Little Rock vs Springfield
Metro-area medians — Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area vs Springfield, MO Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Springfield comes out ahead, winning 4 of the 6 clearly-decided measures.
Little Rock and Springfield are closely matched on both cost of living and household income. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches about as far in either.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you, Springfield leaves you about $731/yr better off after tax and local prices.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
Choose Springfield for
- + Median rent
- + Unemployment
- + Average commute
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Little Rock vs Springfield — frequently asked
- Is Little Rock cheaper than Springfield?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Little Rock and Springfield metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Little Rock or Springfield?
- Household incomes are similar — $68,344 in the Little Rock metro versus $67,219 in Springfield (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).
- Does a paycheck go further in Little Rock or Springfield?
- It is roughly a wash. After adjusting income for local prices, a typical paycheck is worth about the same in both metros ($76,478 versus $75,881).
- Which has cheaper rent, Little Rock or Springfield?
- Springfield has cheaper rent — a median of $1,019/mo versus $1,093/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).