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Place dossier plate
SheetAR-WIDENER-AR · Widener, AR 221 pop · income 11th 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 Widener
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Widener on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
French Gulch · lowest
32,188
French Gulch · lowest
32,188 median HH income
44.1% of the leader · rank #1
Widener · this city
43,750
Widener · this city
43,750 median HH income
59.9% of the leader · rank #2
Brookside · near
43,750
Brookside · near
43,750 median HH income
59.9% of the leader · rank #3
Colony · near
43,750
Colony · near
43,750 median HH income
59.9% of the leader · rank #4
Midway · near
43,750
Midway · near
43,750 median HH income
59.9% of the leader · rank #5
Nunapitchuk · near
43,750
Nunapitchuk · near
43,750 median HH income
59.9% of the leader · rank #6
Emerson · highest
73,036
Emerson · highest
73,036 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 Widener 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: 221.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Widener lands in the 11th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
11th
percentile, household income
0th
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: Widener, AR
221 people live in Widener, Arkansas - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Widener report a median income of $43,750 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 7.1%. Widener's housing stock carries a median value of $50,000, and the median resident age is 25.0 years. About 4.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 43.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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 Widener'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 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 Widener, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Widener growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 -8 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.8% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
How far does income reach against housing in Widener?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.1%, 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Widener?
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 84.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Widener?
Within Arkansas, the closest population matches are St. Francis (220 residents, $37,308 income); New Edinburg (223 residents, $71,346 income); Vandervoort (219 residents, $69,464 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Pitkas Point, AK (221 residents); French Gulch, CA (221 residents); Topaz, CA (221 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.
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 C-
7.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$43,750
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
4.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Widener profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 97/100 (A+) · 86.9 index
Poverty rate: 52/100 (C-) · 7.1%
Household income: 12/100 (F) · $43,750
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 4.5%
How does Widener compare to other US cities?
Where Widener sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income11% higher than other cities
Home value0% 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 Widener 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 Widener near the bottom of Arkansas's cities
Among the 524 Arkansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Widener ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Widener only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#294 of 495
40th percentile in Arkansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 524
0th percentile in Arkansas
Median Home Value
#457 of 482
5th percentile in Arkansas
Poverty Rate
#377 of 524
28th percentile in Arkansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#465 of 524
11th 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. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Widener's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$50,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 100% 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
Widener's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#83 of 15,516
More affordable than 99% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#83 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.1×, Widener sits in the affordable band:
national rank #83 of 15,516 and #83 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
$43,750Widener, AR median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Widener, 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 Widener, AR.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)4.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)43.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
221
Median Income
$43,750
Median Home Value
$50,000
Median Age
25.0
Poverty Rate
7.1%
Labor force participation
43.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
4.5%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Widener's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
210 residents
2021
209 residents
2022
205 residents
2023
204 residents
2024
202 residents
2025
202 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
84.6%
Carpool
10.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.1%
Work from Home
1.5%
Based on 65 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 Widener. 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 Widener 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 Widener sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Widener 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.