonder? And before you get all riled up and say we’re picking on small towns in Arkansas, that’s not the case.
We understand there’s a lot of good in every place. For example, the best place to live in Arkansas is Cave Springs.
However, according to data (which doesn’t measure things like beauty and ‘friendly people’), the state has far better options for making a place home. And the worst place to live in Arkansas? The worst place to live in Arkansas is Newport.
Read below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your city fared in 2023.
If you’re looking for something more national, check out the worst cities in America or the worst states in America.
For more Arkansas reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Arkansas
- Cheapest Places To Live In Arkansas
- Most Dangerous Places in Arkansas
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Worst Places To Live In Arkansas For 2023
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Next on our list is Newport. This community of 7,829 ranks highly for all the wrong reasons.
The area is 12th in the state for lowest median home value. An accomplishment that makes sense considering no one is getting much for their money when they decide to sell here. The median home value in Newport is a just $90,700.
Things aren’t a whole lot better when it comes to how much money families are bringing in either. The city has the 4th lowest median household income in Arkansas. Luckily for residents though, the area is at least affordable. The overall cost of living score here is 78, where the US average is 100.
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You’ll find West Memphis right by the Arkansas-Tennessee border. If you’re smart, you’ll keep driving until you make your way out of this city. We wouldn’t be shocked if its 24,666 residents were right behind you too.
People often associate a larger population with a thriving metropolitan area that is rich in opportunity. West Memphis offers neither of those things, except plenty of people to share your sorrow. The area has a dismal 12.4% unemployment rate, which is probably part of the reason 10.2% of its population is on food stamps. To top all of that off, the city ranks 1st in the state for highest levels of violent crime and is also one of the most dangerous cities in Arkansas.
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While the median household income in Osceola is higher than other towns on this list, causing it to be lower down on the list of “worst cities”, Osceola still has the 2nd worst unemployment rate in the state, as well as the 9th worst crime index.
Therefore, though the average Osceola household brings in a higher income, there are fewer people working here than in other cities across the state. It doesn’t help that everyone has to be constantly worried about crime, either.
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There’s not a lot near Helena-West Helena and unfortunately, the city itself isn’t much of a hot spot either. Even if the area did have plenty to offer, residents would have a hard time affording any of it given that the city has the highest unemployment rate in the state.
The people here who do have a job are barely better off than those without pay. The median household income here is only $25,735. A bleak figure that may have something to do with the fact that 19.0% of the adult population dropped out of high school. Yikes. Let’s hope this city that was once known for its blues community can get back some of its former glory in one way or another.
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About 30 minutes away from Hot Springs is Malvern. Though it might be known as “The Brick Capital of the World,” it’s certainly not a top relocation destination.
In fact, the people who currently live here are probably planning their escape right now. First, however, it’s likely they’ll need to round up some extra money for their move. The median household income here is only $34,880.
And if residents are able to get out, fingers crossed employers in their new home care about their workers. The ones in Malvern definitely don’t, given that 10.9% of people here don’t have health insurance.
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History buffs may enjoy seeing the many historic buildings Camden has on display, but they certainly won’t want to put down roots here.
According to the data, life in the city is grim for anyone who has chosen to stick around. A staggering 24.9% of residents live at the poverty level. A figure that is hard enough to wrap one’s mind around. Yet, on top of that, 6.9% of people here are on food stamps too.
The final factor for those questioning whether to move on from this place seemingly devoid of growth should be that Camden also has the 24th lowest median household income in Arkansas.
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Blytheville is the kind of place that has it bad all around. Not only does the city have economic problems like its 13.0% unemployment rate, which happens to be the 4th highest in the state, it’s also a hotbed of crime.
In the 2021 data year, lawbreakers committed 158 violent crimes. The real kicker though is that 2 of those were murder.
The city’s one redeeming quality may be that those who get out alive, seem to do well. It’s been home to a decent number of big names, including the famous
football coach Fred Akers.
Methodology: How we determined the worst places to live in Arkansas for 2023
To figure out the worst places to live in Arkansas, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things.
We don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that people like the following things:
- Good education
- Lots of jobs
- Low crime
- Low poverty
- Nice homes
- High incomes
- High population density (Lots of things to do)
- Short work commutes
- Health insurance
The data comes from the Census’s most recent American Community Survey and the FBI Uniform Crime Report.
We broke crime down into violent crime and property crime to give violent crime a more significant weight. If you did a simple calculation of all crimes per capita, property crimes are typically 7x more common and bias that ranking.
Furthermore, only cities with at least 5,000 people were considered — leaving 63 cities.
We then ranked each city from 1 to 63 for all the criteria, with a #1 ranking being the worst for the particular criteria.
Next, we averaged the rankings into one “Worst Place To Live Score.”
Finally, we ranked every city on the “Worst Place To Live Score,” with the lowest score being the worst city in Arkansas — Newport. Read on for a detailed look at the ten worst cities in Arkansas.
Summary: Wrapping Up The Worst In Arkansas
If you’re looking at areas in Arkansas with the worst economic situations, where there’s higher than average crime and little to do, this is an accurate list.
And in the end, Newport ranks as the worst city to live in Arkansas for 2023.
If you’re curious enough, here are the best cities to live in Arkansas:
- Maumelle (Pop. 19,070)
- Bentonville (Pop. 52,565)
- Cave Springs (Pop. 5,224)
For more Arkansas reading, check out:
Worst Places To Live In Arkansas?
| Rank | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newport | 7,829 |
| 2 | West Memphis | 24,666 |
| 3 | Osceola | 7,016 |
| 4 | Wynne | 8,352 |
| 5 | Helena-West Helena | 9,707 |
| 6 | Malvern | 10,626 |
| 7 | Morrilton | 6,948 |
| 8 | Camden | 10,644 |
| 9 | Pocahontas | 7,269 |
| 10 | Blytheville | 13,559 |
| 11 | Pine Bluff | 41,964 |
| 12 | Texarkana | 29,492 |
| 13 | Alma | 5,806 |
| 14 | Fort Smith | 89,116 |
| 15 | Jacksonville | 29,385 |
| 16 | Hope | 9,010 |
| 17 | Paragould | 29,327 |
| 18 | El Dorado | 17,800 |
| 19 | Hot Springs | 38,050 |
| 20 | Walnut Ridge | 5,392 |
| 21 | Warren | 5,485 |
| 22 | North Little Rock | 64,444 |
| 23 | Russellville | 29,057 |
| 24 | De Queen | 6,192 |
| 25 | Jonesboro | 77,520 |
| 26 | Heber Springs | 7,015 |
| 27 | Magnolia | 11,205 |
| 28 | Trumann | 7,416 |
| 29 | Mena | 5,626 |
| 30 | Searcy | 23,074 |
| 31 | Prairie Grove | 6,908 |
| 32 | Berryville | 5,612 |
| 33 | Springdale | 85,887 |
| 34 | Clarksville | 9,444 |
| 35 | Siloam Springs | 16,944 |
| 36 | Little Rock | 201,893 |
| 37 | Van Buren | 23,213 |
| 38 | Beebe | 8,343 |
| 39 | Marion | 13,624 |
| 40 | Monticello | 8,567 |
| 41 | Batesville | 11,117 |
| 42 | Fayetteville | 92,070 |
| 43 | Conway | 63,746 |
| 44 | Lowell | 9,630 |
| 45 | Ward | 5,943 |
| 46 | Benton | 34,746 |
| 47 | Harrison | 13,081 |
| 48 | Rogers | 68,340 |
| 49 | Bryant | 20,399 |
| 50 | Stuttgart | 8,363 |
| 51 | Cabot | 26,411 |
| 52 | Sherwood | 32,544 |
| 53 | Mountain Home | 12,722 |
| 54 | Pea Ridge | 6,491 |
| 55 | Arkadelphia | 10,332 |
| 56 | White Hall | 5,599 |
| 57 | Greenwood | 9,498 |
| 58 | Greenbrier | 5,683 |
| 59 | Farmington | 7,601 |
| 60 | Centerton | 17,455 |
| 61 | Maumelle | 19,070 |
| 62 | Bentonville | 52,565 |
| 63 | Cave Springs | 5,224 |
Monticello isn’t the 2 worst place. It is a great town, with good people. Pine bluff is the worst town around us.
I totally disagree with Monticello being listed as your number two selection.
Just look at the number of job opportunities available at MonticelloLive.com, Monticello’s daily news website.
Also, check out the number of good stories representing life in Monticello, not just the bad news, like all communities have.
The palmetto state issue skewed it for me.
I have visited most of the cities on the list and live in one off them.
The only thing monticello has going for it is the state university
So glad you don’t have to live here in Arkansas! Its really easy for someone from another state to judge towns you have never lived it. It never occurs to some people that we don’t want to live in big cities, or that we like our towns just fine, or that bigger cities have much worse crime rates but what makes the little towns look bad is just that our population is small. WHATEVER!! This is such bull!! Don’t judge unless you live here city boy!
Not good for credibility when you begin a piece with “The Palmetto State”. Sorry, but you have Arkansas confused South Carolina.
But as to the statistics used, you made some huge assumptions on what people like/want. I’m also somewhat suspect at the supposed “lack of quality education” in regards to multiple cities listed. Several have very good community-based colleges as well as good-performing public schools.
And apparently crime didn’t weigh too heavily, as the two highest crime cities didn’t even make the list.
Something smells.
Pine Bluff is the worst place to live I was born and raised in ark. The hole state is in denial
1. Pine Bluff (Crime Bluff)
2. Little Rock
3. Helena
4. Rest of the Delta
Little rock crime rate 93%,Pine Bluff 90%!!! Point is that Little Rock is getting bad right under eveones nose!!! Wake up people!!!!!
How on earth is Pine Bluff not on this list?? This is a joke. Several of the towns you have listed are great places to raise a family with morals and values. Look again
I have lived in several parts of the state but I’ve always believed if God wanted to give the world an enema, he would apply it in Bentonville.
I would say Mtn view AR , would tie with Newport AR . Mt view AR , has no jobs nothing
It looks to me that this entire article was written by a script run against a database of census stastics. I disagree with the assumption that higher population density = better place to live.
We don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that people like the following things:
•Good education
•Lots of jobs
•Low crime
•High incomes
•High population density
Why would you assume that people necessarily value population density? If they did, they probably wouldn’t live in Arkansas to begin with. High population density means traffic, pollution, living on small lots in crowded neighborhoods or high rise apartments. That is a completely bogus criteria on which to rank cities in an already largely rural state.
If you want to “rank” cities, then crime, economic opportunity, availability of cultural pursuits (including hunting, fishing, hiking) would certainly be valid criteria. Including population density is just stupid. I can name fifty cities that are “worse” than Monticello, Morrilton and Beebe. I can only guess that Pine Bluff didn’t make the list because it has higher population density than most of the others.
Wrong wrong wrong! Whoever wrote this needs to explore the area listed! I can list 30 towns worse than Newport! With data! Screw you’ll. go float the White River, and bird hunt the White River Valley!!’
Where did you get this nonsense. about Morrilton Arkansas? Our town is NOT crime ridden. I’ve been in Morrilton for 66 years and never had a problem!! We have a sheriff and deputies that work 24/7!!!And it’s full of very nice people.your article is B.S.!!!!!!!
Morrilton should be #1
No, I guess not since your obviously one of the ass suckers who sucks up to the inner circle in this unholy, evil little nowhere greedy life sucking prison town. The sheriff and his deputies are some of the primary criminals, who work 24/7 at ‘BEING CRIMINALS” and taking payoffs from drug dealers and bootleggers.
I must say I live in Forrest city and where ever did you get the info that this town spends most the money on education for the kids? That’s a total lie, this town is in need of major makeovers from buildings to law and government
This town spends money on whatever the mayor sees fit for his re election. The drug dealers and the law that work with them is the only for sure jobs in this town
Morrilton should be on your number 1 list of worst cities in AR to have to live in. A dead little nowhere town that sucks the life and steals dreams and ideas of the impoverished. The little town with no limits on how much people can hate, steal, sabotage and backstab their neighbors. Buck the power system and your blacklisted for life, refuse to marry, your blacklisted for life, refuse to give this little town children to corrupt, your blacklisted for life. I will not dignify them with he term “Gay” closet queers and drug dealers, some of the drug dealers are local law enforcement prosper. Come out of the closet you’re blacklisted for life. Suck ass up to the Morrilton power wheel you do fine, all old decaying buildings on main street according to their owners should be declared historical monuments, when in fact they should be bull dozed to the ground. Morrilton is little more than a dead gigantic black hole and old people are nothing more than empty shells waiting for the grave to come and take them. Whatever glory days Morrilton ever saw “IF ANY” have long since faded into a bygone era. Counseling Associates of Morrilton is a joke and filled with greedy Neanderthal Buffoons by the system of Morrilton for the system of Morrilton. Run by white supremacist for white supremacist.
Non Compensated “GAY” Vietnam Veteran
Abandon hope all ye who enter Morrilton, AR. Legal professionals won’t even come near Morrilton or take on any legal of any low-income person living in it though it not provable I suspect Morrilton is one Government controlled rat holes. Medical care for low income is lowest substandard that can be afforded. Drug houses prosper here as do drug dealer, money laundering operations, prostitution rings and bootleggers as well as do illegal gambling operations. The FBI avoids Morrilton on stings like Morrilton had some type of plague. Every once in a blue moon the FBI makes a stink about huge drug and not a one of them is ever from Morrilton. Obviously some massive amount of power structure not located in Morrilton protects Morrilton as well as Conway County. Morrilton is as evil, dirty ad treacherous as any small off the beaten path town can be. Perhaps one day Morrilton’s government controlled rat will be discovered and it power broken for all time to come and Conway County’s power stripped away entirely.
First, they don’t HAVE snowmobiles in Pine Bluff. This is the South. So your report is obviously filled with carbon copy stats and you as authors would have a terrible time convincing me you were ever in the state, much less one of the cities listed here.
My vote for worst? I can’t argue with Little Rock. It’s a crossroads of gang bangers between Dallas and Memphis and has a terrible violent crime record. You simply are taking life into your own hands if you get off the well worn tourist path. But I worked in Springdale for over 32 years, and it is one of the most depressing, dirty and dangerous cities out there.
At about 77, 000, it is basically divided between the west, where it’s primarily right wing racist white people who are also in many cases poorly educated and have no real sense of civic pride. Downtown is dead. A joke. The city overall is just unimaginative nickel and dime strip malls with no real personality, charm or reason to ever want to be there. The east side? Ultra poverty. Marshallese and Latinos and poor people in general are cramped in run down houses, ugly apartments, duplexes, full of gang and criminal activity including drugs, human trafficking and a horrific meth problem that plagues the city.
Because nearby Fayetteville with the university attracts the more educated, anything approaching uniqueness, beauty, and civic pride, people want to live there. Springdale is strictly lower end blue collar – dominated by Tyson, Georges, and Cargill poultry giants. It’s flat, has no personality, and is a very intolerant town, especially west vs. east. Right wingers and evangelical fans are at odds with the east side, and everybody loses.