Charleston, Arkansas.
Typical home $196,594 (+3.9% in a year). Fort Smith, AR-OK metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$566 (+121%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $7,307 +4%
- $189,287$196,594 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $37,571 +24%
- $159,024$196,594 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Charleston$1,032
- Arkansas$1,177
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 16 years.
Typical home values in Charleston, AR rose 3.9% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Charleston, Franklin County, Arkansas
Charleston is a city of 2,588 people in Franklin County. Half its households earn more than $56,600 a year and half less, against $55,886 across Franklin County; 10% of its people live below the poverty line. 72% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 28% are rented. Unemployment in Franklin County was 3.9% in August 2026, and the county had 1.0% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Charleston is a small city in Franklin County, Arkansas, where most homes are lived in by their owners. Household incomes run a little above the county's, and the typical home value is about what you would expect for a town of this size. Winters are cold but not severe, with the coldest weather in January, and summers get hot, with July the warmest month. Rain and melted snow add up to a fair amount over the year.
Work. Residents work mainly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, the building trades and shops also employing many. The largest workplaces in town include the Charleston School District, Harp's Food Store and Hug Chevrolet Co. Many people have a long drive to work, and fewer adults hold a four-year degree than in the country as a whole.
Things to do. For history, Spiro Mounds is an archaeological site and Fort Smith National Historic Site is a protected area, both a longer drive away. Those who like the outdoors can head to the Poteau River or to Lake Fort Smith State Park, which is also a longer drive away.
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- 1,040households
- 22%of adults have a degree
- 10%below the poverty line
- 35 mintypical commute
- 8%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Franklin County had 4,924 jobs in 2025, 1.0% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 50° and lows near 28°; warmest in July, with highs near 92° and lows near 70°. About 52 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Booneville Sse weather station, 16 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Charleston
- Charleston School DistrictSchool district163FTE
- Harp's Food StoreRetail grocery44
- Hug Chevrolet CoAutomobile dealers, new only or new and used28
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 2 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 72 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Ice stormsVery high
- LightningVery high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Charleston’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Franklin County and the Fort Smith, AR-OK metro.
Charleston home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Charleston$196,594
- Arkansas$224,158
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Charleston listings — the market is heating up.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Charleston22.32%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Charleston38
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Charleston10
Zip codes with a Charleston address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Charleston — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.