Which Arkansas counties score best for off-grid living?

Of the 75 Arkansas counties we have scored, Johnson County scores highest at 98 and Poinsett County lowest at 76. Arkansas ranks 14th of 50 overall, at 90 out of 100 (Good with caveats). Buildability separates its counties most: 3 to 10 out of 10.

Updated 2026-09-27 · 75 counties · 369 spots of private rural land scored

Good with caveatsArkansas ranks 14th of 50, 90 out of 100, in the Best States ranking: the typical parcel on the state's private rural land, with each scored spot weighted by the land it stands for. On a fresh draw of counties it would rank between #7 and #15. City counties with little private rural land have no page, and any parcel can be scored, free, below.

Every scored county in Arkansas, best score first

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Johnson → 40 people / sq mi	98	25	20	14	15	14	10
Hot Spring → 54 people / sq mi	96	25	20	14	13	15	9
Fulton → 20 people / sq mi	95	23	19	14	14	15	10
Logan → 30 people / sq mi	95	23	20	14	15	14	9
Nevada → 13 people / sq mi	95	23	20	14	14	14	10
Scott → 11 people / sq mi	95	23	19	14	15	14	10
Sharp → 30 people / sq mi	95	25	20	14	12	14	10
Van Buren → 23 people / sq mi	95	25	20	14	12	14	10
Benton → 367 people / sq mi	94	24	20	15	13	14	8
Franklin → 29 people / sq mi	94	23	20	14	15	13	9
Hempstead → 27 people / sq mi	94	22	19	14	14	15	10
Howard → 21 people / sq mi	94	21	20	14	14	15	10
Madison → 21 people / sq mi	94	23	20	15	15	12	9
Miller → 68 people / sq mi	94	25	20	14	11	15	9
Montgomery → 11 people / sq mi	94	25	19	14	14	15	7
Ouachita → 30 people / sq mi	94	25	19	14	13	13	10
Perry → 19 people / sq mi	94	23	20	14	13	14	10
Polk → 23 people / sq mi	94	24	20	14	15	14	7
Baxter → 77 people / sq mi	93	22	20	14	14	13	10
Columbia → 29 people / sq mi	93	21	20	14	13	15	10
Crawford → 104 people / sq mi	93	21	20	14	14	14	10
Lafayette → 12 people / sq mi	93	23	19	14	14	13	10
Sebastian → 243 people / sq mi	93	24	20	14	15	13	7
Sevier → 28 people / sq mi	93	24	20	14	13	13	9
Chicot → 15 people / sq mi	92	25	20	14	14	12	7
Cleveland → 12 people / sq mi	92	23	20	14	14	14	7
Dallas → 9 people / sq mi	92	23	19	14	13	13	10
Izard → 24 people / sq mi	92	22	20	14	13	14	9
Marion → 29 people / sq mi	92	23	20	14	14	13	8
Monroe → 11 people / sq mi	92	25	20	14	14	12	7
Newton → 9 people / sq mi	92	23	19	15	15	12	8
Randolph → 29 people / sq mi	92	23	20	14	10	15	10
Saline → 179 people / sq mi	92	25	19	14	11	14	9
Union → 36 people / sq mi	92	21	19	14	14	14	10
Yell → 22 people / sq mi	92	25	19	14	14	13	7
Arkansas → 16 people / sq mi	91	23	20	14	14	13	7
Calhoun → 7 people / sq mi	91	23	20	14	14	13	7
Drew → 20 people / sq mi	91	22	19	14	13	13	10
Jefferson → 73 people / sq mi	91	25	20	14	13	12	7
Little River → 22 people / sq mi	91	23	19	14	15	13	7
Prairie → 12 people / sq mi	91	25	20	14	12	13	7
Ashley → 20 people / sq mi	90	23	20	14	14	12	7
Boone → 65 people / sq mi	90	23	20	13	14	13	7
Bradley → 16 people / sq mi	90	23	19	14	14	13	7
Conway → 38 people / sq mi	90	25	20	14	10	14	7
Garland → 147 people / sq mi	90	23	18	14	13	13	9
Lincoln → 23 people / sq mi	90	23	19	14	14	13	7
Phillips → 22 people / sq mi	90	24	20	14	12	13	7
Pope → 80 people / sq mi	90	25	19	14	12	13	7
St. Francis → 35 people / sq mi	90	24	20	14	12	13	7
Stone → 21 people / sq mi	90	23	19	14	13	13	8
Washington → 278 people / sq mi	90	23	20	15	12	13	7
Carroll → 46 people / sq mi	89	23	20	13	14	12	7
Craighead → 161 people / sq mi	89	25	20	13	8	13	10
Grant → 29 people / sq mi	89	23	19	14	10	13	10
Pike → 17 people / sq mi	89	23	19	14	13	13	7
Searcy → 12 people / sq mi	89	25	20	14	14	11	5
Cleburne → 46 people / sq mi	88	23	20	14	10	14	7
Cross → 27 people / sq mi	88	25	20	14	10	12	7
Faulkner → 201 people / sq mi	88	25	20	14	8	14	7
Lawrence → 28 people / sq mi	88	25	20	14	9	12	8
Lee → 14 people / sq mi	88	23	19	14	13	12	7
Lonoke → 98 people / sq mi	88	23	20	14	11	13	7
Pulaski → 528 people / sq mi	88	25	19	14	9	14	7
White → 76 people / sq mi	88	25	20	14	8	14	7
Woodruff → 10 people / sq mi	88	23	19	14	12	13	7
Greene → 81 people / sq mi	87	25	20	14	8	13	7
Independence → 50 people / sq mi	87	25	20	14	10	11	7
Clark → 25 people / sq mi	86	25	19	14	10	12	6
Mississippi → 43 people / sq mi	86	25	20	13	8	13	7
Clay → 22 people / sq mi	85	23	19	14	9	13	7
Crittenden → 77 people / sq mi	85	23	20	14	9	12	7
Desha → 14 people / sq mi	83	25	20	14	10	11	3
Jackson → 27 people / sq mi	78	25	20	14	5	11	3
Poinsett → 30 people / sq mi	76	23	20	14	5	11	3

Score is out of 100: Water 25, Legal 20, Solar 15, Hazard 15, Food 15, Buildability 10. Green cells score 80% or better of their maximum; amber cells under 70%.

Where the good land is

90% of Arkansas's private rural land scores Good with caveats or better (80 or more). The strongest counties are Johnson, Hot Spring and Fulton. The weakest are Poinsett, Jackson and Desha. Where the land falls short, it is most often on building (slope, septic and land price) and hazards (flood, fire, storms and earthquakes).

What separates them

Buildability: Johnson County scores 10 of 10, Poinsett County 3. Slope, the septic the ground needs, footings, and the county's land price. A steep or soggy lot that fails a septic test is the dealbreaker photos hide.
Hazard: Johnson County scores 15 of 15, Poinsett County 5. Flood, wildfire, seismic, and severe-weather exposure: the risks that raise insurance and build cost or strand a parcel.
Food: Hot Spring County scores 15 of 15, Poinsett County 11. Soil quality, frost-free growing days, and rainfall: what decides whether you can actually feed yourself and your animals.
Water: Johnson County scores 25 of 25, Union County 21. Drinking, system, and irrigation water, the #1 reason off-grid and homestead plans collapse. A low score means a deep, costly well or hauled water.

Solar and Legal barely move across the sample: the counties score within two points of each other there, so those are state-level facts, not county choices.

The state's soft spot

Buildability is Arkansas's weakest dimension, at 8 of 10 for the state as a whole. Slope, the septic the ground needs, footings, and the county's land price. A steep or soggy lot that fails a septic test is the dealbreaker photos hide. Getting a parcel here off-grid runs $28k to $93k by our estimates across these counties, before the house. The full Arkansas row in the Best States ranking has the state-wide spread and how the popular off-grid guides rank it.

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Before you buy in Arkansas

The scores read the physical land. Whether you may legally live on it is a separate question, and it changes at the county line: Is it legal to live off-grid in Arkansas? covers zoning, building code, septic, and wells for the state, with the counties that opt out. For the reason water carries a quarter of the score, how you get water on off-grid land is the read. And the five-point check is the order to do it in.

Good with caveatsArkansas: 90 of 100, 14th of 50. A good state is not a good parcel. Score the one you are looking at, free, in about a minute.

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