City · Johnson County, Arkansas

Clarksville, Arkansas

Clarksville is a city in Johnson County, Arkansas. It has 9,526 residents. Clarksville, Arkansas has a quality-of-life score of 5 out of 100 (very low), ranking #14,806 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Arkansas it ranks #189 of 218 cities and towns. It ranks best on average commute time (low), effective property tax rate (low) and drinking water violations (low). It ranks worst on broadband subscriptions (low), grocery stores (low) and new business applications (low).

5Very low

Quality-of-life score: #14,806 of 15,651 cities and towns
Arkansas: #189 of 218 in AR
Population: 9,526 (2020-2024)
Land area: 18 mi²
Density: 522.9 /mi²
FIPS code: 0514140

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety28#11,282/15,637
Economy2#15,381/15,631
Housing68#4,758/14,977
Health9#14,222/15,609
Healthcare22#12,284/15,650
Environment37#9,748/15,453
Education10#14,095/15,649
Infrastructure7#14,547/15,650
Community4#15,099/15,651
Leisure & amenities12#13,715/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Clarksville, Arkansas ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Johnson County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Average commute time · low16.2 min
95/100Arkansas 22.5 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Effective property tax rate · low0.50%
87/100Arkansas 0.56%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100Arkansas 1United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteJohnson County value
Hospital quality rating · high4.0
80/100Arkansas 2.8United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesJohnson County value
Rent-burdened households · low51.6%
78/100Arkansas 44.8%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Time spent in the emergency room · low143 min
72/100Arkansas 165 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesJohnson County value

Weaknesses

Broadband subscriptions · low72.2%
1/100Arkansas 86.7%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Grocery stores · low0.4 /10k
1/100Arkansas 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsJohnson County value
New business applications · low6.7 /1k
1/100Arkansas 12.7 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauJohnson County value
Child poverty rate · high40.0%
3/100Arkansas 19.6%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Average weekly wage · low$846
3/100Arkansas $1,176United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsJohnson County value
Food environment index · low5.8
3/100Arkansas 4.6United States 7.62019 & 2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteJohnson County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

New homes permittedWorsening
4.3 /1k (2021) → 0.5 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−88%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.9× (2015-2019) → 4.4× (2020-2024)
+51%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
High school diploma or higherImproving
75.0% (2015-2019) → 81.0% (2020-2024)
+6 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Child poverty rateWorsening
35.5% (2015-2019) → 40.0% (2020-2024)
+4.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Unemployment rateWorsening
1.0% (2015-2019) → 5.4% (2020-2024)
+4.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
68.0% (2015-2019) → 72.2% (2020-2024)
+4.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Clarksville, Arkansas improved on 0 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 13 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved0

No measure improved by more than its margin of error.

Declined1

Price / income+1.5×2.9× → 4.4×

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Clarksville, Arkansas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	13.7 min2015-2019	16.2 min2020-2024	+2.4 min	Within the margin of error	24%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.8%2015-2019	17.8%2020-2024	+1 points	Within the margin of error	35%
Broadband subscriptions	68.0%2015-2019	72.2%2020-2024	+4.2 points	Within the margin of error	27%
Child poverty rate	35.5%2015-2019	40.0%2020-2024	+4.4 points	Within the margin of error	22%
Effective property tax rate	0.39%2015-2019	0.50%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	6%
High school diploma or higher	75.0%2015-2019	81.0%2020-2024	+6 points	Within the margin of error	86%
Home price to income ratio	2.9×2015-2019	4.4×2020-2024	+1.5×	Declined	9%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4512015-2019	0.4682020-2024	+0.017	Within the margin of error	36%
Median household income	$35,9512015-2019	$37,3732020-2024	+4%	Within the margin of error	10%
Poverty rate	24.7%2015-2019	27.6%2020-2024	+2.9 points	Within the margin of error	21%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	30.2%2015-2019	30.6%2020-2024	+0.4 points	Within the margin of error	51%
Rent-burdened households	50.7%2015-2019	51.6%2020-2024	+0.9 points	Within the margin of error	52%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	11.4%2015-2019	8.0%2020-2024	−3.3 points	Within the margin of error	79%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Clarksville, Arkansas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Clarksville, Arkansas in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Clarksville, Arkansas itself moved −5.4 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

9,526 residents (±30)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

3,895 households (±315)

Clarksville, Arkansas
Arkansas share

Under $25k27%1,070
$25k–50k42%1,621
$50k–75k9.8%†381

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

3,895 households (±315)

Clarksville, Arkansas
Arkansas share

Own50%1,952
Rent50%1,943

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

3,852 workers (±381)

Clarksville, Arkansas
Arkansas share

Drive alone84%3,243
Carpool7.3%†282
Public transit0.0%0

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Johnson County, the county holding most of Clarksville's residents.

Johnson County has 413 employer establishments, 158 for every 10,000 residents (0.64× the US rate of 248; 0.69× Arkansas's), with 7,877 paid employees at an average annual pay of $40,883. The Census Bureau also counts 1,649 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 413; 1,649 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 158; US 248 · Arkansas 229
Paid employees: 7,877
Average annual pay: $40,883; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Johnson County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	42	16.1	0.77×Fewer than typical	238	$63,235	90
Restaurants and other eating places	35	13.4	0.73×Fewer than typical	499	$16,581	13
Specialty trade contractors	29	11.1	0.72×Fewer than typical	420	$85,417	182
Limited-service restaurants	18	6.9	0.86×About typical	338	$15,059	4
Offices of other health practitioners	18	6.9	1.13×About typical	47	$38,404	39
Religious organizations	17	6.5	1.17×About typical	66	$20,409	—
Building equipment contractors	16	6.1	1.02×About typical	327	$99,795	41
Lessors of real estate	16	6.1	0.50×Fewer than typical	55	$29,782	126
Gasoline stations	15	5.7	1.77×More than typical	105	$34,419	—
Full-service restaurants	14	5.4	0.70×Fewer than typical	150	$20,633	6
Construction of buildings	13	5	0.66×Fewer than typical	28	$34,821	95
General merchandise stores	13	5	2.81×More than typical	414	$29,829	11

Rank places for an industry Open Johnson County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 26,135 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $68.9K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Clarksville, Arkansas: $7.23 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $68.9K; +117% vs FY2025
Per resident: $7.23; US $1,994
Sole-source: 4.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 8.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Forest Service$62.9K91%
Health Resources and Services Administration$4,7256.9%
National Park Service$1,2061.8%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

60.2KFY2017
64.6KFY2018
126KFY2019
953.5KFY2020
74.2KFY2021
338KFY2022
43.3KFY2023
32.2KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Nonscheduled air transportation · 4812$43.6K63%
Support activities for forestry · 1153$15.3K22%
Other animal production · 1129$4,7256.9%
Other fabricated metal product manufacturing · 3329$2,3813.5%
Services to buildings and dwellings · 5617$1,7042.5%
Other chemical product and preparation manufacturing · 3259$1,206

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Clarksville, Arkansas, so they do not add up across cities.

Clarksville, Arkansas's figures are part of those of Johnson County, AR ($518.9K in FY2026), never added to them: 13% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Clarksville is mostly in Johnson County.

See federal money in Johnson County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Clarksville, Arkansas is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Bruce WestermanR-AR-4 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 0.4%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Johnson County6100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Johnson County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/0514140

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends