Document Type

Report

Publication Date

2016

Keywords

Northwest Arkansas, economics, economics performance

Abstract

The State of the Northwest Arkansas Region Report is an annual publication, commissioned by the Northwest Arkansas Council, that serves as a tool for evaluating the economic performance of the region. In January 2015, the Northwest Arkansas Council created a new blueprint for development that outlines the peer regions and a strategic action agenda for 2015-2017. In the three-year plan, the performance of Northwest Arkansas is benchmarked with other contemporary, high-performing regions namely Austin, Des Moines, Madison, Durham-Chapel Hill and Raleigh. The 2016 State of the Region Report compares Northwest Arkansas with these geographies in the areas of gross domestic product, employment, unemployment, establishment growth, median household income, average annual wages, poverty, educational attainment, research and development, homeownership costs, and commuting time. Average airfares for these regions were added to the report, as Northwest Arkansas businesses and residents routinely face high costs for air travel. The table below provides a summary of the performance of the Northwest Arkansas region on these measures. Important indicators such as gross domestic product, employment, and educational attainment showed strong increases from the previous year, while improvements in metrics such as median household income and R&D expenditures were more limited.

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