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Place dossier plate
SheetAR-BLYTHEVILLE-AR · Blytheville, AR 13,026 pop · income 19th pct · 14 tracts
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 Blytheville
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Blytheville on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Forrest City · lowest
33,522
Forrest City · lowest
33,522 median HH income
41.6% of the leader · rank #1
Buda · near
49,922
Buda · near
49,922 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #2
Blytheville · this city
49,928
Blytheville · this city
49,928 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #3
Brackenridge · near
49,929
Brackenridge · near
49,929 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #4
Middlesex · near
49,931
Middlesex · near
49,931 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #5
Golden Glades · near
49,932
Golden Glades · near
49,932 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #6
Marion · highest
80,637
Marion · highest
80,637 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 Blytheville 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: 13,026.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Blytheville - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Blytheville places in the 19th percentile for household income and the 2nd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
19th
percentile, household income
10th
percentile, home value
3rd
percentile, median rent
2nd
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: Blytheville, AR
Arkansas's Blytheville is a small town, with 13,026 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Blytheville report a median income of $49,928 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 13.3%. Typical homes in Blytheville are valued around $101,200, and the median resident age is 39.1 years. Educational attainment runs 15.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 57.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 7 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 75% from five years earlier. Blytheville's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 5779.5 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Blytheville's yearly average temperature at 60.7°F with 51.6 inches of precipitation per year and 2.9 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Arkansas run below the national norm: the state registers 86.9 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $944 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Arkansas's average monthly utility costs around $210 (state average). 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 Blytheville'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 housing and income to climate and hazard context to reported crime to population change to within-city variation to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Blytheville, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, local building permits, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Blytheville?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.3%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
What physical conditions frame life in Blytheville?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 60.7°F, with 51.6 inches of precipitation and 2.9 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Arkansas is 55.5 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
What can 14 Census tracts reveal inside Blytheville?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 14 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Blytheville?
Within Arkansas, the closest population matches are Mountain Home (13,021 residents, $42,103 income); Harrison (13,217 residents, $40,568 income); Forrest City (12,826 residents, $33,522 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Smyrna, DE (13,031 residents); Tomball, TX (13,032 residents); D'Iberville, MS (13,033 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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Blytheville?
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 5779.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 153% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
4419.6
Violent rate
1359.9
Total reported rate
5779.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Is Blytheville growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -1,123 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -8.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 7 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
-8.4%
2025 estimate
12,227
2020 estimate
13,350
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Blytheville?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 81.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.2%
Work from home
1.8%
Drive alone
81.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 5,676 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Blytheville?
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 15.7% 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 city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
6
Bachelor's degree+
15.7%
Poverty estimate
13.3%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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 F
13.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
15.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$49,928
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
1,360 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Blytheville profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 97/100 (A+) · 86.9 index
Poverty rate: 27/100 (F) · 13.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 22/100 (F) · 15.7%
Household income: 20/100 (F) · $49,928
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,360 /100k
Where Blytheville sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Blytheville'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 - Blytheville highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Blytheville, AR (this city): home $101,200, crime 5,780/100k
Smyrna, DE : home $273,400, crime 2,450/100k
Tomball, TX : home $306,400, crime 2,237/100k
Sharon, PA : home $79,100, crime 2,117/100k
Athens, TX : home $205,700, crime 1,830/100k
Mountain Home, AR : home $160,200, crime 2,532/100k
Harrison, AR : home $165,000, crime 2,107/100k
Forrest City, AR : home $87,800, crime 4,030/100k
Marion, AR : home $206,300, crime 2,871/100k
Batesville, AR : home $159,200, crime 1,901/100k
Magnolia, AR : home $166,500, crime 3,042/100k
How does Blytheville compare to other US cities?
Where Blytheville sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income19% higher than other cities
Home value10% pricier than other cities
Median rent3% pricier than other cities
Safety2% 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: Blytheville ranks #156 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 Blytheville 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 Blytheville near the bottom of Arkansas's cities
Among the 524 Arkansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Blytheville ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Blytheville only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#222 of 495
55th percentile in Arkansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 524
0th percentile in Arkansas
Median Home Value
#280 of 482
42nd percentile in Arkansas
Poverty Rate
#255 of 524
51st percentile in Arkansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#204 of 524
61st 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
19th percentile nationally for median household income · 2nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Blytheville's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Blytheville'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 Blytheville's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$101,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 90% 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
Blytheville's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,723 of 15,516
More affordable than 89% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#70 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.0×, Blytheville sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,723 of 15,516 and #70 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$49,928Blytheville, AR median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Blytheville, 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 Blytheville, AR.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)15.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)57.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
13,026
Median Income
$49,928
Median Home Value
$101,200
Median Age
39.1
Poverty Rate
13.3%
Labor force participation
57.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
15.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
5779.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1359.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
4419.6
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
60.7°F
Annual Precipitation
51.6"
Annual Snowfall
2.9"
Schools
Total Schools
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Blytheville's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
13,350 residents
2021
12,993 residents
2022
12,693 residents
2023
12,599 residents
2024
12,386 residents
2025
12,227 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
7
housing units authorized
Single-Family
7
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
4
4
0
$0.8M
2020
5
5
0
$1.3M
2021
5
5
0
$1.1M
2022
17
1
16
$1.5M
2023
1
1
0
$0.2M
2024
7
7
0
$2.3M
Permit volume increased 75% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.4%
Carpool
15.5%
Public Transit
0.2%
Walk
0.1%
Work from Home
1.8%
Other
1.0%
Based on 5,676 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 Blytheville. 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 Blytheville 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 Blytheville sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Blytheville 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.