Pope County, AR

County Profile

64,131 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Pope County, AR.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

58out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 44% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity1,025th of 1,463 counties measured45
SchoolsTop 5% of 1,377 counties measured87
Growth745th of 1,453 counties measured49
Housing affordabilityTop 30% of 1,462 counties measured78
Climate873rd of 1,463 counties measured65
Physical resilience1,060th of 1,463 counties measured41
Access1,211th of 1,463 counties measured60
Economic stability1,162nd of 1,463 counties measured37
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable counties measured: unemployment is 5.6% and the Opportunity signal places Pope County in the bottom 30%.

Public schools test above most of the state: 56% of students met the mathematics standard, placing the area in the top 5% of published profiles for schools.

60 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 11% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
64,131
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$57,344
Bottom 28% nationally
Density
79/sq mi
811 sq mi of land
Median age
37.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Pope County
Arkansas
Nearest major airport
LIT
68 mi · Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Fld
Median home value
$170,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.6% — higher than in all but 11% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment grew 1.2% over the past year, to 26,393 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$47,28414th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$45,2879th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$3,4732024 ACS 5-Year$57,344Bottom 28%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,3162024 ACS 5-Year$30,572Bottom 28%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$43,273Bottom 5%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year16.0%Bottom 31%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.9 min2024 ACS 5-Year21.5 minTop 22%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year24.7%Top 40%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year79.7%66th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202626,393Bottom 41%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+1.7%Top 30%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+1.2%Top 17%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202627,96042nd percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year72.8%Bottom 36%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.1%2024 ACS 5-Year0.1%33rd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−0.1%Bottom 47%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20265.6%Bottom 11%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year5.0%17th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/075.92.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.6% in July 2026. It has been rising for the last 3 months, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202457k47k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $57,344 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.

56% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 54% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 11.0 students for every full-time teacher across 22 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
23
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
11.0
across 22 of them
Math proficiency
56.3%
Top 18% in Arkansas
Reading proficiency
54.4%
Top 11% in Arkansas
The 12 largest of 23 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Russellville High SchoolRUSSELLVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT1,28110.830%46%
Russellville Junior High SchoolRUSSELLVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT80812.451%54%
Russellville Middle SchoolRUSSELLVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT79513.558%50%
Pottsville Elementary SchoolPOTTSVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT60516.887%67%
Sequoyah Elementary SchoolRUSSELLVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT54217.574%63%
Oakland Heights Elementary SchoolRUSSELLVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT50317.357%47%
Dover Elementary SchoolDOVER SCHOOL DISTRICT45515.277%57%
Russellville Intermediate SchoolRUSSELLVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT43615.662%60%
Pottsville Middle GradePOTTSVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT41716.076%67%
Pottsville Junior High SchoolPOTTSVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT41212.159%61%
Pottsville High SchoolPOTTSVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT4045.142%62%
Crawford Elementary SchoolRUSSELLVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT39916.657%47%

63.0% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Arkansas’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Arkansas is up 45% over five years, and up 4.0% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $945 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.56% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $938, some 9% above the $859 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $938 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $37,500 a year, about 65% of the median household income here of $57,344.

The typical renter household here spends 28% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $859 a month.

A median home at $170,100 costs 2.4 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $70,817, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
27.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.4×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$938
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$859
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$170,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Pope County’s median household income of $57,344, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Arkansas’s figure2026 Q2+4.0%61st percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Arkansas’s figure2026 Q2+45.2%52nd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Arkansas’s figure2026 Q2+77.1%24th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.22024 ACS 5-Year2.4Top 45%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year70.4%30th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±442024 ACS 5-Year27,15672nd percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$715Top 8%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,254Top 18%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$938Top 13%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$342024 ACS 5-Year$859Top 48%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,4872024 ACS 5-Year$170,10044th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$632024 ACS 5-Year$94522nd percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$4,0182024 ACS 5-Year$70,817Bottom 36%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.04%2024 ACS 5-Year0.56%23rd percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year27.6%Top 48%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±1582024 ACS 5-Year24941st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.9%23rd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year9.4%53rd percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±5112024 ACS 5-Year2,80864th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures.

Development Momentum

49/ 100
Ranks 745 of 1,453 published county profiles
The most recent move in permitting was broadly flat, in a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

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.

Population has grown 2% since 2020, reaching 64,829 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 60 units permitted over the past twelve months, only 17% are in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show Pope County gained about 0.3% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $47,284, close to the $45,287 of households that moved out.

At 0.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
60
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.9
Bottom 16% nationally
Year over year
+11%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
16.7%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202465k63k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population. It has been holding roughly steady, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+0.3%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
36%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$47,284
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$45,287
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Yell County, AR 530 people · 18% of arrivals
  2. Johnson County, AR 214 people · 7.3% of arrivals
  3. Conway County, AR 152 people · 5.2% of arrivals
  4. Faulkner County, AR 139 people · 4.8% of arrivals
  5. Pulaski County, AR 127 people · 4.4% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Yell County, AR 424 people · 15% of departures
  2. Johnson County, AR 248 people · 9.0% of departures
  3. Faulkner County, AR 182 people · 6.6% of departures
  4. Conway County, AR 153 people · 5.6% of departures
  5. Pulaski County, AR 148 people · 5.4% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

20222023202420256250
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−11%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 93°F and January a low of 30°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 46.4 inches.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station RUSSELLVILLE MUNI AP, 14.3 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals46.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals30°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals93°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals42°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

41 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and earthquake, with inland flooding alone responsible for 43% of it. Tornado is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

Ice stormHigh
EarthquakeElevated
Winter weatherModerate
Inland floodingHigh
LightningModerate
LandslideModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: tornado, heat wave, strong wind, wildfire, hail, drought, hurricane, tsunami, volcanic activity, avalanche, coastal flooding.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Pope County has a modeled homicide rate of about 4.6 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at about 17.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 9.7 per 100,000 residents in Pope County.

Homicide
4.6
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
17.3
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
9.7
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
20.1
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Pope County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Fld at 68 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year84.6%Bottom 34%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle68 miBottom 16%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle3Bottom 35%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year12.6%Bottom 32%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams FldLIT68 mi8,273 ft
Fort Smith RgnlFSM76 mi9,318 ft
Northwest Arkansas NtlXNA92 mi8,801 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.

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Area Score
58
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.

Cities in Pope County, AR

ZIP areas

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.