The Arkansas Economic Development Commission Welcomes Your Interest in Arkansas.
The Arkansas Economic Development Commission welcomes your interest in Arkansas. Arkansas is a Natural for Business, noted as a leader in the South for its favorable business climate and low cost of doing business.
Arkansas is proud of the five homegrown Fortune 500 companies headquartered here: Alltel, Dillard's, Murphy Oil, Tyson Foods and Wal-Mart.
Many Arkansas companies are making headlines:
- Wal-Mart, which was named by Fortune as the world's largest corporation from 2002 to 2006, has also ranked as one of the nation's most admired companies.
- Fortune has named Tyson Foods as the most admired company in the food production industry and included Acxiom Corporation on its list of 100 Best Companies to Work For.
- Alltel, Arkansas Best, J. B. Hunt Transport and Murphy Oil are among Forbes' Platinum List.
- J.B. Hunt is also the only transportation firm in the top 10 of Computerworld's top 100 information technology workplaces.
Diversity of industry is evident in Arkansas. Just a few of the recent locations and expansions include:
- Manufacturing: Welspun and LM Glasfiber
- Food Processing: Nestlé (the largest food processing location announcement in the nation in 2001), Frito-Lay, Gerber, Pinnacle Foods
- Aeronautics: Dassault Falcon Jet, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon
- Distribution: Scholastic, Smith Wholesale Drugs, Infinity Intermodal, Skil-Bosch
- Info-Tech: ARVEST, IntelliTrans
- Customer Service Centers: FTD.com, Cardinal Health, Pinnacle
Employers give favorable ratings to Arkansas workers for their work ethic, skills, productivity and low turnover rates. Businesses report great success in recruiting quality and reliable people.
The average cost of living for all of Arkansas' MSAs is consistently below the national average. Businesses also enjoy low tax obligations through a variety of incentives, exemptions, credits and refunds.
Because of its central location, Arkansas provides a valuable transportation advantage. Halfway between Canada and Mexico, the Carolinas and California, Arkansas is only a tank of gas away from one-third of the nation's population. A billion-dollar program to improve approximately 380 miles of interstate highways was completed in 2005.
Home to hundreds of lakes, streams and rivers, 51 state parks and three national forests, Arkansas offers a great variety of recreational opportunities.
The recent sighting in Arkansas of the ivory-billed woodpecker, once thought extinct, has excited birdwatchers from all over the world.
Fishermen enjoy the 700,000 acres covered by water, including the Little Red River, home of the world-record brown trout. Canoeing is popular, especially on America's first national river, the Buffalo. Hunters can pursue a wide variety of game, and hikers enjoy the Sugarloaf Trail, America's first national nature trail, as well as many others. Several of Arkansas' 181 golf courses are championship quality.
Arkansas enjoys the four seasons in moderation, and the longer spring and fall seasons provide a mild climate. Average temperatures range from 35° to 45°F in January and 81°F in July. The annual relative humidity averages 57%. Arkansas receives approximately 44 to 54 inches of rainfall a year, while Little Rock receives less than 4 inches of annual frozen precipitation.
Local culture, history and the arts are featured in more than 200 cultural institutions in Arkansas, including symphonies, community and professional theater and ballet groups, museums, galleries and a nationally respected arts center. Pioneer settlements, Native American sites and antebellum homes are preserved as part of Arkansas' colorful history. Architect Fay Jones' Thorncrown Chapel on the outskirts of Eureka Springs was named one of the top 10 designs of the 20th century.
In the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock, visitors can explore the rich heritage of the state's oldest neighborhood and then take an easy stroll to enjoy the unique shopping and cuisine in the city's downtown River Market District along the south bank of the Arkansas River.
The William J. Clinton Presidential Center opened in 2004 in the River Market District. It houses the largest archival collection in American Presidential history and attracts people from all over the world. In a restored 1899 passenger train depot adjacent to the Center is the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, which offers a master's degree in public service.
Nearby the Clinton Center is the headquarters of Heifer International, a worldwide hunger-relief agency that fosters self-reliance by providing livestock to families around the world - currently to 50 countries, including the United States. A $64 million, 15-acre global village is planned at the site.
Hot Springs is home to Oaklawn Park, which celebrated its 100th year of thoroughbred racing in 2004. And Southland Greyhound Park in West Memphis is the largest dog racing track in the Mid-South.
A varied array of local festivals and craft shows feature Arkansas themes - from the Watermelon Festival in Hope to the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival on the Mississippi River to the War Eagle Crafts Fair in the Ozarks.
Arkansas communities vary from sophisticated urban centers to small rural hometowns. Eureka Springs ranked fifth on American Style magazine's list of America's top arts destinations in 2005, while Little Rock made the Forbes list of Best Places for Business and Careers.
The Milken Institute ranks the Fayetteville/Springdale/Rogers MSA among the nation's top performers for job growth. Forbes magazine has included Fayetteville among its Porch Swing Communities and Hot Springs in its Telecommuting Heaven list, both cities being among the magazine's 60 Cheapest Cities. The Arkansas Community of Excellence (ACE) strategic planning process helps communities of all sizes evaluate their assets and challenges and develop action plans for future growth. As of May 2006, there were 83 ACE-certified communities.
Many retirees find Arkansas a great place to live, and the state will attract even more as the baby boomers grow older. The state ranks among the top in the U.S. in both retiree relocation and income. U.S. News and World Report consistently lists the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock among America's Best Graduate Schools. The UAMS geriatric clinical care program and primary care program were also highly ranked. The UAMS Medical Center has been named one of America's Best Hospitals for nine consecutive years.
Also noted for medical research, UAMS doctors have announced major discoveries in treating osteoporosis through bone regeneration. The university's Arkansas Cancer Research Center is internationally known in several specialty areas, such as multiple myeloma. Arkansas Children's Hospital is among the top 10 pediatric hospitals in the nation.
The UAMS Biomedical Biotechnology Center houses the Arkansas BioVentures incubator, which propels startup biotech companies into the marketplace. The Genesis Incubator at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville is another platform for successful high-tech companies.
In 2005 the University of Arkansas topped its fundraising target of $1 billion, which included the $300 million gift from the Walton Family Foundation, the largest gift ever made to a public university. In 2006 Business Week ranked the UA Walton College of Business as 27th among the nation's public undergraduate programs; the Journal of the European Economic Association ranked it 50th among the top 200 economic departments in the world.
Of Arkansas' 20 colleges and universities, five drew top honors from U.S. News and World Report in 2006, with three among the top 12 schools in the South. Five of the 25 fastest-growing two-year colleges in the country are in Arkansas.
Education at all levels is valued in the state. In the past few years, the state has invested almost $1 billion of new revenues into the K-12 public education system, including a 26 percent increase in teacher salaries and more than $100 million for school facility improvements.
Arkansas is the only state in the nation with a 10 rating for early childhood education quality standards, according to the National Institute of Education Research. And the state showed a 108 percent increase in the number of students taking Advanced Placement exams - the largest increase any state has achieved in American College Board's 50-year history.
Arkansas leads the nation in Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) Labs, a hands-on, advanced computer course that prepares students for the high-tech workplace while they work on important community service projects.
In 1991, Arkansas was one of the first states in the nation to establish a residential public high school for academically advanced juniors and seniors. The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Science and the Arts in Hot Springs consistently ranks among the top 1% of schools in the nation.