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Place dossier plate
SheetAR-HELENA-WEST-HELENA-AR · Helena-West Helena, AR 9,218 pop · income 3rd pct · 7 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 Helena-West Helena
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Helena-West Helena on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cabo Rojo zon… · lowest
23,689
Cabo Rojo zon… · lowest
23,689 median HH income
9.5% of the leader · rank #1
Hilltown · near
32,455
Hilltown · near
32,455 median HH income
13.0% of the leader · rank #2
Wadley · near
32,458
Wadley · near
32,458 median HH income
13.0% of the leader · rank #3
Helena-West H… · this city
32,466
Helena-West H… · this city
32,466 median HH income
13.0% of the leader · rank #4
Alfred · near
32,476
Alfred · near
32,476 median HH income
13.0% of the leader · rank #5
Grimes · near
32,500
Grimes · near
32,500 median HH income
13.0% of the leader · rank #6
Riverside · highest
250,001
Riverside · highest
250,001 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 Helena-West Helena 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: 9,218.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Helena-West Helena - the verdict
Helena-West Helena ranks in the 3rd percentile for household income and the 4th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
3rd
percentile, household income
2nd
percentile, home value
3rd
percentile, median rent
4th
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: Helena-West Helena, AR
Helena-West Helena is a small town in Arkansas, home to 9,218 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Helena-West Helena report a median income of $32,466 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 32.6%. Helena-West Helena's housing stock carries a median value of $72,300, and the median resident age is 39.4 years. Educational attainment runs 14.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 40.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 16 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 65% from five years earlier. Helena-West Helena's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 5069.0 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as 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). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $944 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Arkansas run around $210, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 55.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Helena-West Helena'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 population change to within-city variation to work and mobility to comparison shortlist 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 Helena-West Helena, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles.
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.
Question 1
Is Helena-West Helena growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -1,244 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -13.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 16 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
What can 7 Census tracts reveal inside Helena-West Helena?
PlainCities matches 7 Census tracts to this city.
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 Helena-West Helena?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 73.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Helena-West Helena?
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.
Within Arkansas, the closest population matches are Clarksville (9,500 residents, $37,848 income); Greenwood (9,570 residents, $65,745 income); Hope (8,787 residents, $44,353 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Park Ridge, NJ (9,218 residents); Chatham, NJ (9,219 residents); Riverside, CT (9,216 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.
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 Helena-West Helena?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 5069.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 122% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
5069.0
Violent rate
1630.2
Property rate
3438.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Helena-West Helena?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 32.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.2×
Home value
$72,300
Household income
$32,466
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 32.6% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
86.9 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Arkansas average
F
City profile score · Helena-West Helena, AR
22/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
14.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$32,466
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
32.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
1,630 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Helena-West Helena profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 97/100 (A+) · 86.9 index
Bachelor's+ share: 18/100 (F) · 14.3%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $32,466
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 32.6%
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,630 /100k
Where Helena-West Helena sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Helena-West Helena'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 - Helena-West Helena highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Helena-West Helena, AR (this city): home $72,300, crime 5,069/100k
Park Ridge, NJ : home $666,200, crime 264/100k
Chatham, NJ : home $944,300, crime 526/100k
Ventnor City, NJ : home $345,300, crime 2,415/100k
Clarksville, AR : home $159,700, crime 2,500/100k
Greenwood, AR : home $177,300, crime 545/100k
Hope, AR : home $87,800, crime 3,908/100k
Beebe, AR : home $163,400, crime 2,383/100k
Farmington, AR : home $249,900, crime 594/100k
Monticello, AR : home $128,900, crime 1,779/100k
How does Helena-West Helena compare to other US cities?
Where Helena-West Helena sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income3% higher than other cities
Home value2% pricier than other cities
Median rent3% pricier than other cities
Safety4% 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, Helena-West Helena ranks #153 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 Helena-West Helena 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 Helena-West Helena near the bottom of Arkansas's cities
Among the 524 Arkansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Helena-West Helena ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Helena-West Helena only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#437 of 495
12th percentile in Arkansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 524
0th percentile in Arkansas
Median Home Value
#404 of 482
16th percentile in Arkansas
Poverty Rate
#32 of 524
94th percentile in Arkansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#240 of 524
54th 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
3rd percentile nationally for median household income · 4th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Helena-West Helena's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Helena-West Helena'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 Helena-West Helena's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$72,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 98% 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
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,597 of 15,516
More affordable than 83% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,423 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.2×, Helena-West Helena sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,597 of 15,516 and #2,423 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
$32,466Helena-West Helena, AR median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Helena-West Helena, 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 Helena-West Helena, AR.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)32.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)40.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
9,218
Median Income
$32,466
Median Home Value
$72,300
Median Age
39.4
Poverty Rate
32.6%
Labor force participation
40.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
5069.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1630.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3438.8
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
Helena-West Helena's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
9,460 residents
2021
9,119 residents
2022
8,818 residents
2023
8,611 residents
2024
8,388 residents
2025
8,216 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
16
housing units authorized
Single-Family
10
detached homes
Multifamily
6
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
46
2
44
$1.1M
2020
51
2
49
$1.2M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
11
0
11
$0.2M
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
16
10
6
$3.8M
Permit volume decreased 65% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
73.3%
Carpool
17.5%
Public Transit
1.2%
Walk
1.0%
Work from Home
3.5%
Other
3.5%
Based on 2,714 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 Helena-West Helena. 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 Helena-West Helena 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 Helena-West Helena sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Helena-West Helena 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.