Saline County, AR

County Profile

127,479 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Saline 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.

74out of 100
Area Score
Top 6% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
OpportunityTop 9% of 1,463 counties measured79
SchoolsTop 10% of 1,377 counties measured81
GrowthTop 2% of 1,453 counties measured84
Housing affordabilityTop 13% of 1,462 counties measured83
Climate809th of 1,463 counties measured66
Physical resilience905th of 1,463 counties measured51
Access757th of 1,463 counties measured80
Economic stabilityTop 23% of 1,463 counties measured78
The quick read

Saline County ranks in the top 9% of counties measured for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.7% and median household income of $79,046.

Public schools test above most of the state: 58% of students met the mathematics standard, placing the area in the top 10% of published profiles for schools.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 652 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 55% on the prior year.

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
127,479
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$79,046
Top 19% nationally
Density
176/sq mi
723.5 sq mi of land
Median age
40.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Saline County
Arkansas
Nearest major airport
LIT
26 mi · Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Fld
Median home value
$221,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.7%, lower than in 65% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment grew 2.2% over the past year, to 67,838 employed residents.

29% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 75% of measured US counties.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$62,95460th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$57,34349th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$2,9502024 ACS 5-Year$79,046Top 19%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,3002024 ACS 5-Year$38,887Top 30%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$53,951Bottom 41%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year9.1%Top 21%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.6 min2024 ACS 5-Year27.1 minBottom 40%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year29.4%Top 25%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year79.0%61st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202667,838Top 32%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+5.9%Top 6%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+2.2%Top 10%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202670,42068th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year79.1%Top 32%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.1%2024 ACS 5-Year0.1%32nd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 20260.0%Bottom 40%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20263.7%Top 35%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year10.4%66th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/074.22.1
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.7% in July 2026. It has been holding roughly steady, 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

202120222023202479k69k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $79,046 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.

Largest occupations — Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Registered Nurses11,550$81,070
Retail Salespersons10,620$29,150
General and Operations Managers9,330$76,080
Fast Food and Counter Workers8,720$27,470
Stockers and Order Fillers7,990$35,340
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers7,910$57,050

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

58% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 53% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.4 students for every full-time teacher across 31 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
33
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.4
across 31 of them
Math proficiency
58.1%
Top 4% in Arkansas
Reading proficiency
52.9%
Top 14% in Arkansas
The 12 largest of 33 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Bryant High SchoolBRYANT SCHOOL DISTRICT2,36916.143%52%
Bryant Junior High SchoolBRYANT SCHOOL DISTRICT1,54516.8——
Benton Middle SchoolBENTON SCHOOL DISTRICT1,36317.366%51%
Benton High SchoolBENTON SCHOOL DISTRICT1,29811.145%56%
Benton Junior High SchoolBENTON SCHOOL DISTRICT97117.057%54%
Bryant Elementary SchoolBRYANT SCHOOL DISTRICT78519.170%51%
Bryant Middle SchoolBRYANT SCHOOL DISTRICT77415.563%55%
Bethel Middle SchoolBRYANT SCHOOL DISTRICT76217.772%66%
Pine Haven Elementary SchoolBAUXITE SCHOOL DISTRICT75317.957%45%
Parkway Elementary SchoolBRYANT SCHOOL DISTRICT56816.769%56%
Hill Farm Elementary SchoolBRYANT SCHOOL DISTRICT56217.059%46%
Bauxite High SchoolBAUXITE SCHOOL DISTRICT55110.037%43%

46.7% 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.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 10% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 89.5, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area is up 38% over five years, and up 2.3% 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 $1,367 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.62% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,147, some 11% above the $1,033 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,147 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $45,900 a year, about 58% of the median household income here of $79,046.

The typical renter household here spends 26% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,033 a month.

A median home at $221,200 costs 2.5 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $88,816, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
89.5

Prices here run about 10% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
25.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.5×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,147
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,033
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$221,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Saline County’s median household income of $79,046, 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
Cost of living indexthe Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area’s figure202389.5Top 17%of 8872023
Home price change (1 year)the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+2.3%25th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+37.8%23rd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+66.2%8th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year2.5Top 49%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year78.2%71st percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±852024 ACS 5-Year52,93483rd percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$989Bottom 46%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,540Top 49%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,147Top 46%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$452024 ACS 5-Year$1,033Bottom 28%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,2822024 ACS 5-Year$221,20063rd percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$552024 ACS 5-Year$1,36740th percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$2,5762024 ACS 5-Year$88,816Top 26%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.03%2024 ACS 5-Year0.62%31st percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year25.5%Top 29%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±2212024 ACS 5-Year53960th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.0%26th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year4.1%8th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±4482024 ACS 5-Year2,73164th 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 and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

84/ 100
Top 2% of 1,453 published county profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 2 years of 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 6% since 2020, reaching 131,252 in 2024.

Population is still rising but the pace is easing: 131,252 residents in 2024, up 1.3% over the year, a smaller gain than the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 652 units permitted over the past twelve months, only 1% are in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show Saline County gained about 1.1% 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 $62,954, above the $57,343 of households that moved out.

At 5.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
652
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
5.1
Top 28% nationally
Year over year
+55%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.8%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

20202021202220232024131k124k
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 rising for the last 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+1.1%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
31%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$62,954
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$57,343
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Pulaski County, AR 2,562 people · 35% of arrivals
  2. Garland County, AR 662 people · 8.9% of arrivals
  3. Hot Spring County, AR 245 people · 3.3% of arrivals
  4. Faulkner County, AR 207 people · 2.8% of arrivals
  5. Grant County, AR 201 people · 2.7% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Pulaski County, AR 2,095 people · 34% of departures
  2. Garland County, AR 416 people · 6.7% of departures
  3. Hot Spring County, AR 242 people · 3.9% of departures
  4. Faulkner County, AR 232 people · 3.7% of departures
  5. Grant County, AR 208 people · 3.3% 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

2022202320242025465291
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+6%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 92°F and January a low of 31°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 50.4 inches, including 3.8 inches of snow.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station LITTLE ROCK AP ADAMS FLD, 25.3 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND5.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals50.4"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals3.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals31°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals92°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals41°F1991-2020 Normals

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

Physical risk

51 / 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 42% of it.

Ice stormElevated
EarthquakeModerate
TornadoElevated
HailElevated
LightningModerate
Winter weatherModerate
LandslideModerate
Inland floodingModerate
Cold waveModerate

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

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.

Saline County records 10.8 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 27.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 7.7 per 100,000 residents in Saline County.

Homicide
10.8
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
27.8
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
7.7
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
23.9
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 Saline 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.
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. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Fld at 26 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year89.1%Top 33%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle26 miTop 36%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle1Bottom 3%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year8.5%Top 36%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams FldLIT26 mi8,273 ft
Fort Smith RgnlFSM107 mi9,318 ft
Greenville Mid-DeltaGLH126 mi8,001 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
74
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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
Housing, 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.

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.