The
U.S.
State of Arkansas currently has 25
statistical areas that have been delineated by the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB). On July 21, 2023, the OMB delineated four
combined statistical areas , seven
metropolitan statistical areas , and 14
micropolitan statistical areas in Arkansas.
[1] As of 2023, the most populous statistical area in the state is
Little Rock-North Little Rock, AR CSA , comprising the metro area of its capital and largest city,
Little Rock .
The
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has designated more than 1,000
statistical areas for the
United States and
Puerto Rico .
[2] These statistical areas are important geographic delineations of population clusters used by the OMB, the
United States Census Bureau , planning organizations, and federal, state, and local government entities.
The OMB defines a
core-based statistical area (commonly referred to as a
CBSA ) as the
county or counties (or
county-equivalents ) surrounding at least one densely-settled core of at least 10,000 population,
[2] "plus adjacent counties having a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured through commuting ties with the counties containing the core".
[2] The OMB further divides core-based statistical areas based on population into
metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for those with at least 50,000 and
micropolitan statistical areas (μSAs) for those with 10,000 to 49,999 people.
[2]
The OMB defines a
combined statistical area (CSA) as two or more adjacent
core-based statistical areas where the employment interchange rate (% commuting from A to B plus % commuting from B to A) is at least 15%.
[2] The
primary statistical areas (PSAs) include all
combined statistical areas and any
core-based statistical area that is not a constituent of a combined statistical area.
The 25 United States statistical areas and 75 counties of the State of Arkansas
[a]
Combined statistical area
[1]
2023 population (est.)
[3]
Core-based statistical area
[1]
2023 population (est.)
[3]
County
2023 population (est.)
[3]
Little Rock-North Little Rock, AR CSA
913,536
Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR MSA
764,045
Pulaski County, Arkansas
400,009
Faulkner County, Arkansas
129,951
Saline County, Arkansas
129,574
Lonoke County, Arkansas
75,944
Grant County, Arkansas
18,383
Perry County, Arkansas
10,184
Searcy, AR μSA
78,452
White County, Arkansas
78,452
Pine Bluff, AR μSA
71,039
Jefferson County, Arkansas
63,661
Cleveland County, Arkansas
7,378
none
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR MSA
590,337
Benton County, Arkansas
311,013
Washington County, Arkansas
261,549
Madison County, Arkansas
17,775
Fort Smith, AR-OK MSA
231,280 190,989 (
AR )
Sebastian County, Arkansas
129,098
Crawford County, Arkansas
61,891
Sequoyah County, Oklahoma
40,291
Jonesboro-Paragould, AR CSA
183,133
Jonesboro, AR MSA
136,390
Craighead County, Arkansas
113,993
Poinsett County, Arkansas
22,397
Paragould, AR μSA
46,743
Greene County, Arkansas
46,743
Hot Springs-Malvern, AR CSA
133,042
Hot Springs, AR MSA
99,784
Garland County, Arkansas
99,784
Malvern, AR μSA
33,258
Hot Spring County, Arkansas
33,258
none
Russellville, AR μSA
84,637
Pope County, Arkansas
64,593
Yell County, Arkansas
20,044
Memphis-Forrest City, TN-MS-AR CSA
1,377,852 69,240 (AR)
Memphis, TN-MS-AR MSA
1,335,674 47,139 (AR)
Shelby County, Tennessee
910,042
DeSoto County, Mississippi
193,247
Tipton County, Tennessee
62,015
Crittenden County, Arkansas
47,139
Fayette County, Tennessee
44,175
Marshall County, Mississippi
34,123
Tate County, Mississippi
28,261
Tunica County, Mississippi
9,234
Benton County, Mississippi
7,438
Forrest City, AR μSA
22,101
St. Francis County, Arkansas
22,101
Clarksdale, MS μSA
20,077
Coahoma County, Mississippi
20,077
none
Texarkana, TX-AR MSA
145,907 54,220 (AR)
Bowie County, Texas
91,687
Miller County, Arkansas
42,415
Little River County, Arkansas
11,805
Harrison, AR μSA
45,601
Boone County, Arkansas
38,530
Newton County, Arkansas
7,071
Mountain Home, AR μSA
42,875
Baxter County, Arkansas
42,875
Blytheville, AR μSA
38,663
Mississippi County, Arkansas
38,663
Batesville, AR μSA
38,320
Independence County, Arkansas
38,320
El Dorado, AR μSA
37,397
Union County, Arkansas
37,397
Camden, AR μSA
26,434
Ouachita County, Arkansas
21,793
Calhoun County, Arkansas
4,641
Magnolia, AR μSA
22,150
Columbia County, Arkansas
22,150
Arkadelphia, AR μSA
21,274
Clark County, Arkansas
21,274
none
Carroll County, Arkansas
28,814
Johnson County, Arkansas
26,129
Cleburne County, Arkansas
25,445
Logan County, Arkansas
21,400
Conway County, Arkansas
21,077
Polk County, Arkansas
19,436
Hempstead County, Arkansas
19,343
Randolph County, Arkansas
18,907
Ashley County, Arkansas
18,262
Sharp County, Arkansas
17,968
Marion County, Arkansas
17,514
Franklin County, Arkansas
17,468
Drew County, Arkansas
16,945
Jackson County, Arkansas
16,782
Cross County, Arkansas
16,420
Lawrence County, Arkansas
16,318
Arkansas County, Arkansas
16,307
Van Buren County, Arkansas
16,142
Sevier County, Arkansas
15,632
Phillips County, Arkansas
14,961
Clay County, Arkansas
14,201
Izard County, Arkansas
14,169
Lincoln County, Arkansas
12,898
Stone County, Arkansas
12,671
Howard County, Arkansas
12,533
Fulton County, Arkansas
12,421
Desha County, Arkansas
10,479
Pike County, Arkansas
10,208
Bradley County, Arkansas
10,104
Scott County, Arkansas
9,851
Chicot County, Arkansas
9,538
Montgomery County, Arkansas
8,620
Lee County, Arkansas
8,201
Nevada County, Arkansas
8,120
Prairie County, Arkansas
8,036
Searcy County, Arkansas
7,806
Monroe County, Arkansas
6,512
Dallas County, Arkansas
6,185
Lafayette County, Arkansas
6,095
Woodruff County, Arkansas
5,964
State of Arkansas
3,067,730
Primary statistical areas
Primary statistical areas (PSAs) include all combined statistical areas and any core-based statistical area that is not a constituent of a combined statistical area. Of the 25
statistical areas of Arkansas, 16 are PSAs comprising four combined statistical areas, three metropolitan statistical areas, and nine micropolitan statistical areas.
The 16 primary statistical areas of the State of Arkansas
[b]
2020 rank
Primary statistical area
[1]
Population
2023 estimate
[3]
Change
2020 Census
[4]
Change
2010 Census
[5]
1
Little Rock-North Little Rock, AR CSA
913,536
+1.54 %
899,663
+4.25 %
862,957
2
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR MSA
590,337
+7.98 %
546,725
+24.22 %
440,121
3
Fort Smith, AR-OK MSA (AR)
190,989
+1.63 %
187,932
+0.13 %
187,692
4
Jonesboro-Paragould, AR CSA
183,133
+1.78 %
179,932
+10.31 %
163,116
5
Hot Springs-Malvern, AR CSA
133,042
−0.13 %
133,220
+3.31 %
128,947
6
Russellville, AR μSA
84,637
+1.19 %
83,644
−0.35 %
83,939
7
Memphis-Forrest City, TN-MS-AR CSA (AR)
69,420
−2.57 %
71,253
−9.99 %
79,160
8
Texarkana, TX-AR MSA (AR)
54,220
−0.74 %
54,626
−3.54 %
56,633
9
Harrison, AR μSA
45,601
+2.25 %
44,598
−1.40 %
45,233
10
Mountain Home, AR μSA
42,875
+3.00 %
41,627
+0.27 %
41,513
11
Blytheville, AR μSA
38,663
−4.97 %
40,685
−12.47 %
46,480
12
El Dorado, AR μSA
37,397
−4.24 %
39,054
−6.21 %
41,639
13
Batesville, AR μSA
38,320
+1.01 %
37,938
+3.52 %
36,647
14
Camden, AR μSA
26,434
−3.49 %
27,389
−13.02 %
31,488
15
Magnolia, AR μSA
22,150
−2.86 %
22,801
−7.13 %
24,552
16
Arkadelphia, AR μSA
21,274
−0.80 %
21,446
−6.74 %
22,995
Fort Smith, AR-OK MSA
231,280
+1.79 %
227,213
−1.25 %
230,083
Memphis-Forrest City, TN-MS-AR CSA
1,377,852
−0.87 %
1,389,905
+0.77 %
1,379,238
Texarkana, TX-AR MSA
145,907
−1.09 %
147,519
−1.13 %
149,198
^ An out-of-state area and its population are displayed in green. An area that extends into more than one state is displayed in purple. A purple population number over a black population number show the total population versus the in-state population. The state's abbreviation is also shown next to the in-state total.
^ For PSAs comprising populations from multiple states, they are listed twice to show both their intrastate population within that PSA as well as the PSA's total population. Only the intrastate population is ranked.
^
a
b
c
d Revised Delineations of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Micropolitan Statistical Areas, and Combined Statistical Areas, and Guidance on Uses of the Delineations of These Areas (July 21, 2023).
"0MB BULLETIN NO. 23-01" (PDF) .
Office of Management and Budget . Retrieved October 23, 2023 . {{
cite web }}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link )
^
a
b
c
d
e
"2020 Standards for Delineating Core Based Statistical Areas" .
Office of Management and Budget . July 16, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021 .
^
a
b
c
d
"County Population Totals and Components of Change: 2020-2023" .
United States Census Bureau , Population Division. March 2023. Retrieved May 21, 2024 .
^
"PROFILE OF GENERAL POPULATION AND HOUSING CHARACTERISTICS" .
U.S. Census Bureau . 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2024 .
^
"Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2019" .
U.S. Census Bureau . 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2024 .
34°53′38″N 92°26′33″W / 34.8938°N 92.4426°W / 34.8938; -92.4426 (State of Arkansas )