Memphis, TN · Little Rock, AR
Memphis and Little Rock have similar costs of living.
Home Price
Memphis: $195,000
Little: $195,000
Monthly Rent
Memphis: $908/mo
Little: $825/mo
COL Index
Memphis: 84
Little: 85
Median Income
Memphis: $50,200
Little: $56,600
Median Home Price
Monthly Rent (Median)
Median Household Income
Property Tax Rate
Cost of Living Index
100 = national average
Avg. Commute
Unemployment Rate
Median Age
A $100,000 salary in Memphis has the same purchasing power as $101,190 in Little Rock — based on each city's cost of living index.
Home prices are similar in both cities — within 1% of each other.
Renting in Little Rock saves you $83/month — $996 per year. Median rent: $908/mo in Memphis vs $825/mo in Little Rock.
On a median-priced home, Memphis owners pay roughly $1,346/year in property taxes vs $1,229/year in Little Rock. That's a $117 annual difference.
Median household income is $50,200 in Memphis and $56,600 in Little Rock. Memphis residents earn 13% more — but remember to factor in cost of living.
Average commute is 24 minutes in Memphis vs 22 minutes in Little Rock. Commute times are nearly identical.
To maintain the same lifestyle when moving from Memphis to Little Rock, here's the salary you'd need:
| Salary in Memphis | Equivalent in Little Rock | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,595 | +$595 |
| $75,000 | $75,893 | +$893 |
| $100,000 | $101,190 | +$1,190 |
| $150,000 | $151,786 | +$1,786 |
| $200,000 | $202,381 | +$2,381 |
* Calculated using cost of living indices (national average = 100). Does not account for state income tax differences.
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Cost of Living
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Based on cost of living indices, Memphis is cheaper overall. Memphis has a COL index of 84 while Little Rock scores 85 (national average = 100).
The median home price in Memphis is $195,000 vs $195,000 in Little Rock — a difference of $0 (0%).
Use the salary equivalence table above. For example, a $100K salary in Memphis is equivalent to $101,190 in Little Rock in terms of purchasing power.
Little Rock has a lower property tax rate (0.63% vs 0.69%). On a median-priced home, that means paying $1,229/year vs $1,346/year.
Median monthly rent: $908 in Memphis vs $825 in Little Rock. Annualized: $10,896 vs $9,900.
Memphis: $50,200/yr. Little Rock: $56,600/yr (Census ACS).
Lower-cost Memphis typically lets remote-workers keeping a coastal salary stretch further. Higher-cost cities usually win on amenities and labor-market depth.
Numbers are pulled from Zillow ZHVI/ZORI (home values, rent), the U.S. Census Bureau ACS (income), and BEA RPP (cost-of-living index). Each value is timestamped on the page.
Source feeds refresh on their native cadence — hourly for mortgage rates, monthly for ZHVI/ZORI, annually for ACS. Page caches revalidate every 24 hours via Next.js ISR.
No. This page is educational reference using public data and standard formulas. It is not personalized tax, legal, or investment advice. Consult a licensed professional for material decisions.
City-level metrics (median home price, median rent, median household income, property tax rate, COL index, commute, unemployment, median age) are sourced from Zillow ZHVI/ZORI[1], Census ACS 5-year estimates[2], BEA Regional Price Parities[3], Tax Foundation[4], and BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics[5].
The Cost of Living Index uses 100 = national average (C2ER methodology[6]): values above 100 indicate a city is more expensive than the national average, below 100 less expensive.
Salary equivalence uses the ratio adjustedSalary = salary × (colDestination / colOrigin). This accounts for cost-of-living differences but does not model state income tax variation, which can be significant.
Annual property tax is computed as medianHomePrice × propertyTaxRate. Actual assessed value may differ from sale price. Effective rates vary within a metro; these are metro-wide medians.
Commute-hours calculations assume 250 working days/year and a round-trip commute. "Tied" in the comparison table means values within ±1% of each other.
Last reviewed reflects the maximum retrievedAt timestamp across every sourced dataset feeding this page. When any source refreshes, the next ISR revalidation (every 24 hours) picks the new date.
Cost of living data sourced from [6] C2ER, [2] U.S. Census Bureau, and [1] Zillow Research. Tax rates from [4] Tax Foundation. Last reviewed .