On Friday, hundreds of Northwest Arkansans, from bankers and elected officials to health care executives and developers, came together at the Fayetteville Public Library to get an update on the state of the region.
One featured speaker was Lawrence Frank, a UC San Diego professor and pioneer in walkability research. When he first started this research in the early ’90s, he says, people weren’t really thinking about how walkable a city should be or could be. Now it’s a focus not just for city design, but for the environment and for public health.
“Integrating health and transport is essential to achieve public health goals, transportation goals and shared resources and guidance for transportation and health professionals. We have really mastered a culture where we separate the effects of one discipline on another, and we really don’t account for that.
“So the impacts of how we build our communities and our transportation decision making do not really typically account for how it affects our daily lives.”
Frank argues that a critical way to provide more walkability comes from a combination of private and public interest. That means not only creating the sidewalks and green space for people to go, but also having destinations nearby that people will want to visit.
Frank highlights some of the changes occurring before and after a greenway is implemented in Vancouver, British Columbia.
“21% reduction in the amount of driving and vehicle kilometers traveled, miles traveled and GHG emissions. Greenhouse gas went down that much. People living along the greenway were twice as likely to get the amount of physical activity they need compared to those who did not. And there was also a tripling in the amount of biking along the greenway compared to those who did not live along the greenway.
“So you’re building amazing greenways here and you’re doing some research as well along the way. But this is the kind of studies that can be done because what that finding translates into is huge economic impact for those people along the greenway, that greenway in Vancouver.
“Taking an existing street cost about $8 million Canadian, which is very, very inexpensive for a public work. And the health benefits that come from that, the reduction in chronic disease for all the people that live around there, is way, way higher.”
He says there are direct and indirect benefits to having a well-connected greenway system.
“The direct benefits are health care cost savings through reductions in chronic disease. But that’s only part of the story. The indirects are even bigger. There are things like workforce productivity, land value increase, actually generating value through tax, through incremental financing.
“The equity that’s in the money that’s invested results in increase in value of the land along the greenways. And that can be leveraged into funding infrastructure as well.”
Frank says with census data and geographic information systems, they are able to estimate chronic disease prevalence and physical activity at small-scale geographies. In the lead-up to this presentation, his team used software to estimate heart disease and diabetes rates in Fayetteville and Bentonville.
“What you see is a pattern. Whereas in the urbanized areas of Bentonville and Fayetteville, the numbers are lower and that’s consistent with the... You see less darker shades, lighter shades, lower percentages under 4%. The darker shades are 15% or more. It’s a clear spatial pattern that’s consistent with the rest of the country, with other regions. And it’s explained by the degree of car dependence or ability to get around actively.
“And the fact that people that live in the more urbanized areas self-selected to do so because they prefer to be able to get around on foot or other ways, so that you have to remember, we are behaviorally predisposed to where we live. We choose where to live because of what we like to do.”
His closing point is that the details of a pedestrian environment, whether that’s tree canopy, sidewalks separated from the road or just a curb cut, can be measured and factored into decisions to make an impact on the region.
When it comes to the economy of the region, Mervin Jebaraj says Northwest Arkansas is doing well compared to its peer metropolitan areas.
“We’re doing a lot better this year than we did in previous years, and again, we’re comparing ourselves to very high-ranking regions around. And so we don’t always expect to be ranked No. 1 compared to some of these regions. So in a year where several of these metrics are showing us as No. 1, we’re always going to celebrate that because it might not come around for a while again.”
Jebaraj is the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas. Those six peer metros include Austin, Texas; Des Moines, Iowa; Madison, Wisconsin; Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Provo, Utah.
Northwest Arkansas was first annually in population growth, real GDP growth, nonfarm employment growth, business establishment growth and high-tech employment growth. Jebaraj elaborates on the business establishment growth rate, a stat in which Northwest Arkansas ranked first by a wide margin.
“So you’re wondering what are these businesses? So at the very top is professional business services. So these are all the people selling things to the big companies in Northwest Arkansas. All the people selling things to the people selling things to the big companies in Northwest Arkansas, and lots of lawyers, accountants, engineers and lawyers and accountants and lawyers and accountants and so on and so forth.
“And then at the next down there, you can see construction. So we’ve had a lot of construction here in Northwest Arkansas over the last several years. So keep in mind that this data is annual and is through to the end of 2025. So over the last several years in Northwest Arkansas, both large companies, public institutions, etc. have done a lot of construction activity.”
Another statistic that Northwest Arkansas ranked first: the percent change in median sales price of existing single-family homes. And that’s first by a wide margin. Data shows that between 2020 and 2025, the percent change in this region was nearly 66%. Coming in second is Madison, Wisconsin, at 43%.
Jebaraj says being first in this metric is not one to be proud of, but “we are No. 1 in this metric by some distance. And then you can see, even in the last year, ‘24 to ‘25, we’ve seen a modest price increase here. So at least it’s not like 10 to 12%, but it’s still higher than all our peer regions, especially some of those where you’ve seen prices drop on average in those regions.”
Home prices remain high even as prices have eased from their July peak. In September, the average home sold for about $441,000, down from nearly $484,000 in July. Meanwhile, Northwest Arkansas ranks last amongst its peer metros in median family income at just over $101,000 and average annual wages just over $61,000.
Jebaraj points to the data and says homes are costing less.
“So you’re asking, how are these homes getting a little bit cheaper? Every economist you’ve ever met has whacked you over the head with supply and demand. You increase supply. Demand has slowed a little bit. Prices have come down.
“I know there was a person running for city council here in Northwest Arkansas that said, ‘Supply and demand doesn’t work for the housing market because we’ve added all these houses and home prices don’t come down.’ Here you go. OK. You may not believe in supply and demand, but supply and demand still believes in you.
“So adding more supply still reduces prices. I don’t know how many times to try to convince you of this idea, but here it is in Northwest Arkansas as well. So we’ve added a lot of homes here in Northwest Arkansas over the last several years. And that is helping moderate our prices. Yes, I would like the prices to come down some more, but this is the beginning of that. Assuming we can keep the home construction going here in Northwest Arkansas.”
He says updates to the state’s building code should make it easier to build more housing, duplexes and fourplexes, something planners and developers refer to as middle housing.
The state of the region seems clear. Northwest Arkansas is adding people, jobs and homes. The longer-term question raised by both Jebaraj and Frank is what steps the region can take to keep that growth rooted in community.
Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
