Forrest City vs Madison

A side-by-side comparison of Forrest City and Madison: population, income, housing, and more.

Forrest City and Madison are places in Arkansas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Forrest City has the higher population (12,826 vs 574 in Madison). Madison has the higher median household income ($60,809 vs $33,522 in Forrest City). Forrest City has the higher median home value ($87,800 vs $57,200 in Madison).

Population, income & housing

	Forrest City	Madison
Population	12,826	574
Median age	36.2 yrs	54.0 yrs
Median household income	$33,522	$60,809
Median home value	$87,800	$57,200
Median gross rent	$795	$845
Housing units	4,584	381
Homeownership rate	38.0%	70.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.7%	15.0%
Unemployment rate	10.6%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Forrest City	Madison
Population	14,285 → 12,826 (-10.2%)	1,043 → 574 (-45.0%)
Median household income	$30,817 → $33,522 (+8.8%)	$32,659 → $60,809 (+86.2%)
Median home value	$65,100 → $87,800 (+34.9%)	$21,500 → $57,200 (+166.0%)
Median gross rent	$631 → $795 (+26.0%)	$722 → $845 (+17.0%)

Forrest City

Population

14,28512,826

Median household income

$30,817$33,522

Median home value

$65,100$87,800

Median gross rent

$631$795

Madison

Population

1,043574

Median household income

$32,659$60,809

Median home value

$21,500$57,200

Median gross rent

$722$845

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Forrest City	Madison
Under 5	6.7%	2.4%
5 to 17	15.4%	9.1%
18 to 24	8.9%	0.0%
25 to 34	17.5%	8.4%
35 to 44	16.4%	9.9%
45 to 54	11.3%	22.5%
55 to 64	12.0%	13.9%
65 to 74	7.6%	22.5%
75 and over	4.1%	11.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Forrest City	Madison
White (non-Hispanic)	20.8%	15.7%
Black or African American	73.7%	82.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.5%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.4%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.1%	1.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Forrest City	Madison
No high school diploma	16.6%	15.4%
High school graduate	43.5%	41.5%
Some college or associate's	28.2%	28.1%
Bachelor's degree	7.1%	7.1%
Graduate or professional degree	4.6%	7.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Forrest City	Madison
Drove alone	81.2%	93.0%
Carpooled	12.5%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.5%	3.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.6%	3.3%
Other means	1.2%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Forrest City	Madison
1-unit, detached	63.2%	77.2%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	24.7%	13.9%
5 to 19 units	7.1%	1.8%
20 or more units	0.5%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.5%	7.1%

Poverty & households

	Forrest City	Madison
Poverty rate	36.1%	14.3%
Average household size	2.55	2.18
Mean commute (minutes)	15	23
Median year structure built	1976	1982