Ranking of LR-Conway-NLR Suburbs (Little Rock, Jacksonville: houses, neighborhoods, private schools)

[North Pulaski Player]

Ranking of the Little Rock Metro suburbs(only communities in the official MSA counties). Note that I'm only including communities with population over 5,000 and I'm not including the principal cities of LR, NLR, nor Conway:

#1 Maumelle
#2 Bryant
#3 Cabot

#4 Benton
#5 Greenbrier
#6 Vilonia

#7 Sherwood
#8 Sheridan
#9 Lonoke
#10 Jacksonville

Change my mind

[Calesacult]

I agree almost 100% with this list. Swap Greenbrier and Vilonia, because Vilonia tripled in size in the last 30 years vs only double for Greenbrier.

Maumelle grew from 7,000 people in 1990 to 20,000 today, a 65% gain. It became the retirement city of Central Arkansas alongside Sherwood. Bryant grew from 6,000 in 1990 to 21,000 today, a whopping 77% increase. Cabot went from 9,000 in 1990 to 27,000 today, a 67% increase. The close proximity to LR/NLR is a factor. Benton grew from 19,000 in 1990 to 35,000 today, a 24% gain. Saline County only had 35,000 people in 1990, and now the city of Benton has 35,000 by itself. Sherwood annexed Gravel Ridge in 2008, adding 3,500 people to its then 22,000 population, and now has surpassed Jacksonville, which has been on a decline in the last few years. Lonoke beats out Jacksonville because it has been able to keep a stable, loyal community of 4,200 while Jacksonville is the fastest declining town in Central Arkansas population wise. It never even was able to build an urban core / downtown area, and Lonoke has a grid layout and a downtown core. Mulberry St. in JV is pathetic and N. Center St. in Lonoke beats it by itself due to having buildings on both sides of the street. There are many cities in Arkansas with a third the population that have an actual downtown with street fronts lining the blocks, even if it's only a 4x4 block grid of density. Never understood why a town with 30K has no downtown, but I didn't plan JV.

On second thought, the tornado did hurt Vilonia a bit, so #6 it is. Want to do one for the other MSAs in AR? I'd live to give an analysis on what you think of are the top 10 cities in various metro areas in AR.

[850_branded]

What are the criteria for ranking this list? Need some substantiation here before offering some kind of coherent response...

[sub]

Not a bad list.
Maumelle on top, Jacksonville at the bottom.
Toss a coin for some of the rest. I might would put Sherwood a little higher.

[Rock Climber]

Greenbrier has a FatBurger.

Inexplicitly.

The only one in Arkansas/Oklahoma/Tennesse/Missouri/Mississippi areas.

[Ice_Major]

I'm curious on why people are so bullish on Maumelle. It's in a great location. Love the scenery, but the schools suck. Good schools are one of the principal reasons people move to the burbs. Cabot and Bryant are much better despite their limited geographical appeal in this regard.

[sub]

As a master-planned community, Maumelle is well-designed and one of the more pleasant communities in the state.
I can imagine a lot of people there utilize private schools if they're so inclined.
The newer parts aren't as good, but overall it's still alright.

Bryant and Cabot feel more random and scattered. Bryant, unfortunately, also decided to overdevelop the frontage roads along the freeway turning the interstate into a cluttered stroad.

Overall, Little Rock's amenities are what make it worthwhile. Suburbia is not its strong suit.

[Rock Climber]

Originally Posted by Ice_Major

I'm curious on why people are so bullish on Maumelle. It's in a great location. Love the scenery, but the schools suck. Good schools are one of the principal reasons people move to the burbs. Cabot and Bryant are much better despite their limited geographical appeal in this regard.

Maumelle now has an excellent Charter School, and it is getting pretty big. The campus looks very nice.

[BMW335i]

Originally Posted by sub

As a master-planned community, Maumelle is well-designed and one of the more pleasant communities in the state.
I can imagine a lot of people there utilize private schools if they're so inclined.
The newer parts aren't as good, but overall it's still alright.

Bryant and Cabot feel more random and scattered. Bryant, unfortunately, also decided to overdevelop the frontage roads along the freeway turning the interstate into a cluttered stroad.

Overall, Little Rock's amenities are what make it worthwhile. Suburbia is not its strong suit.

I agree that Maumelle is "planned" but take issue with it being "well-designed"...in what way? There's literally no density, or town center like had been originally planned...and arguably the drive INTO Maumelle from Little Rock (technically NLR) has got to be one of the biggest urban sprawl eyesores in the metro, dotted with random warehouses and strip centers of the worst type. Maybe it's just the blight of that experience that seemingly makes Maumelle seem nice in comparison.

I agree that Little Rock's amenities make it worthwhile. Honestly, Little Rock is unique among peers in the fact that within the metro, undeniably the highest property values and wealth are found in the city proper, and there's really no competition. Little Rock has greatly benefited from that fact, and probably a lot of the reason why the city proper continues to grow.

[sub]

Originally Posted by BMW335i

I agree that Maumelle is "planned" but take issue with it being "well-designed"...in what way? There's literally no density, or town center like had been originally planned...and arguably the drive INTO Maumelle from Little Rock (technically NLR) has got to be one of the biggest urban sprawl eyesores in the metro, dotted with random warehouses and strip centers of the worst type. Maybe it's just the blight of that experience that seemingly makes Maumelle seem nice in comparison.

I agree that Little Rock's amenities make it worthwhile. Honestly, Little Rock is unique among peers in the fact that within the metro, undeniably the highest property values and wealth are found in the city proper, and there's really no competition. Little Rock has greatly benefited from that fact, and probably a lot of the reason why the city proper continues to grow.

Agree that the drive to and from Maumelle isn’t pleasant. Had the powers that be had any sense of design, that could have been a nice tree-lined parkway with roundabouts and fountains.
Oh well.
Also agree that Little Rock itself is the most appealing city in its own metro in most ways.
Maumelle is good for suburbia and lower crime.
What I meant by well designed is that it is at least visually appealing. That’s an issue I often have with Arkansas cities is that they’re often very utilitarian with little if any regard for aesthetics.

As I’ve gotten older and have lived in some higher density neighborhoods, I’ve come to appreciate some elbow room and privacy so Maumelle appeals to me at this point in life.
Of course they could use more in the way of sidewalks with parks and playgrounds more frequently scattered around the neighborhoods, as well as a nice, centralized walkable business district.
But for what it is and where it is, Maumelle is pretty good.