Melbourne, Arkansas.
Typical home $177,216 (+3.5% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$498 (+115%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $6,010 +4%
- $171,206$177,216 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $29,340 +20%
- $147,877$177,216 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.
- Melbourne$930
- Arkansas$1,177
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 19 years.
Typical home values in Melbourne, AR rose 3.5% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Melbourne, Izard County, Arkansas
Melbourne is a city of 1,830 people in Izard County. Half its households earn more than $39,469 a year and half less, against $49,405 across Izard County. Unemployment in Izard County was 5.3% in August 2026, and the county had about as many jobs in 2025 as the year before. The most people in Izard County 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Melbourne is a small city and the seat of Izard County in the Ozark foothills of north Arkansas. Household incomes here run below the county's, and relatively few adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold, with some snow, and summers are hot, with plenty of rain through the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops, and professional and business services also employing many. Among the largest workplaces in town are the Melbourne School District, Ozarka College and Eagle Health Systems. Unemployment in the county has eased compared with a year earlier, though the number of jobs has held about level.
Things to do. Blanchard Springs Caverns, a well-known cave attraction, and the Sugarloaf Fire Tower Historic District are both a longer drive away. Anglers and paddlers can head to the South Fork Spring River, also a longer drive away. The Ozark Folk Center, a museum of traditional Ozark crafts and music, is another longer drive from town.
Report a mistake
- 807households
- 13%of adults have a degree
- 24 mintypical commute
- 6%work from home
What people in Izard County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Izard County had 2,949 jobs in 2025, about as many as the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 45° and lows near 24°; warmest in July, with highs near 89° and lows near 67°. About 7 inches of snow and 51 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Evening Shade Nne weather station, 15 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Melbourne
- Melbourne School DistrictSchool district171FTE
- Ozarka CollegeTwo-year college135
- Eagle Health SystemsSkilled nursing facilities78
- Beasley Flooring Products MelbourneWood flooring manufacturing47
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 2 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 125 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and colleges from IPEDS (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
- Strong windVery high
- LightningVery high
- TornadoesVery high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Melbourne’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. 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 Izard County.
Melbourne home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Melbourne$177,216
- Arkansas$224,158
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 8 Melbourne listings — the market is roughly in balance.
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.
- Melbourne12.63%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Melbourne42
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Melbourne7
Zip codes with a Melbourne address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Melbourne — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.