Life Skills and Money Education in Drew County, Arkansas

With a population of roughly 16,935, Drew County, Arkansas is the 43rd-largest of 75 counties in Arkansas. It has lost residents since 2020, slipping 2.2% from 17,315 down to 16,935. The median age is 37.7.

Among adults 25 and older in Drew County, 23.3% hold a bachelor's degree or higher. That runs 9.2 points above the Arkansas average of 14.1%. Flip that figure and it describes 76.7% of the 10,968 adults 25 and over counted in the 2019–2023 ACS, about 8,412 people whose money skills came from somewhere other than a university.

Median household income is $41,071. That is $6,429 below the Arkansas median. Roughly 22.7% of residents live below the poverty line, which puts real weight on decisions about credit, rent and emergency savings. The median home is valued at $127,800 — about 3.1× the median household income, a ratio that makes the arithmetic of a mortgage worth understanding before signing one.

Drew County by the numbers

Measure	Value
Population (2024)	16,935
Change since 2020	-2.2%
Median household income	$41,071
Adults 25+ with a bachelor’s degree	23.3%
Adults 25+ with a high school diploma	87.1%
Median age	37.7
Poverty rate	22.7%
Unemployment rate	5.1%
Median home value	$127,800
Land area	828.667 sq mi
Population density	20 / sq mi

What Arkansas teaches — and to whom

Arkansas requires personal finance instruction, but folds it into another course rather than a class of its own — so how much a student actually gets depends heavily on the district and the teacher. Coverage like that varies enormously between districts, and it reaches no one who has already graduated.

LearnLife organises this the way the decisions actually arrive: Emotional regulation — the self-management that decides whether the other skills ever get used; Money — budgeting, credit, debt and taxes — the mechanics nobody is formally taught; Legal literacy — leases, contracts, employment rights and what a signature actually commits you to.

Where to start in Drew County

Build a buffer before anything else

With 22.7% of Drew County living below the poverty line, the single highest-return skill here is cash-flow control: knowing what actually lands each month, what leaves automatically, and how to build even a small buffer between the two. A few hundred dollars of slack is the difference between a car repair being an inconvenience and it being a payday loan.

Questions people ask about Drew County

Do high school students in Drew County, Arkansas have to take a personal finance class?

Arkansas requires personal finance content, but delivers it inside another course rather than a dedicated class, so the depth varies by district and teacher.

How many adults in Drew County, Arkansas have a college degree?

23.3% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor's degree or higher, based on the Census Bureau's 2019–2023 American Community Survey. The remaining 76.7% are managing their finances without one.

What is the median household income in Drew County, Arkansas?

$41,071, per the Census Bureau's 2019–2023 American Community Survey.

Where can adults in Drew County, Arkansas learn personal finance?

Graduation requirements only ever reach people still in school. For adults, LearnLife covers the same ground on demand — money, legal literacy and the self-management that decides whether either gets used.

Start with whichever one is costing you money right now.

Browse the LearnLife catalog

Nearby in Arkansas

All Arkansas locations →

Population and demographic figures: U.S. Census Bureau — 2024 Gazetteer, Vintage 2024 Population Estimates, and the American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates. Graduation-requirement status: NGPF Live U.S. Dashboard, read 2026-09-14. Figures marked as unavailable are suppressed by the Census Bureau for small populations.