Best Places to Buy Rental Property in Arkansas (2026)

The top of the Arkansas list is Hot Springs at 7.8 percent gross, and it gets there on rent rather than price: $1,495 a month against a $229,000 median closed price, while the cheapest city, North Little Rock at $190,000, ranks third. Volume and yield part ways: Bella Vista closes about 124 homes a month, more than any other city here, and ranks eleventh on yield at 6.4 percent. The table shows the 20 highest-yielding markets among 26 Arkansas cities meeting the coverage requirements; the yield range above describes the markets shown. One more city clears the closings bar but not the rental one and appears in a second table with entry price only.

The ranking

Gross yield here is an asking rental yield screen: twelve times the median asking rent over the median closed price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management or repairs. Sales use municipal boundaries. Rental listings use the associated city name and may cover a wider postal area. The ratio therefore compares related, but not perfectly matched, market samples, and a home bought at the median price does not necessarily earn the median rent. Confirmed-close medians appear where at least 30 confirmed lease closes were recorded in the window.

City by city

1. Hot Springs, 7.8 percent gross

Hot Springs ranks first on yield but only seventh on entry price: the $1,495 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. The numbers: $229,000 median closed price across 225 closings, $1,495 median asking rent across 270 listings, 7.8 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $135 per square foot. Full detail is on the Hot Springs market page.

2. Benton, 7.6 percent gross

Rent is what puts Benton second here; on price alone it would sit ninth of 20. At $241,450 to buy and $1,525 a month to rent, Benton yields 7.6 percent gross on 352 tracked closings. See the Benton page for the property mix and the price band.

3. North Little Rock, 6.9 percent gross

The numbers: $190,000 median closed price across 474 closings, $1,100 median asking rent across 1,138 listings, 6.9 percent gross. The North Little Rock market page carries the monthly figures.

4. Jonesboro, 6.8 percent gross

Rent is what puts Jonesboro fourth here; on price alone it would sit eighth of 20. At $229,900 to buy and $1,300 a month to rent, Jonesboro yields 6.8 percent gross on 611 tracked closings. See the Jonesboro page for the property mix and the price band.

5. Siloam Springs, 6.7 percent gross

Rent is what puts Siloam Springs fifth here; on price alone it would sit tenth of 20. The numbers: $250,000 median closed price across 189 closings, $1,400 median asking rent across 485 listings, 6.7 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $168 per square foot. Full detail is on the Siloam Springs market page.

6. Searcy, 6.6 percent gross

The numbers: $221,150 median closed price across 232 closings, $1,225 median asking rent across 205 listings, 6.6 percent gross. See the Searcy page for the property mix and the price band.

7. Sherwood, 6.6 percent gross

Rent is what puts Sherwood seventh here; on price alone it would sit twelfth of 20. The numbers: $262,000 median closed price across 252 closings, $1,450 median asking rent across 400 listings, 6.6 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $151 per square foot. Full detail is on the Sherwood market page.

8. Maumelle, 6.6 percent gross

Maumelle ranks eighth on yield but only fifteenth on entry price: the $1,700 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. Homes in Maumelle closed at a median of $310,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,700, a gross yield of 6.6 percent. Houses there closed at about $161 per square foot. Full detail is on the Maumelle market page.

9. Pea Ridge, 6.5 percent gross

Pea Ridge ranks ninth on yield but only sixteenth on entry price: the $1,795 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. Homes in Pea Ridge closed at a median of $330,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,795, a gross yield of 6.5 percent. The Pea Ridge market page carries the monthly figures.

10. Cabot, 6.5 percent gross

The numbers: $250,000 median closed price across 270 closings, $1,350 median asking rent across 258 listings, 6.5 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $144 per square foot. Full detail is on the Cabot market page.

11. Bella Vista, 6.4 percent gross

Bella Vista ranks eleventh on yield but only nineteenth on entry price: the $1,995 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. Homes in Bella Vista closed at a median of $375,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,995, a gross yield of 6.4 percent. See the Bella Vista page for the property mix and the price band.

12. Paragould, 6.0 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Paragould far: it is second cheapest on this list and twelfth on yield, with rent of $975 against a $194,500 median price. Homes in Paragould closed at a median of $194,500 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $975, a gross yield of 6.0 percent. Houses there closed at about $126 per square foot. See the Paragould page for the property mix and the price band.

13. Conway, 5.9 percent gross

The numbers: $276,000 median closed price across 393 closings, $1,350 median asking rent across 762 listings, 5.9 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $160 per square foot. Full detail is on the Conway market page.

14. Russellville, 5.8 percent gross

Russellville is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: third on price, fourteenth on yield, because a $206,000 home there rents for only $1,000. At $206,000 to buy and $1,000 a month to rent, Russellville yields 5.8 percent gross on 195 tracked closings. Full detail is on the Russellville market page.

15. Farmington, 5.7 percent gross

The numbers: $366,000 median closed price across 188 closings, $1,750 median asking rent across 363 listings, 5.7 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $203 per square foot. The Farmington market page carries the monthly figures.

16. Fort Smith, 5.7 percent gross

Fort Smith is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: fourth on price, sixteenth on yield, because a $209,450 home there rents for only $1,000. The numbers: $209,450 median closed price across 650 closings, $1,000 median asking rent across 1,294 listings, 5.7 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $121 per square foot. See the Fort Smith page for the property mix and the price band.

17. Mountain Home, 5.6 percent gross

Mountain Home is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: fifth on price, seventeenth on yield, because a $215,000 home there rents for only $1,000. Homes in Mountain Home closed at a median of $215,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,000, a gross yield of 5.6 percent. Full detail is on the Mountain Home market page.

18. Hot Springs National Park, 5.4 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Hot Springs National Park far: it is fourteenth cheapest on this list and eighteenth on yield, with rent of $1,300 against a $287,000 median price. Homes in Hot Springs National Park closed at a median of $287,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,300, a gross yield of 5.4 percent. The Hot Springs National Park market page carries the monthly figures.

19. Springdale, 5.4 percent gross

The numbers: $352,750 median closed price across 577 closings, $1,595 median asking rent across 946 listings, 5.4 percent gross. Full detail is on the Springdale market page.

20. Fayetteville, 5.4 percent gross

Fayetteville moves fast, 7 days from listing to contract at the median, which matters more than its 5.4 percent yield if you cannot close quickly. Homes in Fayetteville closed at a median of $399,900 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,800, a gross yield of 5.4 percent. The Fayetteville market page carries the monthly figures.

Priced, but too few rentals to rank

Resideline can price these cities but cannot yet rank them on rent: each has 100 or more closings and fewer than 50 rental listings in the window.

How this ranking is built

• •Cities: every Arkansas city where Resideline tracked at least 100 closings inside the municipal boundary in its reporting window (six or twelve months) and at least 50 rental listings under the city's name since October 3, 2025: 26 cities qualify and the table shows the 20 highest-yielding.
• •Prices: the median price homes closed at inside the city limits, from Resideline's tracked closings; the state comparison uses the statewide median of $274,000 across 19,923 closings.
• •Rents: the median advertised rent on rental listings Resideline tracked in the last twelve months, all property types, measured on the listings that carry the city's name (a postal footprint, wider than the city line in some places).
• •Confirmed-close medians: Observed rent blends two kinds of record: confirmed lease closes extracted from property records, and the final asking rent on listings that left Resideline tracking without a recorded close. Where a city has at least 30 confirmed closes in the window, their median is printed beside the asking figure; in the last twelve months about a quarter of Resideline's close episodes are confirmed closes. The asking and confirmed-close samples are separate, not paired, so a difference between their medians is not a measured gap on the same listings.
• •What is missing: taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and repairs, which turn a gross yield into a net one, and the unit mix, which differs between what sells and what rents.

Sources and related pages

• •Resideline tracked closings inside city limits (window per city, updated October 4, 2026) and rental listings since October 3, 2025; confirmed lease closes extracted from property records.
• •More Arkansas rankings: Cheapest cities to buy a house in Arkansas ranks the same kind of list with each city's price per square foot for houses, realized appreciation and days to contract beside the median, and Cap Rate by City ranks the Arkansas cities Resideline tracks by gross rental yield. The Arkansas housing market hub carries the statewide figures and the largest Arkansas markets by closings.
• •Asking rent vs observed rent compares live asking rents with final asking rents under that study's own definition; it says nothing about confirmed lease closes.

Prepared with Resideline's research pipeline and reviewed by Jeffrey Batista, Resideline's founder.