Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Little Rock's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Little Rock?
Your $100,000 in Little Rock has the same purchasing power as $121,227 in the average US city. You'd need $21,227 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 Little Rock's cost index of 82, sorted by closest match.
People moving to Little Rock usually have at least one specific reason. Most of them line up with what the data shows: living costs come in under the us baseline, the drive to work is mercifully short, plus 1 more things worth knowing. Here's what's actually on the table.
Little Rock sits at 82 on the composite cost-of-living index — about 18% under the national average. Not the cheapest place in the country, but enough of a discount to notice on rent and groceries every month. Median rent in town runs about $1,006/mo against a typical household income of $58,697, which is the kind of ratio that leaves room to save.
The average one-way commute in Little Rock is about 18 minutes — short by US standards (the national average is closer to 27). Over a year of working days, that's hundreds of hours that don't get spent in traffic, which is the kind of thing you notice in the weekend rather than the weekday.
44% of adults 25 and over in Little Rock hold a bachelor's degree or higher — meaningfully above the US average of around 36%. That correlates with the things you'd expect: stronger schools, more white-collar employers, more bookstores than the population alone would predict.
Reasons are pulled from Little Rock'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, Little Rock sees enough snowfall that locals don't think twice about it but also enough mild stretches that nobody owns three pairs of boots.
Cold but workable. Winter in Little Rock averages about 33°F — colder than the national norm, mild compared to the upper Midwest. A solid coat handles most days; the genuine cold snaps are short.
Genuinely hot. Summer in Little Rock averages about 90°F, and peak afternoons run well over a hundred. Outdoor plans move to mornings and evenings; AC is the most-used appliance in the house.
Zone 8, give or take a half-zone. Little Rock'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.
Little Rock sits at about 279 feet (85 m) above sea level — low-lying, but with enough cushion that day-to-day life isn't affected by ocean levels.
The citywide numbers are concerning — about 7,215 per 100,000 residents, well above the US average of around 3,500. As with all crime stats, the city aggregate hides huge variation between neighborhoods, but the overall picture is worse than most US cities.
No — your dollar actually goes further here. Little Rock's composite cost-of-living index is 82, roughly 18% under the US average. Housing is usually the biggest driver of the discount.
Not really — Little Rock is built around the car. Its Walk Score of 11 out of 100 means almost every errand is a drive. Transit Score is 29 out of 100. Living without a car is technically possible but real work; most residents wouldn't try it.
Roughly $57,743 a year would match the lifestyle of someone earning $70,000 in an average US city. That's a starting point, not a target — negotiate higher when you can. Median rent in Little Rock runs about $1,006/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.