All but one north central Arkansas county saw population growth from July 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024 according to data recently released by the U.S. Census bureau. The data shows one city in our area is among fastest growing in the state and two area counties are among the largest housing unit growth in the state during that time.
Calico Rock, according to the data, was the eighth fastest growing city in Arkansas percentage wise during the time frame, growing 4.3%. Pea Ridge was the fastest growing city at 17%. The top seven fastest growing cities are all located in the northwest corner of the state.
When it comes to the largest housing unit growth in the state, Marion County tied with Washington County for second in the state at 1.9%. Benton County led the way at 3.6%. Boone County was 5th at 1.3%.
On the county level, Fulton County saw the largest percentage of population increase in the area from July 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024 at 1%. Stone County increased 0.9%, Marion and Izard counties both increased 0.6%, Baxter County’s population increased 0.5%, Boone County increased by 0.3%, Searcy County increased 0.2% and Newton Countys population went down by 0.7%.
When it comes to the actual number of residents, Baxter County’s population increased by 226 people, Fulton County saw an increase of 124 residents, Boone County’s population moved up by 120 people, Marion and Stone counties each have 108 more residents, Izard County’s population increased by 89, Searcy County saw an increase of 18 people and Newton County lost 53 residents.
The Census Bureau also put out estimates on the population for each county. Baxter County is the largest in north central Arkansas with 43,007 residents. That also makes Baxter the 16th largest county in the state. Boone County has 38,636 people, marking it the 19th largest county in Arkanas. Marion County’s population is 17,593. Izard County has 14,291 residents. Stone County’s population is 12,785. Fulton County has 12,546 people. Searcy County’s population stands at 7,836. Newton County has 7,026 people.
The top growing city numerically was Bentonville with an increase of 2,081 residents. Eight of the top ten cities with the biggest increases numerically were located in the northwest corner of Arkansas. The other two were Jonesboro and Conway.
Little Rock continues to the most populous city in Arkansas with 204,774 residents, nearly double the second largest city, Fayetteville, which has 103,134.
The city losing the most residents was West Memphis as they were down 311 residents. The cities losing the most residents were in the east, central and southern part of the state.
When it came to the fastest declining cities, they were primarily in eastern and southern Arkansas. Eudora has the largest decline at 3%.
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