Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
2.2 times the nonprofits per person than the typical Arkansas town. The town, settled in 1879, counts 2,258 residents.
Eureka Springs’ best subject grades are an A+ for schools and civic life and an A for walkability; its weakest is a D for incomes. Eureka Springs’ violent crime rate is 7.7 per 1,000 residents, above both Arkansas’ towns (3.6) and U.S. towns (1.6). Only 2 of Arkansas’ 201 towns score lower on cost of living. Eureka Springs’ trail density is 1.3 miles per square mile, above both Arkansas’ towns (0.3) and U.S. towns (0.4). No town in Arkansas scores higher than Eureka Springs on history. Lake Leatherwood Park, at 1,406 acres with 5.1 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Eureka Springs has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Eureka Springs beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Eureka Springs Elementary School | PK–4 | 227 |
| Eureka Springs Middle School | 5–8 | 192 |
| Eureka Springs High School | 9–12 | 221 |
Census counts: 3,984 in 1880, 2,166 in 2020. The archive holds 16 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 3 maps from 1900 on.
12 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Arkansas), ordered by how far Eureka Springs is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Eureka Springs, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Eureka Springs.
Two of the 5 schools are below, and why each made the list. The Eureka Springs School District runs its public schools. The 3 public schools in Eureka Springs teach 640 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eureka Springs Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 227 | B+ |
| Eureka Springs High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 221 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AR on state tests and graduation
For workers in Eureka Springs, the share who work remotely from home is 20%. Roughly one working resident in three has a job in Eureka Springs itself. Jobs based in Eureka Springs grew to 1,665 in 2023, 172 more than in 2013. Eureka Springs’ typical journey to work is 27 minutes.
| Eureka Springs | Arkansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 39% | 22% | 8% |
| Work from home | 20% | 6.2% | 11% |
| Median household income | $38,000 | $55,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 21 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Home values are up 3.8% over the year to September 2026. The rent at the middle of the market in Eureka Springs is $887 a month. The share of households in Eureka Springs who are owner-occupiers: 63%.
| Eureka Springs | Arkansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 63% | 60% | 73% |
| Median rent | $887 a month | $878 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
For Eureka Springs, the rate of thefts and burglaries is 10.9 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
17% of residents are under 18 in Eureka Springs. Only 6 of the 124 Arkansas towns we compare have a higher share of residents 65 or older than Eureka Springs. Population is up 3.8% locally since 2020, to 2,258 by the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Eureka Springs | Arkansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 52.8 years | 36.6 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 31% | 16% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 17% | 25% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 24% | 20% | 29% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3 points. Across Arkansas, 50.6% of residents are women.
| Eureka Springs | AR | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.7% | 12.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.7% | 10.8% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5% | 9.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 5.9% | 13% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.6% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.1% | 11.8% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.6% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 20.5% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.9% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 7.7% | 11.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 25.2% | 34.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 34.2% | 20.7% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.8% | 8.2% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18.2% | 16.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 5.9% | 9.5% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,300, single groups can be off by several points
Among 124 Arkansas towns, just 4 have a lower share of adults who feel lonely than Eureka Springs. The town beats the Arkansas average on 10 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 48% of Eureka Springs adults have high blood pressure.
| Eureka Springs | Arkansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 48% | 41% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 16% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 35% | 33% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 12% |
| What stands out | Eureka Springs | AR |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11.5% | 18.6% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 10.5% | 14.4% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.8% | 8.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expect chilly winters and warm summers in Eureka Springs.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA puts 37% of Eureka Springs’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 20% to tornadoes. The FEMA hazard score for Eureka Springs comes to 41 of 100. Households locally have drawn federal disaster aid in 8 declared disasters, most recently in 2024.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lake Leatherwood Park | 5.1 mi | 1,406 |
| 2. Harmon Park | 0.2 mi | 4 |
| 3. Basin Spring Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Eureka Springs. Close and well known come first.
29 mi Theme parkSilver Dollar City
in town LandmarkChrist of the Ozarks
26 mi MuseumCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art
27 mi LakeTable Rock Lake
34 mi Stadium & arenaDonald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
30 mi MuseumTitanic MuseumSilver Dollar City: Nan Fry, CC BY 2.0 · Christ of the Ozarks: Bobak Ha'Eri, Public domain · Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art: Charvex, CC0 · Table Rock Lake: KTrimble (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium: Bobak at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Titanic Museum: Brad A. Totman, Public domain
None within 15 miles of Eureka Springs; the nearest are
About 7 of every 100 Eureka Springs residents are enrolled in college, against 5 across Arkansas.
Where Eureka Springs’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
12 places in Eureka Springs on the National Register of Historic Places.
5 notable people were born in Eureka Springs.
City in Arkansas, United States
Eureka Springs is a city in Carroll County, Arkansas, United States, and one of two county seats for the county. It is located in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas, near the border with Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 2,166. In 1970, the entire city, as of its borders at that time, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Eureka Springs Historic District. Eureka Springs has been selected as one of America's Distinctive Destinations by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Eureka Springs was originally called "The Magic City", "Little Switzerland of the Ozarks", and later the "Stairstep Town" because of its mountainous terrain and…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
2.2 times the nonprofits per person than the typical Arkansas town.
That is 5.8 years of the area's median household income ($54,230 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
5 notable people were born here, including Pat Burrell and Ben Kynard.
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