[jsnichols1]

Tell me about Farmington - what are the schools like, do they get tornado's often, are there a lot of families with small kids there, is it mainly flat or hilly, etc, etc, etc....

*hugs*
Sue

[rackensack]

Farmington used to be a small town a bit west of Fayetteville -- as Fayetteville grows, it becomes more of a suburb of Fayetteville all the time. It's only about two miles from the US 62 exit off I-540 on the western side of Fayetteville. The distinction between Fayetteville and Farmington will continue to blur. The population of the town itself is about 5000, up quite a bit from about 3500 only a few years ago, and dramatically from somewhere around 2000 a couple of decades ago. According to census figures, about 44% of the households in town had children under 18, so there's plenty of families with children.

The area around Farmington is a bit flatter than is typical for Northwest Arkansas -- not Delta-flat, but certainly nothing like the mountainous areas to the east and south of Fayetteville. As for tornadoes, the NWA area in general gets more than some parts of the country, but a lot fewer than the southern and eastern parts of the state -- tornadoes and hills don't mix that well. Since Farmington is comparatively flat, it's at more risk than some parts of NWA, but not dramatically so. According to Farmington, Arkansas (AR) Detailed Profile - relocation, real estate, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, news, sex offenders ,

Farmington-area historical tornado activity is near Arkansas state average. It is 104% greater than the overall U.S. average.

On 5/4/1999, a category 3 (max. wind speeds 158-206 mph) tornado 2.9 miles away from the Farmington city center caused $100,000 in damages.

On 4/30/1954, a category 3 tornado 17.3 miles away from the city center injured one person and caused between $50,000 and $500,000 in damages.

[Stormcrow73]

We lived in Farmington for a year before leaving the state for work. It's a great little town. Very easy to get into Fayetteville. Not so easy to get onto 540 northbound though, lots of people trying to do that in the morning! Most of the town is on a flat bottom valley with hills to the south. It gives you snug feeling and some great views of the hills. Schools are good, not as good Fayetteville test score wise but my son was happy there. And as Rack said, LOTS of kids there!! It's definitely a family oriented community. Cardinal football games are great fun and more or less THE thing to do on Fridays in the fall. For us, if we were to ever get to move back to NWA, Farmington would be the first place we'd look.