Census data shows NW spurt offsetting losses around state
2 counties grow by 105,800 residents
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Northwest Arkansas’ explosive growth is reflected in the 2020 U.S. census figures, which were released Thursday.
Growth in the state’s Northwest offset population losses across most of the rest of the state.
The area’s two largest counties grew by 105,800 people between April 1, 2010, and April 1, 2020.
Benton County’s population reached 284,333, up from 221,339 a decade ago, an increase of 62,994, or 28.5%.
Washington County’s population climbed from 203,065 to 245,871, an increase of 42,806 or 21.1%.
A substantial part of that growth was in Fayetteville, which is now the state’s second-largest city.
The home city of the University of Arkansas grew from 73,580 in 2010 to 93,949 in 2020, surpassing Fort Smith, which went from 86,209 in 2010 to 89,142 a decade later.
Randy Zook, president and CEO of the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce, wasn’t surprised by the area’s continued growth.
In 1960, two years before the opening of the first Walmart store in Rogers, Washington County’s population stood at 55,797 and Benton County’s was just 36,272.
Since then, there’s been a six-decade economic boom.
“NWA is one of the most dynamic areas in the US,” he said in a text message. “Their growth is driving the overall success of the state. [I’m] Thankful for their lead
ership.”
Economic development advocates in Northwest Arkansas attributed the growth to the region’s improved and still improving quality of life.
“It’s kind of a chicken-andegg situation,” said Steve Cox, senior vice president of economic development at the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce. “Is our population growing because of amenities [like] good education and low cost of living, or the other way around?”
The region’s cost of living is 13% lower than the national average, Cox said, allowing people to “relocate from areas with higher tax bases to experience a greater quality of life while earning the same paycheck.”
Springdale Chamber of Commerce President Bill Rogers said unemployment rates in Northwest Arkansas “have been historically low throughout the decade” as the region has excelled at job creation.
Private industries — such as Walmart, Tyson Foods and J.B. Hunt — have been expanding in the area in the past few years, said Robert Smith, policy director for the Northwest Arkansas Council.
Additionally, several Northwest Arkansas attractions did not yet exist at the time of the previous census. The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville opened in 2011, and its satellite museum the Momentary opened in February 2020. The Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion in Rogers became a permanent venue in 2014, and the Razorback Regional Greenway trail between Fayetteville and Bella Vista was completed in 2015.
Smith said the region has “a constant investment in making the next great thing.”
“Even though you’re not in the largest metropolitan area, you’re in a metropolitan area that has the amenities of a much larger place,” he said.
More than 60% of Bentonville residents are not from Arkansas, said Graham Cobb, president and CEO of the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce.
“That shows that people are moving here not only to make a living, but to make their best life,” Cobb said.
The figures released Thursday offer the first look at population figures that will dictate how legislative districts are redrawn and billions in government dollars are allocated.
While Northwest Arkansas is booming, Little Rock, with 202,591 people, remains the state’s largest city. A decade ago, it had 193,524 residents.
Pulaski County grew by 4.3%, rising from 382,748 to 399,125.
Saline County’s 15.2% increase was the highest growth rate in Central Arkansas. It had 123,416 residents, up from 107,118 a decade ago.
Craighead County is also a population magnet, growing from 96,443 to 111,231, an increase of 15.3%.
Nationwide, the population increased by 7.4% over the past decade, the slowest growth since the 1930s; Arkansas’ rose by 3.3%.
Most of that growth, in Arkansas and across the country, occurred in metropolitan areas.
Rural counties, here and elsewhere, saw their populations fall.
Overall, the Natural State added 95,606 residents, climbing from 2,915,918 to 3,011,524. Without the boost from Benton and Washington counties, the state would have experienced a drop in population, its first since the 1960 census.
Fifty-three of the state’s 75 counties lost people over the past decade, noted Alison Wright, head of the data center for the Arkansas Economic Development Institute.
“To me, that’s the big story,” she said. “Metro counties are gaining, and all the other counties are losing, or close to it.”
Rural Arkansas was hit particularly hard, especially counties in the Mississippi Delta. Phillips County lost nearly a quarter of its population — 23.8% — falling from 21,757 to 16,568.
“Our urban areas are becoming a larger, more important part of what happens in Arkansas,” Smith said. “It’s not that our smaller counties aren’t important, but that’s certainly a trend.”
The continuing population declines in the state’s rural counties are cause for concern, according to state Democratic Party Chairman Michael John Gray.
Woodruff County, where he’s lived his whole life, had a population of 21,547 in 1920. A century later, it has dwindled to 6,269, down from 7,260 in 2010.
As the population has fallen, businesses have closed. Young people have headed off to college, never to return.
“There’s nothing for them to come back to if they don’t have a tie to the land or a well-established family business,” Gray said.
Wright, of the Arkansas Economic Development Institute, noted that census data determines how state and federal dollars are allocated, and a drop in population often leads to a drop in funding for local communities, she said.
“They will be hurting more because they have less people now than they did 10 years ago,” she said.
While the state is seeing a shift from rural to urban living, its racial and ethnic composition is also evolving.
“We’re becoming much more diverse than we were 10 years ago, than we were 20 [years ago],” Wright said.
In Arkansas, 70.2% of the population identified as white alone; 15.1% as Black or African American alone; 0.9% as American Indian or Alaska Native alone; 1.7% as Asian alone; and 0.5% identified themselves as Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander alone.
In addition, 7.1% identified themselves as having two or more races, while 4.5% were classified as “some other race
Fifty-three of the state’s 75 counties lost people over the past decade, noted Alison Wright, head of the data center for the Arkansas Economic Development Institute.
alone.”
In 2010, whites comprised 74.5% of the non-Hispanic population, the census showed at the time. Meanwhile, 15.6% identified as Black.
Asians, in 2010, made up 1.2%, while American Indian or Alaskan natives accounted 0.7% of the population, the census reported at the time.
Over the past decade, the state’s Hispanic population continued to expand, from 6.4% to 8.5%. Nationally, the figure was 18.7%. Overall, 256,847 Arkansans classified themselves as Hispanic or Latino.
In Sevier County, population 15,839, 34.8% or 5,508 people are now Hispanic. In Yell County, population 20,263, the figures are 20.7% or 4,204 people.
Roughly one-fifth of the state’s Hispanic population — 50,540 — have settled in Benton County, where they account for 17.8% of the overall population. Hispanics make up 18.2% of the Washington County community and number 44,755.
Pulaski County, population 399,125, is home to 33,153 or 8.3% of Hispanic residents.
Mireya Reith, founding executive director of Arkansas United, said her organization, which seeks to empower immigrants, helped promote the census.
She wasn’t surprised that it shows growth in the Hispanic community, she said.
People continue to be drawn to Arkansas because of the opportunities that are available and the “welcoming” environment they encounter.
“Arkansas is a place where our immigrants, including our Hispanic community, can fulfill their dreams and fulfill their potential,” she said.