The 30 Counties Where the First-Time Rule Does Not Apply
Program and regulatory figures verified October 6, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
Arkansas does this more simply than most states, and the simplicity is worth knowing: here the whole county qualifies or it does not.
The 30 counties
ADFA publishes these by name. If your purchase is in one of them, the StartSmart first-time buyer requirement does not apply to you.
Bradley · Calhoun · Chicot · Clark · Cleburne · Columbia · Conway · Crawford · Crittenden · Cross · Dallas · Desha · Drew · Jefferson · Lafayette · Lee · Lincoln · Madison · Mississippi · Monroe · Nevada · Ouachita · Perry · Phillips · Prairie · St. Francis · Scott · Searcy · White · Woodruff
Thirty of Arkansas's 75 counties — two in five.
★ Why this is simpler than most states
Most states designate targeted areas by census tract, which is smaller than a town. There, two houses on the same street can fall on opposite sides of a line, and the only reliable test is to check the exact address.
Arkansas designates by county. If the county is on the list above, the whole county is in. That makes it one of the few places where you can answer the question from a map rather than a lookup.
It also means the answer is stable in a way tract-level designations are not — you are not going to discover at underwriting that the specific parcel fell outside.
What else changes in a targeted county
The first-time waiver is the headline, but it is not the only difference. Under ADFA's property rules, duplexes in a targeted county may be newer than the five-year minimum that applies elsewhere in the state. The property rules.
The income limits also differ by county, and the targeted counties carry their own figures on the same schedule. The 75-county table marks each county targeted or non-targeted alongside its limits.
How we checked this list
ADFA publishes the thirty names in prose on its StartSmart page, and separately flags each county N or T on its income limits schedule. We extracted the schedule and compared the two.
★ They match name for name — exactly thirty counties flagged T, and the same thirty in the prose list. Two independent publications of the same fact agreeing is stronger evidence than either on its own, which is why we are comfortable publishing the list rather than telling you to go and look.
If your county is not on the list
Two other routes exist. Veterans and their spouses are exempt anywhere in Arkansas. And Move-Up has no first-time requirement at all, though it is not bond-funded so it does not carry StartSmart's rate advantage.
Frequently asked questions
Which Arkansas counties are federally targeted for ADFA?
Thirty of the 75: Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clark, Cleburne, Columbia, Conway, Crawford, Crittenden, Cross, Dallas, Desha, Drew, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lee, Lincoln, Madison, Mississippi, Monroe, Nevada, Ouachita, Perry, Phillips, Prairie, St. Francis, Scott, Searcy, White and Woodruff.Does Arkansas use census tracts for targeted areas?
No, Arkansas designates whole counties. That is simpler than most states, where targeted areas are drawn at census tract level and two houses on the same street can fall either side of the line. In Arkansas the county decides.What happens in a targeted Arkansas county?
The StartSmart first-time homebuyer requirement does not apply to anyone buying there. Under ADFA's property rules, duplexes in a targeted county may also be newer than the five-year minimum that applies elsewhere.Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about financing, not a loan commitment and not tax or legal guidance. ADFA program terms, income limits and purchase price limits are set by the Arkansas Development Finance Authority and change; figures here carry the date we verified them against ADFA's published documents. ADFA down payment assistance is a second mortgage matching the first mortgage over a 10-year term, which means it carries a monthly payment; it is not a grant. Loans are subject to borrower and property qualification.