City · Pike County, Arkansas

Murfreesboro, Arkansas

Murfreesboro is a city in Pike County, Arkansas. It has 1,819 residents. Murfreesboro, Arkansas has a quality-of-life score of 13 out of 100 (very low), ranking #13,565 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Arkansas it ranks #105 of 218 cities and towns. It ranks best on students per teacher (low), pharmacies (high) and grocery stores (high). It ranks worst on average weekly wage (low), distance to an emergency room (high) and public EV charging ports (low).

13Very low

Quality-of-life score: #13,565 of 15,651 cities and towns
Arkansas: #105 of 218 in AR
Population: 1,819 (2020-2024)
Land area: 4 mi²
Density: 494.8 /mi²
FIPS code: 0548290

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 71 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.

Safety34#10,369/15,637
Economy10#14,104/15,631
Housing99#127/14,977
Health8#14,351/15,609
Healthcare11#13,910/15,650
Environment8#14,166/15,453
Education36#9,953/15,649
Infrastructure8#14,372/15,650
Community11#13,956/15,651
Leisure & amenities54#7,198/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Murfreesboro, Arkansas ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Pike 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 · low9.3×
99/100Arkansas 12.5×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsPike County value
Pharmacies · high4.0 /10k
99/100Arkansas 2.0 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPike County value
Grocery stores · high4.0 /10k
98/100Arkansas 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPike County value
Public libraries · high3.0 /10k
96/100Arkansas 0.7 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesPike County value
Effective property tax rate · low0.41%
93/100Arkansas 0.56%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Rent-burdened households · low43.0%
88/100Arkansas 44.8%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070High uncertainty

Weaknesses

Average weekly wage · low$822
1/100Arkansas $1,176United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPike County value
Distance to an emergency room · high20.1 mi
3/100Arkansas 7.3 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesPike County value
Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100Arkansas 3.6 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyPike County value
Access to exercise opportunities · low35.3%
4/100Arkansas 63.4%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePike County value
Gyms and fitness centers · low0.0 /10k
4/100Arkansas 1.1 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPike County value
Mammography screening · low33.0%
4/100Arkansas 43.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePike County value

Trends

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

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
63.8% (2015-2019) → 80.5% (2020-2024)
+17 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$31,080 (2015-2019) → $53,264 (2020-2024)
+71%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
High school diploma or higherImproving
78.9% (2015-2019) → 89.4% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
10.1% (2015-2019) → 19.7% (2020-2024)
+9.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Unemployment rateImproving
10.4% (2015-2019) → 3.7% (2020-2024)
−6.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
37.2% (2015-2019) → 43.0% (2020-2024)
+5.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%

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, Murfreesboro, Arkansas improved on 3 of 11 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 8 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.

Improved3

High school++11 points78.9% → 89.4%
Bachelor's++9.7 points10.1% → 19.7%
Broadband+17 points63.8% → 80.5%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 11 measures

Change of every measure of Murfreesboro, Arkansas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	20.8 min2015-2019	23.7 min2020-2024	+2.9 min	Within the margin of error	21%
Bachelor's degree or higher	10.1%2015-2019	19.7%2020-2024	+9.7 points	Improved	89%
Broadband subscriptions	63.8%2015-2019	80.5%2020-2024	+17 points	Improved	84%
Effective property tax rate	0.60%2015-2019	0.41%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	56%
High school diploma or higher	78.9%2015-2019	89.4%2020-2024	+11 points	Improved	96%
Home price to income ratio	2.5×2015-2019	2.2×2020-2024	−0.3×	Within the margin of error	89%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4182015-2019	0.5152020-2024	+0.096	Within the margin of error	5%
Median household income	$31,0802015-2019	$53,2642020-2024	+71%	Within the margin of error	95%
Poverty rate	25.8%2015-2019	20.7%2020-2024	−5.1 points	Within the margin of error	81%
Rent as share of income	23.8%2015-2019	26.0%2020-2024	+2.2 points	Within the margin of error	38%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	13.7%2015-2019	10.2%2020-2024	−3.6 points	Within the margin of error	80%

“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 Murfreesboro, Arkansas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Murfreesboro, 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, Murfreesboro, Arkansas itself moved +2.2 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

1,819 residents (±307)

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

769 households (±134)

Murfreesboro, Arkansas
Arkansas share

Under $25k32%†248
$25k–50k17%†127
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

769 households (±134)

Murfreesboro, Arkansas
Arkansas share

Own71%543
Rent29%†226

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+9.5 points).

† 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

701 workers (±167)

Murfreesboro, Arkansas
Arkansas share

Drive alone86%604
Carpool11%†76
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 Pike County, the county holding most of Murfreesboro's residents.

Pike County has 214 employer establishments, 210 for every 10,000 residents (0.85× the US rate of 248; 0.92× Arkansas's), with 2,032 paid employees at an average annual pay of $37,505. The Census Bureau also counts 883 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 214; 883 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 210; US 248 · Arkansas 229
Paid employees: 2,032
Average annual pay: $37,505; US $68,342

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

Truck transportation	17	16.7	3.30×More than typical	63	$53,905	37
Restaurants and other eating places	14	13.7	0.75×Fewer than typical	169	$19,041	10
Ambulatory health care services	13	12.8	0.61×Fewer than typical	77	$53,675	34
Specialty trade contractors	12	11.8	0.76×Fewer than typical	38	$38,868	116
Religious organizations	9	8.8	1.59×Too few to compare	54	$18,519	—
Full-service restaurants	7	6.9	0.89×Too few to compare	65	$19,415	—
Traveler accommodation	7	6.9	3.81×Too few to compare	62	$18,452	4
Banks and credit unions	6	5.9	1.82×Too few to compare	63	$52,937	—
Building equipment contractors	6	5.9	0.98×Too few to compare	19	$36,105	33
Construction of buildings	6	5.9	0.78×Too few to compare	25	$35,440	52
General merchandise stores	6	5.9	3.33×Too few to compare	44	$22,841	6
Insurance agencies and brokerages	6	5.9	1.34×Too few to compare	20	$37,900	18

Rank places for an industry Open Pike County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 10,187 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 $1,166 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Murfreesboro, Arkansas: $0.64 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $1,166; −76% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.64; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 100%; 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

Department of the Army$1,166100%

Top recipients

DOBLE ENGINEERING COMPANY$1,166100%

Spending by fiscal year

135.4KFY2017
1.8KFY2018
4.6KFY2019
1.9KFY2020
3KFY2021
2.2KFY2022
27.6KFY2023
2.5KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing · 3345$1,166100%

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

Murfreesboro, Arkansas's figures are part of those of Pike County, AR ($45.6K in FY2026), never added to them: 2.6% of that total.

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

See federal money in Pike 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.

Murfreesboro, 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.

Pike County16100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Pike 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
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/0548290

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends