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Place dossier plate
SheetAR-BELLA-VISTA-AR · Bella Vista, AR 30,935 pop · income 67th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Bella Vista
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Bella Vista on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Morristown · lowest
44,811
Morristown · lowest
44,811 median HH income
36.2% of the leader · rank #1
Carrboro · near
85,927
Carrboro · near
85,927 median HH income
69.5% of the leader · rank #2
Bella Vista · this city
85,932
Bella Vista · this city
85,932 median HH income
69.5% of the leader · rank #3
Holcomb · near
85,938
Holcomb · near
85,938 median HH income
69.5% of the leader · rank #4
New London · near
85,938
New London · near
85,938 median HH income
69.5% of the leader · rank #5
Plain · near
85,938
Plain · near
85,938 median HH income
69.5% of the leader · rank #6
Springfield · highest
123,691
Springfield · highest
123,691 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Bella Vista on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 30,935.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Bella Vista - the verdict
Bella Vista ranks in the 67th percentile for household income and the 77th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
67th
percentile, household income
58th
percentile, home value
3rd
percentile, median rent
77th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Bella Vista, AR
Bella Vista is a small city in Arkansas, home to 30,935 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Bella Vista brings in $85,932 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 1.9%. Home values in Bella Vista run a median of $262,400, and the median resident age is 51.5 years. Educational attainment runs 37.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 50.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 637 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 129% from five years earlier. Bella Vista reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 691.4 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Arkansas run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Arkansas at 86.9 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $944 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Arkansas run around $210, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 55.5 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Bella Vista's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from reported crime to housing and income to work and mobility to schools and households to comparison shortlist to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Bella Vista, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, local building permits, annual population history, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Bella Vista?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 691.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 70% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
How far does income reach against housing in Bella Vista?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
What does the journey to work look like in Bella Vista?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 72.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Bella Vista?
Within Arkansas, the closest population matches are Paragould (29,940 residents, $56,181 income); Texarkana (29,343 residents, $47,930 income); Jacksonville (29,285 residents, $46,947 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Laguna Hills, CA (30,921 residents); Springfield, VA (30,894 residents); Morristown, TN (30,983 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Bella Vista?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 37.8% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
Matched public schools
1
Bachelor's degree+
37.8%
Poverty estimate
1.9%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Bella Vista growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +4,297 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +14.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 637 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+14.2%
2025 estimate
34,518
2020 estimate
30,221
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A+
86.9 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Poverty rate A
1.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B
37.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B-
$85,932
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime D
202 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bella Vista profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 97/100 (A+) · 86.9 index
Poverty rate: 86/100 (A) · 1.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 71/100 (B) · 37.8%
Household income: 65/100 (B-) · $85,932
Violent crime: 47/100 (D) · 202 /100k
Where Bella Vista sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Bella Vista's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Bella Vista highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Bella Vista, AR (this city): home $262,400, crime 691/100k
Laguna Hills, CA : home $944,000, crime 1,365/100k
Morristown, TN : home $155,700, crime 3,236/100k
Hopkinsville, KY : home $140,200, crime 2,952/100k
Paragould, AR : home $175,400, crime 3,813/100k
Texarkana, AR : home $162,700, crime 4,398/100k
Jacksonville, AR : home $155,300, crime 4,911/100k
Russellville, AR : home $166,500, crime 1,734/100k
Sherwood, AR : home $190,900, crime 2,571/100k
Cabot, AR : home $197,000, crime 1,668/100k
How does Bella Vista compare to other US cities?
Where Bella Vista sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income67% higher than other cities
Home value58% pricier than other cities
Median rent3% pricier than other cities
Safety77% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Arkansas and the picture shifts: Bella Vista ranks #19 of 160 Arkansas cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Bella Vista against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Arkansas only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Arkansas-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Bella Vista near the bottom of Arkansas's cities
Among the 524 Arkansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bella Vista ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bella Vista only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#35 of 495
93rd percentile in Arkansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 524
0th percentile in Arkansas
Median Home Value
#19 of 482
96th percentile in Arkansas
Poverty Rate
#453 of 524
13th percentile in Arkansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#19 of 524
96th percentile in Arkansas
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Arkansas only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
67th percentile nationally for median household income · 77th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Bella Vista's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Bella Vista's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Bella Vista's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$262,40042nd percentilemore affordable than 42% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Bella Vista's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#6,966 of 15,516
More affordable than 55% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#983 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.1×, Bella Vista sits in the moderate band:
national rank #6,966 of 15,516 and #983 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$85,932Bella Vista, AR median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Bella Vista, AR median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Bella Vista, AR.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)37.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
30,935
Median Income
$85,932
Median Home Value
$262,400
Median Age
51.5
Poverty Rate
1.9%
Labor force participation
50.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
37.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
691.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
202.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
489.1
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Bella Vista's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
30,221 residents
2021
30,729 residents
2022
31,765 residents
2023
32,419 residents
2024
33,286 residents
2025
34,518 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
637
housing units authorized
Single-Family
637
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
20.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
278
278
0
$75.0M
2020
416
416
0
$108.1M
2021
584
584
0
$175.7M
2022
539
539
0
$183.6M
2023
497
497
0
$179.1M
2024
637
637
0
$225.4M
Permit volume increased 129% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
72.4%
Carpool
8.5%
Public Transit
0.2%
Walk
0.3%
Work from Home
17.6%
Other
1.0%
Based on 13,003 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Arkansas statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $210
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Arkansas at $210 (electricity about $110 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Arkansas statewide averages, not a meter reading for Bella Vista. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Arkansas's BEA cost-of-living index is 86.9 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Bella Vista is $944/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Arkansas statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 55.5 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Arkansas statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Bella Vista sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bella Vista compares to similar-size Arkansas cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.