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Place dossier plate
SheetAR-BULL-SHOALS-AR · Bull Shoals, AR 1,687 pop · income 15th pct · 5 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 Bull Shoals
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Bull Shoals on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Calico Rock · lowest
26,250
Calico Rock · lowest
26,250 median HH income
20.8% of the leader · rank #1
Mount Pleasant · near
46,838
Mount Pleasant · near
46,838 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #2
Farwell · near
46,840
Farwell · near
46,840 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #3
Bull Shoals · this city
46,848
Bull Shoals · this city
46,848 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #4
Aurora · near
46,855
Aurora · near
46,855 median HH income
37.0% of the leader · rank #5
Clarksburg · near
46,859
Clarksburg · near
46,859 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #6
Wacousta · highest
126,471
Wacousta · highest
126,471 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 Bull Shoals 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: 1,687.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Bull Shoals - the verdict
Bull Shoals ranks in the 15th percentile for household income and the 84th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
15th
percentile, household income
29th
percentile, home value
3rd
percentile, median rent
84th
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: Bull Shoals, AR
Bull Shoals is a small town in Arkansas, home to 1,687 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Bull Shoals report a median income of $46,848 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.5%. Bull Shoals's housing stock carries a median value of $157,200, and the median resident age is 58.1 years. 17.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 36.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 3 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 200% from five years earlier. Bull Shoals reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 518.9 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: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Arkansas scores 86.9 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. 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. Natural-hazard exposure scores 55.5 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Bull Shoals'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 within-city variation to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to population change to reported crime to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Bull Shoals, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Within-city variation
What can 5 Census tracts reveal inside Bull Shoals?
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Bull Shoals?
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 65.5%. 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 Bull Shoals?
Within Arkansas, the closest population matches are Rector (1,631 residents, $41,534 income); Glenwood (1,746 residents, $33,889 income); Cedarville (1,750 residents, $54,821 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Malvern, OH (1,687 residents); Baird, TX (1,687 residents); Santa Nella, CA (1,686 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.
Is Bull Shoals 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 -68 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 3 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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 Bull Shoals?
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 518.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 77% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
311.4
Violent rate
207.6
Total reported rate
518.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Bull Shoals?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.5%, 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.
Household income
$46,848
Home value
$157,200
Value / income
3.4×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 B-
4.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime D
208 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
17.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$46,848
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bull Shoals profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 97/100 (A+) · 86.9 index
Poverty rate: 69/100 (B-) · 4.5%
Violent crime: 47/100 (D) · 208 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 28/100 (F) · 17.8%
Household income: 16/100 (F) · $46,848
Where Bull Shoals sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Bull Shoals'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 - Bull Shoals highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Bull Shoals, AR (this city): home $157,200, crime 519/100k
Glenwood, AR : home $108,300, crime 1,689/100k
Cedarville, AR : home $158,100, crime 620/100k
Gurdon, AR : home $94,300, crime 1,581/100k
Mulberry, AR : home $122,600, crime 1,524/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Bull Shoals compare to other US cities?
Where Bull Shoals sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income15% higher than other cities
Home value29% pricier than other cities
Median rent3% pricier than other cities
Safety84% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Arkansas alone, Bull Shoals ranks #8 of 160 Arkansas cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Bull Shoals 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 Bull Shoals near the bottom of Arkansas's cities
Among the 524 Arkansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bull Shoals ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bull Shoals only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#262 of 495
47th percentile in Arkansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 524
0th percentile in Arkansas
Median Home Value
#122 of 482
75th percentile in Arkansas
Poverty Rate
#418 of 524
20th percentile in Arkansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#167 of 524
68th 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
15th percentile nationally for median household income · 84th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Bull Shoals's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Bull Shoals'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 Bull Shoals's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$157,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 71% 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
Bull Shoals's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,365 of 15,516
More affordable than 46% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,818 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.4×, Bull Shoals sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,365 of 15,516 and #6,818 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$46,848Bull Shoals, AR median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Bull Shoals, 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 Bull Shoals, AR.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)36.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,687
Median Income
$46,848
Median Home Value
$157,200
Median Age
58.1
Poverty Rate
4.5%
Labor force participation
36.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
518.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
207.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
311.4
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.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Bull Shoals's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,956 residents
2021
1,956 residents
2022
1,955 residents
2023
1,944 residents
2024
1,918 residents
2025
1,888 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
3
housing units authorized
Single-Family
3
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.2M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
3
3
0
$0.9M
Permit volume increased 200% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
65.5%
Carpool
15.8%
Public Transit
3.0%
Walk
1.4%
Work from Home
11.8%
Other
2.5%
Based on 493 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 Bull Shoals. 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 Bull Shoals 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 Bull Shoals sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bull Shoals 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, 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.