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Subcounty Population Estimates

The July 1, 2024 population estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau show that Little Rock remains the most populous city in Arkansas with 204,774 people.  Its population is over 100,000 higher than the next largest city, Fayetteville.  The chart below displays the top 10 cities in Arkansas by population.

The Census Bureau develops city and town population estimates by using their housing unit estimates to distribute the county household population to subcounty areas (cities, towns, and unincorporated areas of the county) based on the average household population per housing unit. An estimate of the population in group quarters (institutional and non-institutional facilities such as correctional facilities, juvenile facilities, nursing homes, college student housing)  is added to that to obtain the total resident population.

Numeric Change in Population

The city of Bentonville gained 2,081 people from July 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024, which was the largest growth in the state.  Centerton and Fayetteville both increased in population by over 1,500 people.  The following chart shows the other cities that rounded out the top 10 largest gaining cities.

The largest decrease in population in the state from 2023 to 2024 occurred in West Memphis (-311).  Blytheville and Texarkana tied for the next highest population loss (-242).

Percent Change in Population

Of the cities in Arkansas with at least 1,000 population, Pea Ridge was the fastest growing from July 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024.  During this time period it experienced a 17.0% population increase.  Highfill also saw a large population increase during this year (15.2%).

Bar Chart of Fastest Growing Cities in Arkansas, 2023 to 2024. Pea Ridge is top ranked at 17 percent of cities with a population of at least one thousand.

Conversely, of the cities in Arkansas with at least 1,000 population, Eudora was the fastest declining from 2023 to 2024 with a 3.0% population loss. The following chart shows the other cities that rounded out the top 10 fastest declining cities.

Cities/Towns by Population Size

There were 500 cities and towns in Arkansas in 2024, as seen in the table below. The overwhelming majority (432 of 500) of these incorporated places had a population under 5,000, while only 9 places had a population over 50,000.

Population Change by Size of City/Town

The following table compares the average population growth by the size of the city/town in Arkansas. These numbers reference the average population numeric change and average population percent change of all cities and towns in a given category.  These two averages will not always have the same direction of change due to the average being influenced by extreme values.  A positive value does not indicate that all places in the population size category are growing.  Places with a population of 10,000 to 19,999 saw the largest growth of 1.5% on average, followed by places with a population of 50,000 or more at 1.3%. Places with a population of under 5,000 were the only group with an average percent decrease (- 0.1%).

Housing Units

From July 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024 the number of housing units in Arkansas increased by 0.9%.  The state’s housing unit growth rate ranked 20 among the states and D.C.

Table listing States and Percent Changes in Housing Units from 2023 to 2024. Idaho is the top rank at 2.2 percent, and Hawaii is 51st rank with 0.1 percent.

Within the state, Benton County saw the largest housing unit growth with 3.6%.  This was followed by Marion and Washington Counties, both at 1.9%.  The chart below shows the other counties with the largest housing unit growth.

For More Information

The full subcounty estimate data can be found on this page and the housing unit estimate data can be found on this page.