Arkansas

Home values #

Typical home $227,264 (Aug 2026), +3.6% over one year, +21.2% over five

• 8th pct · 47th of 51 US states · median $350,752

Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), typical value of homes in the 35th to 65th percentile, smoothed and seasonally adjusted; a model estimate of value, not a sale price. Data through Zillow Research.

Rent #

Rather than print an empty row that suggests a number could arrive, the rows are omitted and the reason is stated. The rent figures for this state's counties are on their own pages.

Jobs & wages #

1.31 m jobs at 109,385 employers (2026 Q1); -0.1% jobs and +4.6% average weekly wage over the year

• 35th pct · 34th of 52 US states · median 1,934,777

BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, all ownerships, total covered employment in the quarter's third month; over-the-year changes as published. Suppressed cells stay blank.

Affordability #

A 30-year mortgage on the typical home at 7.28% costs about $1,244 a month in principal and interest.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $227,264 × 80% = $181,811, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,244/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,291 × 52 / 12 = $5,594) = 22% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $227,264 / ($1,291 × 52) = 3.4

Estimate. Principal and interest on the typical home with 20% down over 30 years at this week's Freddie Mac average rate; compared with the average weekly wage of all jobs covered by unemployment insurance in the area (BLS QCEW), which is pay per job, not household income.

Trade gateways #

No medium or large harbour within 200 km and no land port of entry within 250 km

These are the gateways near the state’s centroid, within the radii named above, not every port and crossing inside the state boundary. lib/economy searches a disc around a point; there is no clip-to-boundary path.

NGA World Port Index harbours (medium and large, or any with BTS statistics) and BTS Border Crossing Entry Data ports; BTS Port Performance volumes for the latest reporting year.

National pulse #

1 national series, latest 2026-10-01

FRED series (Freddie Mac, Census, BEA, EIA, BLS, S&P) and BTS Supply Chain and Freight Indicators; each item carries its own date and source.

Largest counties #

The 12 counties of Arkansas with the most covered jobs.

Ranked by BLS QCEW third-month covered employment from the same nationwide table the screener uses. A county whose cell BLS withheld is absent from the ranking, not last in it.

Metropolitan areas #

7 metropolitan statistical areas lie wholly or partly in Arkansas.

From the bundled place manifest, which derives its metro table offline from the committed BLS OEWS metro index. A metro that spans a state line appears on both states' pages.

Water #

Drought, reservoirs, stream gauges and groundwater wells are reported around a point, with every row's distance printed. That is a county page's section, not a state's.

National indicator context #

None of these series is keyed to this state. They are national, gauge, single-state or port series, shown as context for the numbers above.

lib/indicators has no geographic selection: every registry entry is a United States, gauge, Texas, port, crossing or world series. Reading these as this state's own readings would be wrong.

What changed #

Arkansas: 7 findings, 1 at a watch level and 6 noted

1. watchArkansas' covered employment is -0.1% against a year earlier, a watch level here: covered employment below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: jobs.yoy.emp = -0.1 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level

2. noteArkansas' average weekly wage was 4.6% higher than the same quarter a year earlier in 2026 Q1, on BLS QCEW's published over-the-year change.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +4.6 % = BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change for 2026 Q1, as published
   • the newest QCEW file carries no year-earlier level, so no move from one level to another is printed

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published

3. noteArkansas' covered employment was 0.1% lower than the same quarter a year earlier in 2026 Q1, on BLS QCEW's published over-the-year change.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -0.1 % = BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change for 2026 Q1, as published
   • the newest QCEW file carries no year-earlier level, so no move from one level to another is printed

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published

4. noteArkansas' typical home value of $227,264 ranks 47th of 51 US states, against a median of $350,752.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 8 on the 0-to-100 scale across 51 US states that published home.latest

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

5. noteArkansas' years of wages of 3.4 ranks 47th of 51 US states, against a median of 4.5.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 8 on the 0-to-100 scale across 51 US states that published yearsOfWages
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

The full Arkansas brief, with the arithmetic behind every sentence.

Every sentence in the brief is written by a rule table in lib/brief, not generated, and each one can print the arithmetic behind its number.