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Place dossier plate
SheetAR-LAMAR-AR · Lamar, AR 1,826 pop · income 9th 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 Lamar
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lamar on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Sparta · lowest
24,854
Sparta · lowest
24,854 median HH income
16.6% of the leader · rank #1
Torreon CDP (… · near
41,573
Torreon CDP (… · near
41,573 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #2
Lamar · this city
41,579
Lamar · this city
41,579 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #3
Clearlake · near
41,580
Clearlake · near
41,580 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #4
Evant · near
41,583
Evant · near
41,583 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #5
Timpson · near
41,591
Timpson · near
41,591 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #6
Lookout Mount… · highest
149,688
Lookout Mount… · highest
149,688 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 Lamar 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: 1,826.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Lamar - the verdict
Nationally, Lamar sits in the 9th percentile for household income and the 52nd percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
9th
percentile, household income
24th
percentile, home value
3rd
percentile, median rent
52nd
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: Lamar, AR
1,826 people live in Lamar, Arkansas - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $41,579 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 21.9%. Lamar's housing stock carries a median value of $139,500, and the median resident age is 34.5 years. About 21.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 47.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 4 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 43% from five years earlier. Lamar reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 1300.9 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $944 monthly. 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 Lamar'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 comparison shortlist to population change to work and mobility 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 Lamar, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
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. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Lamar?
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.
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 21.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Lamar?
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 Leachville (1,818 residents, $48,500 income); Murfreesboro (1,815 residents, $48,125 income); Eudora (1,843 residents, $27,140 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Greenfield, IA (1,826 residents); Raven, VA (1,826 residents); Zolfo Springs, FL (1,825 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +56 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 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 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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 84.0%. 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.
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 Lamar?
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.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 21.7% 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.
Poverty estimate
21.9%
Bachelor's degree+
21.7%
Matched public schools
3
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Lamar?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1300.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 43% lower 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
1300.9
Violent rate
169.7
Property rate
1131.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 21.9% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
86.9 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Arkansas average
D
City profile score · Lamar, AR
40/100
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.
Violent crime C-
170 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
21.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$41,579
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Lamar profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 97/100 (A+) · 86.9 index
Violent crime: 53/100 (C-) · 170 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 39/100 (F) · 21.7%
Poverty rate: 10/100 (F) · 21.9%
Household income: 9/100 (F) · $41,579
Where Lamar sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Lamar'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 - Lamar highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Lamar, AR (this city): home $139,500, crime 1,301/100k
Greenfield, IA : home $115,700, crime 642/100k
Lookout Mountain, GA : home $469,500, crime 298/100k
Leachville, AR : home $115,800, crime 1,429/100k
Murfreesboro, AR : home $105,500, crime 867/100k
Eudora, AR : home $52,200, crime 1,022/100k
Lepanto, AR : home $66,900, crime 1,467/100k
Gurdon, AR : home $94,300, crime 1,581/100k
How does Lamar compare to other US cities?
Lamar measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income9% higher than other cities
Home value24% pricier than other cities
Median rent3% pricier than other cities
Safety52% 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, Lamar ranks #53 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 Lamar 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 Lamar near the bottom of Arkansas's cities
Among the 524 Arkansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lamar ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lamar only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#326 of 495
34th percentile in Arkansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 524
0th percentile in Arkansas
Median Home Value
#150 of 482
69th percentile in Arkansas
Poverty Rate
#116 of 524
78th percentile in Arkansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#106 of 524
79th 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
9th percentile nationally for median household income · 52nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Lamar's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Lamar'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 Lamar's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$139,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 76% 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
Lamar'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
#8,359 of 15,516
More affordable than 46% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,812 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.4×, Lamar sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,359 of 15,516 and #6,812 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
$41,579Lamar, AR median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lamar, 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 Lamar, AR.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)21.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,826
Median Income
$41,579
Median Home Value
$139,500
Median Age
34.5
Poverty Rate
21.9%
Labor force participation
47.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1300.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
169.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1131.2
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
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Lamar's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,720 residents
2021
1,736 residents
2022
1,739 residents
2023
1,759 residents
2024
1,773 residents
2025
1,776 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
7
7
0
$0.8M
2020
5
5
0
$1.0M
2021
6
6
0
$1.3M
2022
6
6
0
$1.3M
2023
5
5
0
$1.0M
2024
4
4
0
$0.8M
Permit volume decreased 43% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
84.0%
Carpool
9.8%
Public Transit
1.5%
Walk
0.8%
Work from Home
3.9%
Based on 614 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 Lamar. 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 Lamar 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 Lamar sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lamar 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.