Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Rector’s best subject grade is an A for cost of living; its weakest is a D for health. The median household income is $48K, and 20% of residents live below the poverty line. Among 123 Arkansas towns, just 9 have a lower typical rent than Rector. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 85% of U.S. communities, with earthquakes at the top. Rector has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Scatterville Cemetery and Rector Waterworks Building. Rector has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Rector beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Scatterville Cemetery| Widest gap | Rector | AR |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 12.1% | 8.6% |
Where Rector’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Arkansas), ordered by how far Rector is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 525 in 1890, 1,862 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 2016 and 4 maps from 1935 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Rector, 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 Rector.
In Rector, 29% of adults say their health is fair or poor, against 25% in Arkansas’ towns and 19% across U.S. towns. 38% of Rector adults get no exercise outside work.
| Rector | Arkansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 16% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 34% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 25% | 19% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 44% | 41% | 35% |
| What stands out | Rector | AR |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 12.1% | 8.6% |
| More adults with heart disease | 10.1% | 7.7% |
| More adults who have had a stroke | 5.1% | 4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its two schools are below. The public schools here belong to the Rector School District. Also worth knowing: 2 public schools serve Rector, with 625 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rector Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 389 | C+ |
| Rector High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 236 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AR on state tests and graduation
Only 10 of the 124 Arkansas towns we compare have a higher natural-hazard score from FEMA than Rector. Of the losses FEMA expects here, 55% come from earthquakes and 12% from cold waves. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Rector after 6 declared disasters, most recently in 2025.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Values rose 5.8% in the 12 months to September 2026. Among households in Rector, 67% own their home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Employers in Rector added 59 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 317. For most workers, Rector is a place to come home to: only 15% work in town. The mean commuting time in the town is 25 minutes. The top destinations are Paragould (19%), Jonesboro (11%) and Piggott (8%).
| Rector | Arkansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $48,000 | $55,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 15% | 22% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 25 minutes | 21 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Summer afternoons peak near 90° in July, and January nights bottom out around 29°; snowfall runs to about 3 inches a winter. Winters in Rector are mild and summers warm, with plenty of rain.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
For adults 25 and older in Rector, the share who hold a bachelor’s degree or more is 17%. Children under 18 are nearly a fifth of residents (23% statewide). 1,789 people lived in Rector by the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate, 3.2% fewer than in 2020. 20% never finished high school.
| Rector | Arkansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 19% | 25% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 17% | 20% | 29% |
| Median age | 37.7 years | 36.6 years | 40.5 years |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.6 points. Across Arkansas, 50.6% of residents are women. Among residents 35 to 44, 76% are men (AR 50%).
| Rector | AR | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.5% | 12.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.5% | 10.8% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.2% | 9.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 17.4% | 13% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 16.1% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.4% | 11.8% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.2% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.9% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.7% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 19.9% | 11.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 44.7% | 34.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 14.7% | 20.7% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 4.2% | 8.2% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 10% | 16.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 6.5% | 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
Across 1 park or preserve: 0.4 miles of trail. One park or preserve covers 27 acres in Rector. Its concentration of trails is 0.3 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Jermey McDaniel Memorial Sports Complex and Rector Memorial Park | 0.2 mi | 27 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Rector; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Rector residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Arkansas.
3 places in Rector on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Rector.
City in Arkansas, United States
Rector is a city in southeastern Clay County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, Rector had a population of 1,862.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
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.
3 notable people were born here, including Edwin A. Doss and Billy Pat Wright.
