City · Pope County, Arkansas

Dover, Arkansas

Dover is a city in Pope County, Arkansas, part of the Russellville, AR metro area. It has 1,795 residents. Dover, Arkansas has a quality-of-life score of 17 out of 100 (very low), ranking #12,982 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Arkansas it ranks #80 of 218 cities and towns. It ranks best on students per teacher (low), drinking water violations (low) and pharmacies (high). It ranks worst on median household income (low), adult obesity (high) and mental health care shortage (high).

17Very low

Quality-of-life score: #12,982 of 15,651 cities and towns
Arkansas: #80 of 218 in AR
Population: 1,795 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 634.9 /mi²
FIPS code: 0519600

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.

Safety25#11,782/15,637
Economy11#13,968/15,631
Housing71#4,286/14,977
Health17#13,012/15,609
Healthcare43#8,987/15,650
Environment25#11,606/15,453
Education51#7,703/15,649
Infrastructure15#13,273/15,650
Community25#11,709/15,651
Leisure & amenities17#12,948/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Dover, Arkansas ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Pope 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

Students per teacher · low11.0×
93/100Arkansas 12.5×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsPope County value
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100Arkansas 1United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePope County value
Pharmacies · high2.3 /10k
84/100Arkansas 2.0 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPope County value
Social associations · high13.0 /10k
82/100Arkansas 11.7 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePope County value
Reading scores · high3.24
82/100Arkansas 2.89United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePope County value
Drug overdose deaths · low9.7 /100k
82/100Arkansas 10.6 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataPope County value

Weaknesses

Median household income · low$32,332
2/100Arkansas $62,146United States $81,6042020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19013
Adult obesity · high45.9%
3/100Arkansas 40.6%United States 38.2%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Mental health care shortage · high19.0
4/100Arkansas 12.8United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationPope County value
Voter turnout · low51.0%
5/100Arkansas 52.5%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionPope County value
Poverty rate · high30.5%
5/100Arkansas 15.3%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Food environment index · low6.4
7/100Arkansas 4.6United States 7.62019 & 2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePope County value

Trends

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

PopulationFalling
2,045 (2015-2019) → 1,795 (2020-2024)
−12%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateWorsening
19.7% (2015-2019) → 51.3% (2020-2024)
+32 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Poverty rateWorsening
19.0% (2015-2019) → 30.5% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
New homes permittedWorsening
0.9 /1k (2021) → 0.6 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−35%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsWorsening
66.6% (2015-2019) → 61.1% (2020-2024)
−5.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Average commute timeWorsening
26.0 min (2015-2019) → 31.9 min (2020-2024)
+23%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min

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, Dover, Arkansas improved on 0 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 12 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

Child poverty+32 points19.7% → 51.3%

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Dover, Arkansas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	26.0 min2015-2019	31.9 min2020-2024	+5.9 min	Within the margin of error	7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.0%2015-2019	16.3%2020-2024	+2.3 points	Within the margin of error	45%
Broadband subscriptions	66.6%2015-2019	61.1%2020-2024	−5.4 points	Within the margin of error	2%
Child poverty rate	19.7%2015-2019	51.3%2020-2024	+32 points	Declined	2%
High school diploma or higher	82.6%2015-2019	81.7%2020-2024	−0.9 points	Within the margin of error	24%
Home price to income ratio	2.8×2015-2019	3.5×2020-2024	+0.6×	Within the margin of error	39%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4752015-2019	0.4662020-2024	−0.008	Within the margin of error	58%
Median household income	$37,1882015-2019	$32,3322020-2024	−13%	Within the margin of error	2%
Poverty rate	19.0%2015-2019	30.5%2020-2024	+12 points	Within the margin of error	3%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	32.2%2015-2019	31.0%2020-2024	−1.2 points	Within the margin of error	64%
Rent-burdened households	56.8%2015-2019	52.9%2020-2024	−3.9 points	Within the margin of error	69%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	7.5%2015-2019	5.8%2020-2024	−1.7 points	Within the margin of error	65%

“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 Dover, Arkansas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Dover, 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, Dover, Arkansas itself moved −2.8 points in standing on average over the same 9 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

1,795 residents (±439)

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

731 households (±204)

Dover, Arkansas
Arkansas share

Under $25k40%†292
$25k–50k27%†194
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

731 households (±204)

Dover, Arkansas
Arkansas share

Own69%†501
Rent31%†230

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

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

448 workers (±154)

Dover, Arkansas
Arkansas share

Drive alone75%†337
Carpool18%†82
Public transit

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Russellville, AR

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 Pope County, the county holding most of Dover's residents.

Pope County has 1,601 employer establishments, 247 for every 10,000 residents (1.00× the US rate of 248; 1.08× Arkansas's), with 23,884 paid employees at an average annual pay of $48,273. The Census Bureau also counts 4,358 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,601; 4,358 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 247; US 248 · Arkansas 229
Paid employees: 23,884
Average annual pay: $48,273; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	149	23	1.10×About typical	977	$50,846	222
Restaurants and other eating places	115	17.8	0.97×About typical	2,169	$18,864	22
Specialty trade contractors	107	16.5	1.07×About typical	736	$59,679	394
Lessors of real estate	66	10.2	0.83×About typical	168	$34,268	361
Offices of other health practitioners	65	10	1.65×More than typical	264	$41,045	91
Religious organizations	63	9.7	1.76×More than typical	358	$22,061	—
Limited-service restaurants	58	9	1.12×About typical	1,160	$17,647	9
Building equipment contractors	50	7.7	1.28×More than typical	382	$64,895	61
Construction of buildings	47	7.3	0.96×About typical	238	$63,693	182
Truck transportation	41	6.3	1.25×More than typical	677	$51,606	122
Full-service restaurants	40	6.2	0.80×About typical	822	$20,628	10
Services to buildings and dwellings	37	5.7	0.85×About typical	254	$28,717	330

Rank places for an industry Open Pope County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 64,709 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 $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Dover, Arkansas: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0; −100% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; 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

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

1.3KFY2017
22.1FY2018
1KFY2020
0FY2021
1.2KFY2022
323.7FY2023
7.1KFY2024
19.4FY2025

What was bought

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 Dover, Arkansas, so they do not add up across cities.

Dover, Arkansas's figures are part of those of Pope County, AR ($3.8M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

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

See federal money in Pope 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.

Dover, 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.

Pope County29100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Russellville, AR20

Other cities and towns in Pope 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/0519600

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends