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Place dossier plate
SheetAR-FORDYCE-AR · Fordyce, AR 3,320 pop · income 11th pct · 2 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 Fordyce
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Fordyce on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Marianna · lowest
20,507
Marianna · lowest
20,507 median HH income
9.0% of the leader · rank #1
Commerce · near
43,051
Commerce · near
43,051 median HH income
18.9% of the leader · rank #2
Fordyce · this city
43,056
Fordyce · this city
43,056 median HH income
18.9% of the leader · rank #3
Willow Creek · near
43,056
Willow Creek · near
43,056 median HH income
18.9% of the leader · rank #4
Coalton · near
43,064
Coalton · near
43,064 median HH income
18.9% of the leader · rank #5
Badin · near
43,068
Badin · near
43,068 median HH income
18.9% of the leader · rank #6
Haworth · highest
227,841
Haworth · highest
227,841 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 Fordyce 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: 3,320.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Fordyce - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Fordyce lands in the 11th percentile for household income and the 7th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
11th
percentile, household income
7th
percentile, home value
3rd
percentile, median rent
7th
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: Fordyce, AR
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 3,320 residents in Fordyce, a small town within Arkansas. Households in Fordyce report a median income of $43,056 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 12.3%. Fordyce's housing stock carries a median value of $92,500, and the median resident age is 37.7 years. Educational attainment runs 8.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 49.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier. Fordyce's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 4154.9 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 61.7°F with 57.6 inches of precipitation per year and 1.2 inches of snowfall.
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). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $944 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $210 across Arkansas, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Fordyce'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 population change to comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility to climate and hazard context to schools and households to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Fordyce, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Within-city variation
What can 2 Census tracts reveal inside Fordyce?
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.
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 -233 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -6.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Fordyce?
Within Arkansas, the closest population matches are Paris (3,287 residents, $48,789 income); Waldron (3,370 residents, $41,028 income); Pottsville (3,201 residents, $66,761 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Haworth, NJ (3,321 residents); Circle D-KC Estates, TX (3,321 residents); Williams, AZ (3,322 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Fordyce?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 12.3%, 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Fordyce?
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 83.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
0.0%
Drive alone
83.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,308 workers age 16+.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 61.7°F, with 57.6 inches of precipitation and 1.2 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.
Mean temperature
61.7°F
Annual precipitation
57.6 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
55.5
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 8.1% 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
2
Bachelor's degree+
8.1%
Poverty estimate
12.3%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Fordyce?
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 4154.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 82% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
3368.0
Violent rate
786.9
Total reported rate
4154.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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
12.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$43,056
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
787 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
8.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Fordyce profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 97/100 (A+) · 86.9 index
Poverty rate: 31/100 (F) · 12.3%
Household income: 11/100 (F) · $43,056
Violent crime: 2/100 (F) · 787 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 1/100 (F) · 8.1%
Where Fordyce sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Fordyce'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 - Fordyce highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Fordyce, AR (this city): home $92,500, crime 4,155/100k
Haworth, NJ : home $815,300, crime 324/100k
Williams, AZ : home $457,500, crime 3,156/100k
Ohioville, PA : home $187,800, crime 304/100k
Weaver, AL : home $140,500, crime 2,014/100k
Paris, AR : home $112,700, crime 2,838/100k
Waldron, AR : home $99,300, crime 2,624/100k
Pottsville, AR : home $169,800, crime 240/100k
Corning, AR : home $85,800, crime 907/100k
Alexander, AR : home $157,700, crime 2,828/100k
Marianna, AR : home $73,800, crime 4,533/100k
How does Fordyce compare to other US cities?
Here's how Fordyce stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income11% higher than other cities
Home value7% pricier than other cities
Median rent3% pricier than other cities
Safety7% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Arkansas, Fordyce ranks #145 of 160 Arkansas cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Fordyce 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 Fordyce near the bottom of Arkansas's cities
Among the 524 Arkansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Fordyce ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Fordyce only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#308 of 495
38th percentile in Arkansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 524
0th percentile in Arkansas
Median Home Value
#309 of 482
36th percentile in Arkansas
Poverty Rate
#283 of 524
45th percentile in Arkansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#392 of 524
24th 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
11th percentile nationally for median household income · 7th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Fordyce's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Fordyce'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 Fordyce's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$92,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 93% 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
Fordyce's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,216 of 15,516
More affordable than 86% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,092 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.1×, Fordyce sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,216 of 15,516 and #2,092 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$43,056Fordyce, AR median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Fordyce, 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 Fordyce, AR.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)8.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)12.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)49.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,320
Median Income
$43,056
Median Home Value
$92,500
Median Age
37.7
Poverty Rate
12.3%
Labor force participation
49.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
8.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4154.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
786.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3368.0
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
61.7°F
Annual Precipitation
57.6"
Annual Snowfall
1.2"
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Fordyce's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,374 residents
2021
3,300 residents
2022
3,242 residents
2023
3,236 residents
2024
3,198 residents
2025
3,141 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.1M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
1
1
0
$0.0M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
83.9%
Carpool
7.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
4.7%
Work from Home
0.0%
Other
3.8%
Based on 1,308 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 Fordyce. 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 Fordyce 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 Fordyce sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Fordyce 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.