innovate arkansas

Northwest Arkansas is a great place to live but that doesn't mean the region lacks for areas of improvement.

So say the results of a competitive assessment compiled by Atlanta-based Market Street Services Inc. at the behest of the Northwest Arkansas Council, a nonprofit group of key regional business leaders.

The council released the findings of a late Wednesday. The document, available here, was complied by Market Street through one-on-one interviews, focus groups and an online survey.

The first of five key phases, the competitive assessment compares Northwest Arkansas to the state and nation, as well as three peer regions (Gainesville, Fla., Huntsville, Ala., and Lexington, Ky.) and one "aspirational" region (Austin, Texas). Future phases will include a marketing review, an economic development blueprint, and ultimately, plans for implementation.

The council says the goal is to "identify how best to position the region for retaining current employers, existing residents, and attracting quality employers and talent." Numerous factors -- from demographics and economics to quality of life and infrastructure -- were studied in assessing the state of Northwest Arkansas and developing a strategic economic development plan.

J. Mac Holladay, chief executive officer of Market Street, described the just-completed effort as "one of the pieces of research that will lead to a concrete community evaluation."

Just the first step in a multi-phase effort that could take years to complete, the 133-page report found many pluses and minuses in the way Northwest Arkansas stacks up.

Population

For example, the metro area was home to about 450,000 people by the end of 2009, and has added about 105,000 during the last decade.

And it is a young population. Only 10.9 percent of the region's population is age 65 and over; meanwhile, the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers metropolitan statistical area was considerably younger (the median age being 33.1 years) than state and national averages.

As of 2008, non-Hispanic white residents represented nearly 79 percent of Northwest Arkansas' resident population.

Education

Regarding education, Holladay said the public is very proud of their colleges and universities, and that the region's public schools are "top notch."

But only one in four adults in the region possessed a bachelor's degree or higher as of two years ago - three percent below the national average and between 6.7 and 18.5 percentage points lower than all comparison areas. Market Street also reported that more than half of all adult residents in Northwest Arkansas did not possess any education beyond a high school degree.

Still, the region's 14 largest school districts possessed graduation rates well above the state average in 2008.

Quality of Life

As for quality of life "the region has a rapidly expanding employment base in the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector, indicative of the burgeoning potential for greater tourism development in Northwest Arkansas."

Regarding employment, the region is home to the "highest relative concentration of employment in corporate headquarters out of all metropolitan areas in the country." Furthermore, employment in Northwest Arkansas almost doubled between 1990 and the start of the current recession. More good news includes overall cost of living, which is considerably lower than the national average, and lower than all comparison areas.

But incomes aren't keeping up. Per capita income in Northwest Arkansas in 2007 ($32,398) was below the national average ($40,208) and lower than average incomes in all comparison areas.

Not surprisingly, personal and business bankruptcy rates have surged in recent years. For instance, in 2009, "the business bankruptcy rate in Northwest Arkansas (16.5 filings per 1,000 establishments) was considerably higher than the national average (6.1 filings per 1,000 establishments)."

Transportation

Transportation comes across as a negative.

Higher airfares at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport leave some potential customers thinking twice.

Likewise, Northwest Arkansas "requires a robust highway network connecting major activity centers." Interstate 540 and U.S. 412, the study implies, can't do it all.

Also, Northwest Arkansas is home to one Class I railroad, thus limiting competitiveness for certain types of manufacturing activities.

Health Care

It was also reported that nearly one in five residents in the region had no health insurance as of 2008. Between 2003 and 2008, the overall poverty rate rose to 13.2 percent. "A lot of people are on the edge," Holladay said.

Even so, community pride was apparent as Market Street went about its research. "People want Northwest Arkansas to be even better," Holladay said. "It's a culture of expectations here."  

Mike Malone, executive director of the NWA Council, explained that now is definitely the right time to be conducting a comprehensive study of this nature.

"When the economy turns around, we want to be ready," he said.