TL;DR: The home price-to-income ratio in Northwest Arkansas ranges from 3.8x in Bentonville (Redfin median sale price, three months ending June 2026) to 5.6x in Washington County (August 2026 MLS median sold price), each matched against that area's own median household income. Benton County overall sits at 3.9x; pairing Fayetteville's city income against Washington County's median sold price produces a ratio that should be disqualified as a mismatch, not treated as Fayetteville's own number. Before trusting any published ratio, verify that the price and the income cover the same geography, the same time period, and the same measure (sold, not list).
What Is the Home Price-to-Income Ratio in Northwest Arkansas Right Now?
A home price-to-income ratio divides a market's median home price by its median household income. Northwest Arkansas doesn't have one ratio — it has at least four, and each only makes sense when the price and the income cover the same footprint. Bentonville runs 3.8x: a $425,000 median sale price for the three months ending June 2026 (Redfin) against a $112,792 median household income (2020-2024 ACS 5-year estimate). Benton County as a whole runs 3.9x: $363,000 in median sold price for August 2026 (ArkansasONE MLS via NWALook) against $93,500 in median household income (2020-2024 ACS 5-year estimate). Washington County is the outlier at 5.6x: the same August 2026 MLS price series puts its median sold home at $398,450 against a county median household income of $70,600 (2020-2024 ACS 5-year estimate). Rogers ($82,834) and Springdale ($72,997) have current 2024 ACS 1-year income figures but no matched city-level sold-price figure here, so no defensible ratio exists for either yet. If you're weighing Bentonville against Washington County on affordability, you're looking at a 3.8x city figure against a 5.6x county figure — not two numbers built the same way.
Which Datasets Should You Pull Before Comparing Two Submarkets?
Four checks before you trust any ratio. Geography level: Benton County's 3.9x and Washington County's 5.6x are county-wide; Bentonville's 3.8x is a city figure — don't rank one against the other without saying so. Income vintage: Bentonville and the two counties use the 2020-2024 ACS 5-year estimate, while Rogers's $82,834, Springdale's $72,997, and Fayetteville's $66,237 use the 2024 ACS 1-year estimate, a different survey with a wider margin of error (Fayetteville's runs plus or minus $9,392). Price source: the county figures come from ArkansasONE MLS data via NWALook; Bentonville's comes from Redfin, which doesn't necessarily calculate median sold price the same way. As-of date: Benton County's August 2026 figure of $363,000 is already down from $393,337 a year earlier, and an earlier release put the county's February 2026 median at $381,595 — six months older than the August 2026 figure. Ask your agent which release date and methodology sit behind any ratio you're handed before you act on it.
What Ratio Signals a Cost-Burdened Submarket?
No single ratio in this data flips a submarket from affordable to cost-burdened — the real test is the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies standard: a household paying more than 30% of income on housing is cost-burdened, and more than 50% is severely cost-burdened. The ratio alone doesn't tell you the monthly payment; the mortgage rate does. The 30-year fixed averaged 6.71% for the week of September 3, 2026, up from 6.50% a year earlier — a higher rate raises the payment on the same price and income pairing. NAR's own affordability index assumes a 20% down payment and caps a qualifying payment at 25% of median family monthly income. On Washington County's $398,450 median sold price, 20% down alone is $79,690 (398450 x 0.2); on Bentonville's $425,000 it's $85,000 (425000 x 0.2); on Benton County's $363,000 it's $72,600 (363000 x 0.2). A high ratio paired with a high down-payment figure at 6.71% is what should send you for an actual loan quote before you call any ratio cost-burdened.
What Mismatched or Stale Figures Should Disqualify a Comparison?
The clearest disqualifying mismatch here is a county price paired with a city income. Divide Washington County's $398,450 August 2026 median sold price by Fayetteville's own $66,237 income (2024 ACS 1-year) and the result reads as Fayetteville's ratio, but it isn't — it's the county's price forced onto a city's income, because Fayetteville has no city-level sold-price figure in this pack. The same rule runs the other direction: never pair a city price with a county income. A second disqualifier is mixed ACS vintages in one table — a 2020-2024 5-year figure sitting next to a 2024 1-year figure with no footnote. A third is mixed price sources: Redfin and ArkansasONE MLS data aren't guaranteed to define median sold price identically, so ranking Bentonville's Redfin-sourced $425,000 against Benton County's MLS-sourced $363,000 needs a disclosure, not a silent merge. A fourth is stale pricing — Benton County's February 2026 figure of $381,595 is six months older than its $363,000 August 2026 number. Any of these four should send you back to the source before you act on the ratio.
What Should You Do With These Numbers?
- Confirm both price figures in any comparison come from the same source and the same reporting month — don't put an August 2026 MLS number next to a February 2026 one.
- Confirm both income figures come from the same ACS product, either both 1-year or both 5-year, and note the margin of error on 1-year figures ($9,392 on Fayetteville's $66,237).
- If you can only find a county price for the city you're evaluating, as with Rogers, Springdale, or Fayetteville here, don't publish a ratio for that city — flag the gap instead.
- Run the 20% down payment math yourself before comparing it to cash on hand: $72,600 on Benton County's median, $79,690 on Washington County's, $85,000 on Bentonville's.
- Get a current loan quote at the prevailing rate — 6.71% as of the week of September 3, 2026 — before treating any published ratio as your final affordability answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a home price-to-income ratio?
A home price-to-income ratio is a market's median home price divided by its median household income; in Bentonville that's $425,000 divided by $112,792, or 3.8x. It's a screening number, not a full affordability test — it says nothing about your mortgage rate or actual monthly payment at 6.71%, the 30-year fixed average for the week of September 3, 2026.
Is Bentonville or Washington County more affordable by this measure?
Bentonville's ratio is lower, at 3.8x versus Washington County's 5.6x, largely because Bentonville's $112,792 median household income (2020-2024 ACS 5-year estimate) is well above Washington County's $70,600 — not because Bentonville homes cost less. Bentonville's $425,000 median sale price (three months ending June 2026) is actually higher than Washington County's $398,450 August 2026 median sold price.
Why is Fayetteville's ratio hard to calculate right now?
Fayetteville has no city-level median sold-price figure in current published data, so the only available comparison pairs Washington County's $398,450 August 2026 price with Fayetteville's own $66,237 income (2024 ACS 1-year). That comparison describes the county's price against a city's income, not Fayetteville's actual market, and should be labeled an estimate until a Fayetteville-specific price is published.
Should I use the 1-year or 5-year ACS income estimate?
Use the 5-year ACS estimate for the more stable, lower-margin-of-error number — Bentonville's $112,792 carries a margin of error of plus or minus $6,892. Use the 1-year estimate only when you need the most current single-year snapshot and can tolerate a wider margin, like Fayetteville's $66,237 figure at plus or minus $9,392. Never mix the two in one ranked list without saying so.
If you're weighing NWA submarkets against each other, MCG will put together a side-by-side price-to-income verification worksheet for the specific cities or counties you're comparing — matched price source, matched income vintage, and the actual 20% down payment figure for each — so you can tell a county number from a city number at a glance. Call 479-925-3333 to start that conversation.
About the author: Cameron Torabi, Principal Broker — Mason Capital Group. 30+ years of Northwest Arkansas real estate expertise; $2.4B+ in cumulative transaction activity.
Figures in this article are drawn from Census Reporter / U.S. Census Bureau ACS data (2020-2024 5-year estimate and 2024 1-year estimate), ArkansasONE MLS data via NWALook Northwest Arkansas Housing Market Update (August 2026 and February 2026), Redfin Housing Market Data (three months ending June 2026), the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies 2025 State of the Nation's Housing report, the National Association of Realtors Housing Affordability Index Methodology, and Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (week of September 3, 2026).