Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,776, settled in 1887.
Lamar’s best subject grade is an A− for cost of living; its weakest is a D for incomes. No town among the 109 in Arkansas we compare has a lower violent crime rate than Lamar. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 80% of U.S. towns. Among 123 Arkansas towns, just 1 have a lower median rent than Lamar. On the outdoors, just 18 of Arkansas’ 201 towns do worse. Cabin Creek Bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places. Lamar has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Lamar beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Arkansas), ordered by how far Lamar is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 474 in 1900, 1,719 in 2020. The archive holds 1 old photo or paper going back to 2005 and 3 maps from 1888 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lamar, 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 Lamar.
Lamar beats the Arkansas average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 20% of adults report frequent mental distress in Lamar, where Arkansas’ towns sit at 20% and U.S. towns at 17%. 27% of Lamar adults have been diagnosed with depression.
| Lamar | Arkansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 20% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 16% | 14% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 25% | 23% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 34% | 25% |
| What stands out | Lamar | AR |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 23.3% | 18.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Lamar School District. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Lamar High School, with 370 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lamar Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 590 | C+ |
| Lamar High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 370 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AR on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 76% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
That puts Lamar against 25% in Arkansas’ towns and 22% across U.S. towns. Children under 18 are 32% of residents (23% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 17% of residents (22% statewide). Lamar has grown 3.2% since 2020, to 1,776 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Lamar | Arkansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 32% | 25% | 22% |
| Median age | 35.5 years | 36.6 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 26% | 20% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 16% | 16% | 18% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±6.2 points. Across Arkansas, 50.6% of residents are women.
| Lamar | AR | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 15.7% | 12.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 16.6% | 10.8% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 4% | 9.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13.3% | 13% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 15.6% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10% | 11.8% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 9.1% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.3% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.4% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 13.4% | 11.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 36.9% | 34.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.8% | 20.7% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 6.5% | 8.2% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 20.3% | 16.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 6.1% | 9.5% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,800, single groups can be off by several points
Lamar has mild winters and hot summers, with plenty of rain. Lamar’s July high is 92°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Most working residents leave Lamar for work: only 4% work in town. Jobs based in Lamar grew to 429 in 2023, 124 more than in 2013. The median household income in Lamar is $51,000.
| Lamar | Arkansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 23% | 18% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.5% | 22% | 8% |
| Median household income | $51,000 | $55,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 21 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The typical Lamar home is worth about $195,000, up 5.8% in a year, 13% below the Arkansas typical home. 74% of households own their home in Lamar.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
1 within 15 miles of the center of Lamar
About 2 of every 100 Lamar residents are enrolled in college, against 5 across Arkansas.
City in Arkansas, United States
Lamar is a city in Johnson County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, Lamar had a population of 1,719.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Lamar.
| Town | AR rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamar | — | — | A− | B | B− | C− |
| Clarksville | #93 | D | C+ | C− | B | D |
| Knoxville | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Lamar has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Knoxville isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Lamar with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.