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Place dossier plate
SheetAR-WEST-MEMPHIS-AR · West Memphis, AR 24,147 pop · income 9th pct · 20 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 West Memphis
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest West Memphis on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Morrill · lowest
41,848
Morrill · lowest
41,848 median HH income
33.0% of the leader · rank #1
Tazewell · near
41,852
Tazewell · near
41,852 median HH income
33.0% of the leader · rank #2
Warner · near
41,855
Warner · near
41,855 median HH income
33.0% of the leader · rank #3
West Memphis · this city
41,860
West Memphis · this city
41,860 median HH income
33.0% of the leader · rank #4
Fairfield Bea… · near
41,867
Fairfield Bea… · near
41,867 median HH income
33.0% of the leader · rank #5
North Haven · highest
126,807
North Haven · highest
126,807 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 West Memphis 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: 24,147.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
West Memphis - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, West Memphis lands in the 9th percentile for household income and the 2nd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
9th
percentile, household income
17th
percentile, home value
3rd
percentile, median rent
2nd
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: West Memphis, AR
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 24,147 residents in West Memphis, a small city within Arkansas. Households in West Memphis report a median income of $41,860 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 22.0%. West Memphis's housing stock carries a median value of $119,100, and the median resident age is 34.6 years. 14.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 49.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 29 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 142% from five years earlier. West Memphis's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 6580.0 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).
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. Monthly utility costs average around $210 across Arkansas, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 West Memphis'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 work and mobility to population change to schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist to reported crime to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For West Memphis, 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.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in West Memphis?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.0%. 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.
Is West Memphis growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -1,127 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 29 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for West Memphis?
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 Van Buren (23,545 residents, $59,420 income); Searcy (23,115 residents, $50,896 income); Cabot (26,733 residents, $72,656 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Lexington, SC (24,132 residents); Nixa, MO (24,131 residents); Collinsville, IL (24,126 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.
What can 20 Census tracts reveal inside West Memphis?
PlainCities matches 20 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.
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 West Memphis?
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 11 public schools within the city match. 14.8% 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
22.0%
Bachelor's degree+
14.8%
Matched public schools
11
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in West Memphis?
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 2.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 22.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.8×
Home value
$119,100
Household income
$41,860
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in West Memphis?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 6580.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 189% 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
6580.0
Violent rate
1922.3
Property rate
4657.7
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 22.0% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
86.9 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Arkansas average
F
City profile score · West Memphis, AR
27/100
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
14.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
22.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$41,860
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
1,922 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
West Memphis profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 97/100 (A+) · 86.9 index
Bachelor's+ share: 20/100 (F) · 14.8%
Poverty rate: 10/100 (F) · 22.0%
Household income: 9/100 (F) · $41,860
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,922 /100k
Where West Memphis sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
West Memphis'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 - West Memphis highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
West Memphis, AR (this city): home $119,100, crime 6,580/100k
Lexington, SC : home $271,200, crime 1,684/100k
Nixa, MO : home $238,300, crime 652/100k
Collinsville, IL : home $157,700, crime 1,954/100k
Shelbyville, TN : home $224,700, crime 2,343/100k
North Haven, CT : home $360,100, crime 2,662/100k
Van Buren, AR : home $178,000, crime 2,520/100k
Searcy, AR : home $176,200, crime 2,667/100k
Cabot, AR : home $197,000, crime 1,668/100k
Bryant, AR : home $223,400, crime 2,233/100k
Centerton, AR : home $295,500, crime 385/100k
Maumelle, AR : home $276,900, crime 1,296/100k
How does West Memphis compare to other US cities?
Where West Memphis sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income9% higher than other cities
Home value17% pricier than other cities
Median rent3% pricier than other cities
Safety2% 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, West Memphis ranks #158 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 West Memphis 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 West Memphis near the bottom of Arkansas's cities
Among the 524 Arkansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, West Memphis ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares West Memphis only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#323 of 495
35th percentile in Arkansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 524
0th percentile in Arkansas
Median Home Value
#204 of 482
58th percentile in Arkansas
Poverty Rate
#114 of 524
78th percentile in Arkansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#224 of 524
57th 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 · 2nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
West Memphis's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
West Memphis'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 West Memphis's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$119,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 83% 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
West Memphis's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,829 of 15,516
More affordable than 62% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#698 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.8×, West Memphis sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,829 of 15,516 and #698 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$41,860West Memphis, AR median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context West Memphis, 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 West Memphis, AR.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)22.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)49.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
24,147
Median Income
$41,860
Median Home Value
$119,100
Median Age
34.6
Poverty Rate
22.0%
Labor force participation
49.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
6580.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1922.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
4657.7
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
11
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
West Memphis's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
24,463 residents
2021
24,022 residents
2022
23,786 residents
2023
23,863 residents
2024
23,639 residents
2025
23,336 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
29
housing units authorized
Single-Family
29
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
12
12
0
$2.3M
2020
20
18
2
$1.9M
2021
16
12
4
$2.0M
2022
20
18
2
$2.8M
2023
16
16
0
$2.6M
2024
29
29
0
$4.7M
Permit volume increased 142% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.0%
Carpool
12.9%
Public Transit
0.1%
Walk
1.6%
Work from Home
5.9%
Based on 8,875 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 West Memphis. 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 West Memphis 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 West Memphis sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How West Memphis 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.