City · Lonoke County, Arkansas

Ward, Arkansas

Ward is a city in Lonoke County, Arkansas, part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR metro area. It has 6,573 residents. Ward, Arkansas has a quality-of-life score of 17 out of 100 (very low), ranking #12,959 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Arkansas it ranks #78 of 218 cities and towns. It ranks best on new homes permitted (high), income inequality (Gini index) (low) and rent as share of income (low). It ranks worst on average weekly wage (low), drought exposure (high) and grocery stores (low).

17Very low

Quality-of-life score: #12,959 of 15,651 cities and towns
Arkansas: #78 of 218 in AR
Population: 6,573 (2020-2024)
Land area: 5 mi²
Density: 1,375.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 0573130

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 72 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.

Safety13#13,645/15,637
Economy32#10,680/15,631
Housing99#96/14,977
Health24#11,862/15,609
Healthcare6#14,748/15,650
Environment4#14,814/15,453
Education33#10,417/15,649
Infrastructure74#4,133/15,650
Community9#14,183/15,651
Leisure & amenities2#15,263/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

New homes permitted · high25.7 /1k
97/100Arkansas 4.7 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.314
97/100Arkansas 0.479United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Rent as share of income · low19.5%
96/100Arkansas 27.6%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Rent-burdened households · low26.7%
95/100Arkansas 44.8%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070High uncertainty
Broadband subscriptions · high95.8%
82/100Arkansas 86.7%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Drug overdose deaths · low10.2 /100k
80/100Arkansas 10.6 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataLonoke County value

Weaknesses

Average weekly wage · low$839
2/100Arkansas $1,176United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsLonoke County value
Drought exposure · high97%
3/100Arkansas 78%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAALonoke County value
Grocery stores · low0.6 /10k
3/100Arkansas 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsLonoke County value
Primary care physicians · low20 /100k
5/100Arkansas 69 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLonoke County value
Arts, entertainment and recreation · low1.6 /10k
6/100Arkansas 3.9 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsLonoke County value
Access to exercise opportunities · low47.0%
9/100Arkansas 63.4%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLonoke County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
5,060 (2015-2019) → 6,573 (2020-2024)
+30%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateWorsening
11.9% (2015-2019) → 21.0% (2020-2024)
+9.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.0× (2015-2019) → 2.6× (2020-2024)
+33%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
33.0% (2015-2019) → 26.7% (2020-2024)
−6.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
89.6% (2015-2019) → 95.8% (2020-2024)
+6.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
High school diploma or higherWorsening
94.3% (2015-2019) → 88.7% (2020-2024)
−5.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%

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, Ward, Arkansas improved on 1 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 11 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.

Improved1

Broadband+6.1 points89.6% → 95.8%

Declined1

Price / income+0.6×2.0× → 2.6×

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Ward, Arkansas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	35.4 min2015-2019	29.0 min2020-2024	−6.5 min	Within the margin of error	94%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.4%2015-2019	22.1%2020-2024	+4.7 points	Within the margin of error	65%
Broadband subscriptions	89.6%2015-2019	95.8%2020-2024	+6.1 points	Improved	39%
Child poverty rate	11.9%2015-2019	21.0%2020-2024	+9.1 points	Within the margin of error	13%
Effective property tax rate	0.79%2015-2019	0.77%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	19%
High school diploma or higher	94.3%2015-2019	88.7%2020-2024	−5.7 points	Within the margin of error	5%
Home price to income ratio	2.0×2015-2019	2.6×2020-2024	+0.6×	Declined	39%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3342015-2019	0.3142020-2024	−0.020	Within the margin of error	67%
Median household income	$59,9312015-2019	$72,7342020-2024	+21%	Within the margin of error	36%
Poverty rate	11.0%2015-2019	11.1%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	43%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	23.6%2015-2019	19.5%2020-2024	−4.1 points	Within the margin of error	79%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	10.3%2015-2019	7.8%2020-2024	−2.5 points	Within the margin of error	73%

“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 Ward, Arkansas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Ward, 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, Ward, Arkansas itself moved −3.1 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

6,573 residents (±33)

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

2,306 households (±271)

Ward, Arkansas
Arkansas share

Under $25k7.5%†172
$25k–50k17%†402
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,306 households (±271)

Ward, Arkansas
Arkansas share

Own69%1,591
Rent31%715

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

3,035 workers (±423)

Ward, Arkansas
Arkansas share

Drive alone75%2,275
Carpool11%†343
Public transit0.0%0

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 Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, 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 Lonoke County, the county holding most of Ward's residents.

Lonoke County has 1,175 employer establishments, 155 for every 10,000 residents (0.62× the US rate of 248; 0.67× Arkansas's), with 12,365 paid employees at an average annual pay of $40,541. The Census Bureau also counts 5,550 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,175; 5,550 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 155; US 248 · Arkansas 229
Paid employees: 12,365
Average annual pay: $40,541; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	112	14.7	0.95×About typical	645	$52,522	529
Ambulatory health care services	97	12.8	0.61×Fewer than typical	786	$54,559	225
Restaurants and other eating places	90	11.8	0.65×Fewer than typical	1,818	$21,355	22
Lessors of real estate	60	7.9	0.64×Fewer than typical	159	$36,862	498
Building equipment contractors	57	7.5	1.25×About typical	359	$59,031	134
Limited-service restaurants	47	6.2	0.77×Fewer than typical	1,014	$18,527	12
Religious organizations	45	5.9	1.07×About typical	284	$20,539	—
Insurance agencies and brokerages	44	5.8	1.32×More than typical	168	$46,125	127
Construction of buildings	38	5	0.66×Fewer than typical	126	$47,746	223
Offices of other health practitioners	38	5	0.82×About typical	162	$44,383	121
Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors	38	5	1.51×More than typical	309	$61,599	79
Banks and credit unions	33	4.3	1.34×More than typical	255	$61,247	—

Rank places for an industry Open Lonoke County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 75,957 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 Ward, Arkansas: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
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

360.8FY2017
0FY2018
56FY2019
92.4FY2020
397.1FY2021
1.4KFY2022
940.2FY2023
558.5FY2024

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

Ward, Arkansas's figures are part of those of Lonoke County, AR ($24.8M 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: Ward is mostly in Lonoke County.

See federal money in Lonoke 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.

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

House

Eric A. "Rick" CrawfordR-AR-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 2.2%

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.

Lonoke County29100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR43

Other cities and towns in Lonoke 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/0573130

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends