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Place dossier plate
SheetAR-ROCKWELL-AR · Rockwell, AR 3,921 pop · income 37th 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 Rockwell
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Rockwell on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
McGehee · lowest
33,679
McGehee · lowest
33,679 median HH income
17.5% of the leader · rank #1
Mill Run · near
61,447
Mill Run · near
61,447 median HH income
31.9% of the leader · rank #2
New London · near
61,447
New London · near
61,447 median HH income
31.9% of the leader · rank #3
Rockwell · this city
61,452
Rockwell · this city
61,452 median HH income
31.9% of the leader · rank #4
Irondale · near
61,454
Irondale · near
61,454 median HH income
31.9% of the leader · rank #5
Lafayette · near
61,454
Lafayette · near
61,454 median HH income
31.9% of the leader · rank #6
Del Mar · highest
192,845
Del Mar · highest
192,845 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Rockwell on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 3,921.
Nationally, Rockwell sits in the 37th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
37th
percentile, household income
57th
percentile, home value
3rd
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Rockwell, AR
3,921 people live in Rockwell, Arkansas - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Rockwell report a median income of $61,452 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 18.9%. Rockwell's housing stock carries a median value of $255,700, and the median resident age is 40.4 years. 31.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 49.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. 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 Rockwell'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Rockwell, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; 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 Rockwell?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 18.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the journey to work look like in Rockwell?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.0%. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Rockwell?
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.
Within Arkansas, the closest population matches are Dumas (3,877 residents, $34,938 income); Booneville (3,814 residents, $49,653 income); Haskell (4,035 residents, $92,061 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Del Mar, CA (3,921 residents); St. James, MO (3,922 residents); Barrington Hills, IL (3,923 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.
Below median income · poverty 18.9% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
86.9 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Arkansas average
C-
City profile score · Rockwell, AR
51/100
4 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 C+
31.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$61,452
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
18.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Rockwell profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 97/100 (A+) · 86.9 index
Bachelor's+ share: 61/100 (C+) · 31.5%
Household income: 37/100 (F) · $61,452
Poverty rate: 15/100 (F) · 18.9%
How does Rockwell compare to other US cities?
Here's how Rockwell stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income37% higher than other cities
Home value57% pricier than other cities
Median rent3% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Rockwell 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 Rockwell near the bottom of Arkansas's cities
Among the 524 Arkansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Rockwell ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Rockwell only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#130 of 495
74th percentile in Arkansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 524
0th percentile in Arkansas
Median Home Value
#22 of 482
95th percentile in Arkansas
Poverty Rate
#157 of 524
69th percentile in Arkansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#41 of 524
92nd 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
37th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Rockwell's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$255,70043rd percentilemore affordable than 43% 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
Rockwell's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,143 of 15,516
More affordable than 28% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,653 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.2×, Rockwell sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,143 of 15,516 and #8,653 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
$61,452Rockwell, AR median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Rockwell, 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 Rockwell, AR.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)31.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)18.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)49.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,921
Median Income
$61,452
Median Home Value
$255,700
Median Age
40.4
Poverty Rate
18.9%
Labor force participation
49.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
31.5%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.0%
Carpool
17.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
3.5%
Other
3.1%
Based on 1,573 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 Rockwell. 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 Rockwell 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 Rockwell sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Rockwell 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, 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.