Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Conway's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Conway?
Your $100,000 in Conway has the same purchasing power as $121,507 in the average US city. You'd need $21,507 less here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Conway's cost index of 82, sorted by closest match.
These are the reasons people actually move to Conway, ordered roughly by what shows up loudest in the data. Living costs come in under the US baseline and low unemployment, plenty of openings lead, plus 2 more things worth knowing — the rest unpacked below.
The composite cost-of-living index lands at 82, a comfortable 18% under the US norm. It shows up most clearly in housing, which is where the gap to coastal metros usually opens up. Median rent in town runs about $942/mo against a typical household income of $54,036, which is the kind of ratio that leaves room to save.
At about 3.0% unemployment, Conway's labor market is running on the tight side. Easier to land a role, easier to negotiate, easier to leave one job for a better one — the practical things that matter when you're actually looking.
Average commute time in Conway runs around 23 minutes one-way — short enough that it doesn't restructure your day. Compared to the 45-plus-minute commutes that are normal in major metros, the difference adds up to a real lifestyle gap.
Conway has a college-educated share of about 40% among adults 25+, which is higher than the national norm. It shows up in the local job mix, in the school district's reputation, and in the kind of conversations you have at the coffee shop.
Reasons are pulled from Conway's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Snow is a regular feature, not a surprise. With winter temperatures hovering near 33°F, Conway sees enough snowfall that locals don't think twice about it but also enough mild stretches that nobody owns three pairs of boots.
A real winter, but not a punishing one. Conway averages roughly 33°F in winter, with the coldest mornings dipping into the single digits a few times a year and most days landing somewhere between "chilly" and "actually cold".
Properly hot. Conway's summer averages around 90°F with daily highs that routinely break 100°F. The trick to summer here is starting the day at sunrise and staying inside through the worst of it.
Zone 8, give or take a half-zone. Conway's typical winter low puts it in that band on the USDA Hardiness map, which is what nurseries label plants against. Use Zone 8 as your starting filter; the USDA's interactive map is more precise for borderline cases.
Around 318 feet (97 m) above sea level — flat enough that nothing about Conway's altitude shows up in daily life.
Middle of the pack. Conway comes in around 3,476 per 100,000, basically the national average. The interesting question is usually which neighborhood, not which city — that's where the real variation lives.
Conway is a genuinely affordable city by US standards. The composite index sits at 82 versus the 100 national baseline — about 18% cheaper overall, with housing doing most of the heavy lifting.
Conway scores 32 out of 100 on Walk Score, which translates to "car-dependent but not aggressively so". Some neighborhoods buck the citywide average; the dense inner cores are usually noticeably more walkable than the city number suggests.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $57,610 to live in Conway the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in Conway runs about $942/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.