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OP, I am glad that you are having such a positive experience in NWA. I would love to move to that area myself. Everything is nice, new and clean in that area. But I have to throw out some realism here. Unfortunately, it is a bubble world compared to the rest of Arkansas.
If you travel past Eureka Springs to Harrison, the landscape is gorgeous, but you will find something really shocking. Blatant racism. I was shocked when I saw it this year. Right on the main drag, a big billboard sign that says "Anti-Racism is code for being Anti-White". I've talked to some ppl about it, and Harrison is one of the few places in the country that has such racism. It is almost entirely white there too. Drive down to Clinton and you will see more signs that Arkansas is a poverty state. I stopped at the Walmart, and saw plenty of people missing teeth.
Go on south to Little Rock, and you will see a city that is failing on crime. Just last week, young thugs pulled out a gun and shot in the air at the supposedly family friendly Movie at the Park summer event. At Chili's in the nicer part of town, a brawl broke out.
Go on south to Pine Bluff, and you will find one of the few cities in a America that is so dangerous that the locals will tell you not to shop there. I've been talking to a lady from White Hall and she says she doesn't dare go to the Walmart after dark there. That's really sad. Arkansas always has taxes rates so high that they rival big cities like NYC, and it has the worst renter laws in America. You can actually go to jail for not paying your rent on time here.
I would only recommend Arkansas to wealthy retirees who want to move to NWA.
and did you do any follow up on the horrible sign, what happened to it, what was the response from the people in Harrison? You obviously know very little about AR. As for only wealthy retirees living here, have you checked to see the ratings of some of the high schools in Bentonville and Fayetteville? Are you aware how many national corp have headquarters right here and how many people they hire? Of are you aware of the diversity in Washington and Benton counties just for starters? The largest population of Marshalites, other than in the Marshall Islands is right here and do you have any idea the size of the Hispanic community?
Little Rock is no different from any other major metro city, whether, NYC< Dallas, LA, Vegas or Chicago. In fact it can't hold a candlestick to the danger living in Chicago brings.
Taxes, where are you getting that idea about taxes? In some cases the taxes are high, in many they are low, such as property taxes for starters.
Wow, that poster makes it all sound so awful. LOL.
The NWA metro makes up nearly 20% of the state's population. Little Rock metro makes up another 25-30%.
I have heard that Pine Bluff is pretty rough. There is a lot of poverty in the Delta region, both in Arkansas and Mississippi.
We have some very rural areas, but I've never experienced what that poster described. I read that a billboard like the one in Harrison showed up in other areas of the country, most recently in Birmingham, Alabama. So who knows who puts those up?
NWA has a thriving start up community and a great quality of life. If you'd only recommend it to wealthy retirees, then you don't know anything worth posting about Northwest Arkansas. It attracts as many or more young people than it does retirees. The economy is great, the cost of living is still manageable, and with an education and some ambition, there aren't many better places in the country to be right now. We could not have the same quality of life in Austin as we do here, which is why we chose to move here. We visited college towns all over the country and this is one of the best places to be, in our view.
OP, I am glad that you are having such a positive experience in NWA. I would love to move to that area myself. Everything is nice, new and clean in that area. But I have to throw out some realism here. Unfortunately, it is a bubble world compared to the rest of Arkansas.
If you travel past Eureka Springs to Harrison, the landscape is gorgeous, but you will find something really shocking. Blatant racism. I was shocked when I saw it this year. Right on the main drag, a big billboard sign that says "Anti-Racism is code for being Anti-White". I've talked to some ppl about it, and Harrison is one of the few places in the country that has such racism. It is almost entirely white there too. Drive down to Clinton and you will see more signs that Arkansas is a poverty state. I stopped at the Walmart, and saw plenty of people missing teeth.
Go on south to Little Rock, and you will see a city that is failing on crime. Just last week, young thugs pulled out a gun and shot in the air at the supposedly family friendly Movie at the Park summer event. At Chili's in the nicer part of town, a brawl broke out.
Go on south to Pine Bluff, and you will find one of the few cities in a America that is so dangerous that the locals will tell you not to shop there. I've been talking to a lady from White Hall and she says she doesn't dare go to the Walmart after dark there. That's really sad. Arkansas always has taxes rates so high that they rival big cities like NYC, and it has the worst renter laws in America. You can actually go to jail for not paying your rent on time here.
I would only recommend Arkansas to wealthy retirees who want to move to NWA.
There are racist parts of every state and there are many more nice parts of Arkansas than just the Northwest corner. I've seen blatant racism in Wisconsin too and there are certainly extremely ghetto parts of Milwaukee and Madison.
I haven't been to much of the rest of the state, but there are a lot of kids from U of A who are from other areas in Arkansas and they're all friendly. I haven't experienced or seen any racism at Arkansas apart from moderate self-segregated dining halls. That happens anywhere though and I saw it back home.
Furthermore, Northwest Arkansas is not poor and most of the kids at U of A come from upper middle class or upper class families in Arkansas, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, and Louisiana. They certainly aren't coming from poor backgrounds. Not that money is that important, just that there is wealth here. In fact, for a city of Fayetteville's size, the per capita income is higher than just about anywhere.
I know Arkansas has had problems with education (as a whole, don't forget nationally recognized schools in the NW corner) and poverty, it has improved a ton in the last decade. I think it actually moved out of the bottom five in poverty and unemployment with the most recent data.
This state is on the rise. I honestly believe that in 20-30 years, it will be considered one of the nicer states. It already is a very nice state in parts, but most people don't realize that because they only focus on the bad parts and/or have never actually visited the nice ones.
Wow, that poster makes it all sound so awful. LOL.
The NWA metro makes up nearly 20% of the state's population. Little Rock metro makes up another 25-30%.
I have heard that Pine Bluff is pretty rough. There is a lot of poverty in the Delta region, both in Arkansas and Mississippi.
We have some very rural areas, but I've never experienced what that poster described. I read that a billboard like the one in Harrison showed up in other areas of the country, most recently in Birmingham, Alabama. So who knows who puts those up?
NWA has a thriving start up community and a great quality of life. If you'd only recommend it to wealthy retirees, then you don't know anything worth posting about Northwest Arkansas. It attracts as many or more young people than it does retirees. The economy is great, the cost of living is still manageable, and with an education and some ambition, there aren't many better places in the country to be right now. We could not have the same quality of life in Austin as we do here, which is why we chose to move here. We visited college towns all over the country and this is one of the best places to be, in our view.
It was our granddaughter, choosing U of A that got the family here. She visited all over the country as well: always assumed she would go to Tex A&M. She had scholarship offers at several schools,U of being one. The first time she visited she knew this was the place for her.
Yes, there are young as well as old. Bella Vista used to be thought of as retirement only, now only a small percentage are retirees and if I am not mistaken the average age is around 50, with more and more young families moving in daily.
Now if you go to the store or church, you will think only retired people live here: why?: Cause we have more time to shop and after we buy groceries we only have enough money left to go to church.
and did you do any follow up on the horrible sign, what happened to it, what was the response from the people in Harrison? You obviously know very little about AR. As for only wealthy retirees living here, have you checked to see the ratings of some of the high schools in Bentonville and Fayetteville? Are you aware how many national corp have headquarters right here and how many people they hire? Of are you aware of the diversity in Washington and Benton counties just for starters? The largest population of Marshalites, other than in the Marshall Islands is right here and do you have any idea the size of the Hispanic community?
Little Rock is no different from any other major metro city, whether, NYC< Dallas, LA, Vegas or Chicago. In fact it can't hold a candlestick to the danger living in Chicago brings.
Taxes, where are you getting that idea about taxes? In some cases the taxes are high, in many they are low, such as property taxes for starters.
Hi nmnita,
Well maybe I don't know the whole story about the sign. I am just going by what I saw and this article.
Again, I'm not disputing that NWA is a great area, but the vast majority of the other state is well below average. Here's a quote from one article:
Quote:
But Arkansas struggled in every other category. It had the third-highest crime rate, the sixth-lowest rating for wellness and the eighth-lowest health quality scores. It also had above-average state and local taxes, with a combined rate of 10.3 percent, according to the Tax Foundation.
As for taxes, places like Bentonville can have sales tax as high as 12%. I know a lot of people especially in Bella Vista will make the drive into Missouri to shop as a result. Maybe a retiree doesn't feel that pinch, but a working class guy like me does. High sales tax on the back of a higher than average income tax rate. Nearly 25% of my income goes to taxes.
Arkansas is improving faster than almost anywhere though. As a whole, it has a less than stellar reputation -- yes. But the University of Arkansas has added 10,000 students in the last decade. A good chunk of those will stay in the state. When you have a strong flagship University like Arkansas does have, more and more people are going to choose to attend there and more and more of those people are going to stay in the state and improve its reputation.
The University of Arkansas and Fayetteville is growing faster than almost anywhere in the country -- that is a VERY good sign for the rest of the state, especially when our graduates start making their way into the workforce.
I think ATU has grown even faster, pretty much doubled in size and now has the first female president of a university in Arkansas. Technically I'll be alumni of both atu and ua after this semester (technical certificate in fall and degree next spring). Tech has some ugly license plates though I think UA Pine Bluff has the best looking ones.
OP, I am glad that you are having such a positive experience in NWA. I would love to move to that area myself. Everything is nice, new and clean in that area. But I have to throw out some realism here. Unfortunately, it is a bubble world compared to the rest of Arkansas.
If you travel past Eureka Springs to Harrison, the landscape is gorgeous, but you will find something really shocking. Blatant racism. I was shocked when I saw it this year. Right on the main drag, a big billboard sign that says "Anti-Racism is code for being Anti-White". I've talked to some ppl about it, and Harrison is one of the few places in the country that has such racism. It is almost entirely white there too. Drive down to Clinton and you will see more signs that Arkansas is a poverty state. I stopped at the Walmart, and saw plenty of people missing teeth.
Go on south to Little Rock, and you will see a city that is failing on crime. Just last week, young thugs pulled out a gun and shot in the air at the supposedly family friendly Movie at the Park summer event. At Chili's in the nicer part of town, a brawl broke out.
Go on south to Pine Bluff, and you will find one of the few cities in a America that is so dangerous that the locals will tell you not to shop there. I've been talking to a lady from White Hall and she says she doesn't dare go to the Walmart after dark there. That's really sad. Arkansas always has taxes rates so high that they rival big cities like NYC, and it has the worst renter laws in America. You can actually go to jail for not paying your rent on time here.
I would only recommend Arkansas to wealthy retirees who want to move to NWA.
Sounds like Arkansas may not be the ideal place for you. Myself, I was born and raised in south Arkansas and work took me to many other states over my career. I could not wait to get back after retirement. I do not consider myself wealthy but am absolutely delighted to be living back here.
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