72315Blytheville, Arkansas

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 72315.

56out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 34% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity4077th of 6,210 ZIP areas measured47
Growth3476th of 5,428 ZIP areas measured41
Housing affordabilityTop 18% of 6,685 ZIP areas measured96
ClimateTop 46% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured71
Physical resilience5239th of 6,709 ZIP areas measured27
AccessTop 21% of 6,791 ZIP areas measured98
Economic stability5932nd of 6,742 ZIP areas measured33
The quick read

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 20% of median household income and the median home is 2.6 times it.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by earthquake, drought and tornado.

A major airport is 5 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
19,890
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$52,259
Bottom 18% nationally
Density
79/sq mi
252.7 sq mi of land
Median age
37.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Blytheville
Arkansas
Metro area
Blytheville, AR
Nearest major airport
BYH
5 mi · Arkansas Intl
Median home value
$134,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.6% is lower than 43% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 0.5% over the past year, to 19,900 employed residents.

Median household income of $52,259 is below 82% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$5,317$52,259Bottom 18%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,824$30,714Bottom 29%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate20.8%Top 17%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.8 minBottom 10%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher15.5%Bottom 27%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment19,900Bottom 19%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)10.6%Top 1%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.5%Top 40%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force20,866Bottom 19%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation62.3%Top 44%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.9%Bottom 8%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate4.6%Top 43%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202454k45k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $52,259 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Blytheville, AR, the city containing this ZIP code.

There are 11.2 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
10
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
11.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
GOSNELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLGOSNELL SCHOOL DISTRICT64815.4
GOSNELL HIGH SCHOOLGOSNELL SCHOOL DISTRICT56710.5
BLYTHEVILLE PRIMARY SCHOOLBLYTHEVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT34317.1
BLYTHEVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBLYTHEVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT30716.2
KIPP: BLYTHEVILLE COLLEGE PREPARATORY · charterKIPP DELTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS29219.5
ARMOREL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLARMOREL SCHOOL DISTRICT23413.8
ARMOREL HIGH SCHOOLARMOREL SCHOOL DISTRICT2045.0
BLYTHEVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOLBLYTHEVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT17211.5
KIPP BLYTHEVILLE COLLEGIATE HIGH SCHOOL · charterKIPP DELTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS1323.6
BLYTHEVILLE CHICKASAW PREPARATORY ACADEMY (BCPA)BLYTHEVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT10414.9

84.4% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Arkansas’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $855 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.6 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
19.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$855
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$134,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.58Bottom 32%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate59.1%Bottom 15%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±43210,221Top 16%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$50$855Bottom 31%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$16,654$134,600Bottom 22%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.6%Top 37%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate19.5%Top 28%of 33,0282024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
41/ 100
Ranks 3476 of 5,428 published city profiles

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 0.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
7
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.5
Bottom 17% nationally
Year over year
+40%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Blytheville, AR, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 91°F and January a low of 31°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 43.0 inches.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BLYTHEVILLE MUNI AP, 4.8 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation43.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low31°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing42°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

27 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are earthquake, drought and tornado.

DroughtElevated
EarthquakeHigh
Ice stormModerate
Winter weatherModerate
TornadoModerate
Cold waveModerate
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, heat wave, inland flooding, hail, hurricane, strong wind, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Mississippi County records 7.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 25.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 25.9 per 100,000 residents in Mississippi County.

Homicide
7.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
25.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
25.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
18.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Mississippi County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 72315 rather than 72315 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 5 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Arkansas IntlBYH5 mi11,602 ft
Millington/MemphisNQA38 mi8,001 ft
Frederick W Smith Intl/MemphisMEM59 mi11,120 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
56
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

72315 vs Blytheville

How this ZIP area compares with Blytheville as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

72315
Blytheville
Median household income
$52,259
vs
$47,865
Per capita income
$30,714
vs
$28,970
Population density
79/sq mi
vs
617/sq mi
Median home value
$134,600
vs
$119,000
Median gross rent
$855
vs
$855
Homeownership rate
59.1%
vs
50.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher
15.5%
vs
16.7%
Poverty rate
20.8%
vs
24.2%
Median age
37.8
vs
42.3

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.