Lower incomes, higher poverty rates and trouble covering basic needs – these are some of the pressures on Arkansas families. Moreover, many conditions are dramatically worse for African American and Latino individuals and families.

Teen births have fallen 49% since 2010 but remain high at 27 per 1,000 teen females – making Arkansas 51st in the nation on this indicator. Arkansas was 9th highest in the nation for child abuse and neglect, with 13.5 children per 1,000 in substantiated reports of abuse.

Arkansas was 47th in the nation for both child poverty and people living in poverty, with 16% of individuals and 22% of children living in poverty. Rates have increased and were significantly higher among children of color – 41% of African American and 29% of Latino children were in poverty, compared to 17% of white children.

Arkansas was 49th in the nation for household income, with a median income 75% of the national level at $56,300. Median income was dramatically lower for African American households at $37,400 compared to Asian and white households at $85,000 and $61,000, respectively.

People are working - unemployment in Arkansas was just 3.3% in 2022, slightly lower than the national rate and down from a high of 7.9% in 2011. Unemployment was more prevalent among Black or African American residents (9.4%) than Latino (4.5%), white (4.3%) and Asian (2.9%) residents in 2018-22. 

But income from jobs is often not enough. Almost half of Arkansas households were “ALICE” households – Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed – meaning they do not earn enough to fully provide for basic needs such as housing, food, transportation, child care, health care, and necessary technology - even though many have income higher than the federal poverty level. And 16% of state residents were food insecure in 2021, above the national rate of 10%, making Arkansas 50th in the nation on this indicator. Just over half the census tracts in Arkansas were food deserts, higher than the 38% value for the nation.

Access to affordable financial services is also important to individuals and families. In 2017, slightly less than 8% of Arkansas households were unbanked (meaning they had no checking or savings accounts) and 19% were underbanked (meaning they used alternative services despite having accounts). And rates were much higher among some groups, with 31% of black or African American households and 24% of Latino households underbanked, compared to 17% of white households in 2015.

Housing is a bright spot - generally affordable in Arkansas, with homelessness relatively low. The homeownership rate was 66%, slightly higher than the national rate, and the state’s rate of homelessness was 10th lowest in the nation. However, homeownership was much lower among African Americans (44%) and Hispanics (53%). And though the housing affordability ratio of 2.9 put Arkansas 9th in the nation for affordable housing, 24% of housing units in Arkansas were considered unaffordable, costing their occupants more than 30% of their income.