Key takeaways from the 2025 State of the Northwest Arkansas Region report
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Jobs are pretty good in NWA, but housing is still too expensive.
Driving the news: The Northwest Arkansas Council and the University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton College of Business released their annual report this week detailing how the region's economy is going.
📈 How it works: The data takes into account Benton, Washington and Madison counties.
💰 By the numbers: The region's population grew 2.6% to 605,547 in 2024.
- Median household income was up 4.5% from 2023 to 2024 to about $81,200, and average annual wages were up 5.3% to $59,550. About 7,800 net new jobs were created in the region, according to the report.
- The poverty and unemployment rates increased slightly. Poverty was at 11% in 2024, up 0.6% from 2023 — still significantly lower than the state's 15.5% poverty rate. The unemployment rate ticked up from 2.4% to 2.7% but was lower than the state's 3.5%.
🧑⚕️ The intrigue: Most new jobs are in health care, Mervin Jebaraj, director at the Walton College's Center for Business and Economic Research, said during a Thursday event to discuss the report.
- The number of employees in high-tech jobs that typically require specialized knowledge in fields like engineering, information technology and aerospace increased by about 8.3%, from 13,060 in 2023 to 14,150 in 2024, according to the report.
🏡 The big picture: Housing costs have increased in part because of an influx of high-income earners moving to NWA from areas with more expensive housing, Jebaraj said.
- The average prices of homes sold this year have ranged from about $426,700 in February to about $482,956 in June, according to data from Jebaraj.
- Meanwhile, average rent in NWA climbed to about $1,100 a month this year. It was under $800 in 2021 and under $600 in 2015.