Fort Smith, AR population, income and ZIP codes

Fort Smith city is a small city in Arkansas, with 89,496 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #3 of 625 ranked by population — larger than 99% of them. The median age here is 36.6 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. At this size the Census also publishes one-year estimates; the five-year values used here are steadier and let you compare against smaller neighbours on the same basis.

Households in Fort Smith city earn a median of $52,692 a year, 32.9% below the national figure of $78,538 and 7% above the $49,306 median for the 209 Arkansas cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 18.3% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Fort Smith city is valued at $168,100, 44.6% below the national figure and 30% above the $128,900 peer median, while median gross rent runs $852 a month, 39.4% below the national figure, or roughly $10,224 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 19.4% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 3.2×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 53% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.