Arkansas city guide
Moving From California to Rogers, AR
Bentonville's lower-cost neighbor in northwest Arkansas, with the same access to the region's corporate employers and a genuinely lower price point.
Housing comparison
California versus Rogers, side by side
- Median home value
- $725,800
- $308,200
- Median annual property tax
- $5,114
- not available
- Median monthly cost, owners with a mortgage
- $2,844
- not available
- Population
- 39.0 million (state)
- 75,648
Figures are US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates for the city place. Property tax and monthly cost rows cover owner-occupied units with a mortgage, so they describe what current owners pay, not what a new buyer would pay at today's prices. California column is the statewide baseline used across this site.
Why Californians look at Rogers
Rogers sits directly between Bentonville and Springdale in the northwest Arkansas corridor, close enough to Walmart's headquarters and the region's other major employers to be a practical commute, but priced meaningfully below Bentonville for a comparable house. For a household that wants access to the corporate job base without paying the Bentonville premium, this is the pragmatic choice in the metro.
The city has its own retail and entertainment draw beyond being a bedroom community, including the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion, an amphitheater that brings national touring acts, and a growing downtown historic district. It is less polished than downtown Bentonville but has real momentum of its own.
Rogers also has a large Marshallese community, one of the largest concentrations of Marshall Islanders in the United States, a distinctive demographic feature tied to decades of migration for work in the regional poultry and manufacturing industries.
Rogers fits you if
- You want proximity to Bentonville's job market without Bentonville's home prices.
- You want a shorter commute to Walmart, its suppliers, or other northwest Arkansas corporate offices than Fayetteville offers.
- You want a genuine mid-size Arkansas city with its own retail, dining, and entertainment rather than a pure bedroom suburb.
- You are comfortable with a fast-growing suburban landscape rather than a historic small-town core.
Look elsewhere if
- You want a distinct small-town identity. Much of Rogers reads as suburban sprawl connecting Bentonville and Springdale.
- You want the cultural amenities specific to Bentonville, like Crystal Bridges, on your own doorstep rather than a short drive away.
- You need major nonstop air service beyond the regional airport's route map.
- You want low traffic. Rogers carries significant through-traffic on Walmart's main retail corridors.
Housing in Rogers
Rogers offers a wide range of housing, from older neighborhoods near downtown to extensive newer subdivisions built out over the past two decades as the northwest Arkansas corridor grew. The 2024 median property value for the city was $308,200, noticeably below Bentonville for comparable square footage and lot size.
New construction has kept pace reasonably well with demand here, which has helped keep the market less competitive than Bentonville's, though prices have still risen substantially over the past decade along with the rest of the region.
Buyers commuting to Bentonville or Springdale should weigh drive time against Interstate 49 traffic, which can be significant during peak commuting hours given how much of the region's workforce moves through this corridor daily.
Work and the local economy
Rogers benefits directly from its position in the middle of the Bentonville, Rogers, and Springdale corridor, with easy access to Walmart's headquarters, its supplier offices, and Tyson Foods and J.B. Hunt further down the interstate.
The city has its own base too, anchored by Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas, a large regional medical campus, plus significant retail and food processing employment tied to the region's poultry industry.
As in the rest of the corridor, the local economy is closely tied to the fortunes of a handful of very large employers. That has meant strong job growth for two decades, but it is a concentrated rather than diversified base.
Climate and setting
Rogers shares the same Ozark foothills climate as its neighbors: hot, humid summers with highs typically in the low 90s in July and August, and short, mild winters with occasional ice rather than sustained snow.
Spring severe weather season, including tornado risk, runs from March into early summer and is a genuine hazard across the whole region, not unique to Rogers, and should factor into home construction and insurance decisions.
Beaver Lake, a large reservoir just east of the city, is a significant local recreation draw for boating and fishing and helps moderate the immediate area's outdoor lifestyle options relative to a purely urban setting.
Getting around, care, and schools
- Commercial air
- Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) is a short drive away with direct flights to major hubs including Dallas, Denver, and Chicago.
- Highways
- Interstate 49 runs through the city, linking Bentonville to the north and Springdale and Fayetteville to the south.
- Hospital
- Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas, a major regional medical campus based in Rogers.
- Public schools
- Rogers Public Schools.
- Higher education
- Northwest Arkansas Community College is in nearby Bentonville.
- Setting
- Ozark foothills near Beaver Lake, roughly 1,300 feet elevation.
The trade-offs
- Much of Rogers functions as suburban infill between Bentonville and Springdale rather than a distinct small town.
- Interstate 49 and the main retail corridors carry heavy commuter traffic at peak hours.
- The local economy is tied to the same handful of large regional employers as the rest of northwest Arkansas.
- Spring severe weather, including tornado risk, is a real seasonal hazard to plan and insure for.
Other Arkansas towns people compare
Bentonville
Walmart's headquarters town in northwest Arkansas, with the state's best-funded public schools and a corporate, white-collar job base unlike anywhere else in the state.
Fayetteville
Home to the University of Arkansas and the cultural center of northwest Arkansas, the region's most walkable downtown with the deepest restaurant and arts scene in the state.
Hot Springs
A lake and spa town in the Ouachita Mountains with a large retiree population, the state's most distinctive downtown, and home prices well below the northwest Arkansas corridor.
Bella Vista
A master-planned community of lakes and golf courses just south of the Missouri line, built for retirement and long popular with buyers leaving more expensive states.
Conway
Home to three colleges and a straightforward commute to Little Rock, with lower housing costs than the capital itself.
Statewide figures, tax detail, and the full Arkansas picture are on the Arkansas page. Compare property, income, and sales tax across all 49 destination states on Taxes, and see where Californians are actually moving on Stats.
Sources
- US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B25077 (median home value), retrieved via Census Reporter, September 3, 2026.
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B25103 (median real estate taxes paid, owner-occupied units with a mortgage), retrieved September 3, 2026.
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B25088 (median selected monthly owner costs, owner-occupied units with a mortgage), retrieved September 3, 2026.
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B01003 (total population), retrieved September 3, 2026.
- Census Reporter, Rogers, AR profile, censusreporter.org.
- Data USA, Rogers, AR profile, datausa.io.
- Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas, mercy.net.
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