Arkansas · Pulaski County

Little Rock Authority

Population

203,436

Median income

$63,003

Median age

36

Figures from U.S. Census ACS — each figure links to its source query.

Also known as: Littlerock Metro Authority

Little Rock sits at the geographic center of Arkansas in a way that feels almost deliberate, as though the state's founders drew a circle and said, "there." It is the capital, the largest city, and, by most federal measures, a place of genuine demographic complexity — a mid-sized American city that resists easy summary.

Population and Demographics

According to Census ACS 5-Year 2024 data, Little Rock has a total population of 203,436. The city's median age is 35.9 years, and 24.3 percent of residents are under 18, a share that the underlying data characterizes as family-oriented. The population breaks down as 93,966 white residents, 79,926 Black residents, 6,078 Asian residents, and 21,066 Hispanic or Latino residents — a distribution that reflects the city's position as both a state capital and a regional hub with a long and complicated history.

There are 86,853 total households in the city, of which 47,716 are family households, per the same Census ACS source.

Housing and Affordability

Housing in Little Rock occupies a middle ground that economists tend to describe as moderate. The home-price-to-income ratio stands at 3.8, which, derived from Census income and housing data, places the city in the "moderate" affordability category — neither the strained markets of coastal metros nor the unusually low ratios found in some rural counties. Renters fare somewhat better: median rent consumes 20.3 percent of household income, a figure the same source classifies as affordable. For context, the conventional threshold of concern is 30 percent.

Economy and Income

The Census ACS 5-Year 2023 data records a median household income of $60,583 for Little Rock. The city functions as Arkansas's administrative and commercial center, which shapes its employment base toward government, healthcare, finance, and professional services — sectors that tend to produce the kind of income distribution that lands a city squarely in the moderate range on most affordability indices.

Education

Little Rock supports 15 colleges and universities, per NCES IPEDS 2022 data matched to the city. The most prominent of these, by enrollment, is the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, which according to College Scorecard data enrolls 4,949 students, charges $9,748 in annual in-state tuition and $22,158 out-of-state, carries an admission rate of 58.78 percent, and reports a median SAT score of 1,049. The completion rate is listed at a figure that reflects the institution's open-access mission and the realities of serving a significant share of working adult students.

The city also has 162 licensed childcare centers, per state facility data, ranging from large center-based operations to smaller specialized programs. That number is worth pausing on: 162 facilities serving a city of roughly 200,000 people represents a meaningful infrastructure of early childhood care, though proximity and cost vary considerably across neighborhoods.

Broadband Access

According to FCC Broadband Data Collection figures as of June 2025, 100 percent of housing units in Little Rock have access to broadband at speeds of at least 25 Mbps download / 3 Mbps upload, and 100 percent have access at the 100/20 and 250/25 tiers as well. Access at the 1,000/100 Mbps tier reaches approximately 90 percent of units. The total housing unit count used in this calculation is 118,893. These figures represent availability as reported by providers, not adoption rates.

Air Quality

The EPA's AQI Annual Summary for 2024 recorded 366 days of air quality data for Little Rock. Of those, 118 were classified as "good" days and 242 as "moderate." Five days fell into the "unhealthy for sensitive groups" category, and one day reached the "very unhealthy" threshold, with a maximum AQI of 205. There were no days classified as hazardous. The median AQI for the year is recorded in the underlying data. For a city of this size in the mid-South, the profile is broadly typical, though the single very unhealthy day is a reminder that air quality in river-valley cities can be affected by temperature inversions and regional ozone patterns.

Climate

The nearest weather station to Little Rock, LITTLE ROCK AP ADAMS FIELD, sits 6.5 miles from the city center and records an average annual temperature of 64.0 degrees Fahrenheit and annual precipitation of 56.4 inches, per NOAA ACIS data. That precipitation figure is notably high — higher than Seattle, a comparison that surprises people who associate heavy rainfall with the Pacific Northwest rather than the Arkansas River valley.

Civic and Community Organizations

Little Rock has 19 civic service organizations on record, including chapters of the Boy Scouts of America and a range of animal rescue and community service groups, per IRS Exempt Organizations data. The city's chamber of commerce affiliate is the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce Foundation Inc., matched via the IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File.

There are 202 religious congregations registered in the city, per IRS Exempt Organizations data, spanning a wide range of denominations and traditions. Seven animal shelters serve the area, including the Humane Society of Pulaski County and the Animal Rescue Fund of Arkansas.

Arts and Cultural Institutions

Ten arts organizations are registered in Little Rock, among them Ballet Arkansas — a detail that tends to surprise people who underestimate the cultural infrastructure of mid-sized Southern cities. The city also has 21 nearby attractions catalogued in the underlying data, including the Little Rock Zoo (1.6 miles from the city center), the Daisy Bates House (3.5 miles), and the Joseph Taylor Robinson House. The Daisy Bates House, in particular, carries significant historical weight as a site connected to the 1957 Central High School desegregation crisis.

Regulatory and Legal Context

Little Rock's municipal code is maintained and accessible via Municode at https://library.municode.com/ar/little_rock. The city operates within Arkansas's broader statutory framework, which governs everything from contractor licensing to real estate practice. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 17-25-102, incorporated towns and cities are among the entities whose authorized representatives are exempt from the state's contractor licensing requirements when acting in an official capacity — a provision that shapes how municipal construction and maintenance work is administered.

The city's position as state capital means that a substantial portion of the regulatory activity affecting daily life in Little Rock originates at the state level rather than the municipal level, a structural feature common to capital cities that can make local governance feel simultaneously powerful and constrained.

Further Reading

• U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates — https://data.census.gov
• Federal Communications Commission, Broadband Data Collection — referenced via FCC BDC Jun 2025 methodology
• National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data — https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, AQI Annual Summary 2024 — EPA AQI Annual Summary series