Two recent studies show Arkansas as one of the most affordable places in the United States to live and raise a family. The studies were by consumer finance providers. The first, Doxo, manages household bill paying, and the second, SmartAsset, finds financial advisors for families.
Analysts for Doxo used the typical yearly cost for cable & phone, mobile phone, auto loans & insurance, life & health insurance, alarm & security and rent & mortgage to arrive at its figures. For Arkansas, this worked out to an average of $1,762 per month in household bills in the study. The Doxo study found Arkansas to be 17 percent below the national average and ranked only two states as more affordable than the natural state. The only two states ranked less expensive than Arkansas in the Doxo study, Oklahoma and Kentucky, were at 16 percent.
The SmartAsset Study used data from the MIT Living Wage Index to focus on the income needed to support different family types in the U.S. SmartAsset ranked Arkansas as the least expensive state in the nation for families consisting of one adult and one child, or families with two adults and one child. Analysts continued to list living wage requirements for these respective family types with typical expenses: One adult and one child was $65,274, two adults with one working adult and one child was $65,934 and two adults, both working and one child was $73,789.
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