State, Area Demographics Give Marketing Clues

The most attention-getting news from the Arkansas census during the 1990s was the phenomenal growth in the Hispanic population. And the continued growth of the Hispanic community will impact many areas throughout the state because of the cultural and language differences.

Businesses and industry will see a growing need for Spanish-language training; state and local governments, schools, police and health care facilities will struggle to find bilingual personnel to communicate with the increasingly diverse population.

It’s definitely the hottest trend in the rapidly changing makeup of Arkansas that has already seen a massive shift in power from the old agriculture-dominated Delta area to the bustling cities and retirement communities of the hills.

Statistics extrapolated from 2000 U.S. Bureau of the Census show the influx of Hispanics is the most significant trend affecting Northwest Arkansas’ demographics.

In actual numbers, the Hispanic population remains relatively small; with only 86,866 recorded in a state with a total population of 2.7 million, Arkansas still ranks 36th among the 50 states in actual numbers of Hispanics and 32nd in concentration of Hispanics (3.2 percent).

But that’s a remarkable 337 percent increase over the 19,876 Hispanics counted in Arkansas in 1990. Only North Carolina showed a higher rate of growth in the Hispanic population.

New Mexico’s Hispanic population is 42.1 percent of its total population, while California is 32.4 percent Hispanic and Texas is 32.0 percent Hispanic. Nationally, Hispanics make up 12.5 percent of the population.

Nationwide, 58 percent of those who claimed to be Hispanics said they were of Mexican ancestry; in Arkansas, 70 percent claimed Mexican ancestry, and 25 percent are of Central American heritage.

More than a third of Arkansas’ Hispanic population is in northwest Arkansas, yet the greatest rate of growth from 1990 to 2000, more than 1,000 percent, occurred in Yell, Scott and Carroll counties. Benton County showed an 891 percent increase in Hispanics, and Washington County recorded an increase of 747 percent. Hispanics make up about 20 percent of the city of Rogers in Benton County.

Another factor that sticks out in the census data is that the Hispanic population grew in all 75 counties during the 1990s — even in counties where the overall population declined.

“We knew the estimates [on Hispanic immigration to the state] were low,” said Sarah Breshears, senior research specialist with the Census State Data Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

“The figures still are low,” Breshears said, “but they’re a heck of a lot better than we’ve ever had before.”

Breshears said conversations with with Hispanic leaders in Pulaski County indicated that there might be three times more Hispanics than the 8,816 reported in the census.

“Hispanics were not counted too well in Pulaski County,” she said.

Why has the Hispanic population taken off in Arkansas? While analysts are reluctant to pinpoint a single cause, job opportunities likely are the primary reason. That’s true also of the general population as people are moving to where the jobs are.

The state’s unprecedented growth has meant there are more jobs in industry, various building trades and services such as restaurants and hotels. And the state’s huge poultry processing industry in the west and northwest has proved to be a magnet for the Hispanic population.

Another factor is Arkansas’ relatively low cost of living, which is beneficial to Hispanics who tend to work in lower-paying occupations.

19th Fastest-Growing State

The state’s 13.7 percent growth rate placed it as the 19th fastest-growing state during the past decade and ahead of the national growth rate of 13.2 percent.

That growth rate came as some surprise to Breshears. However, she said, “I didn’t think we had a good count in 1990.”

So the latest count, while more accurate, may not be a true reflection of the rate of growth since the 1990 count was probably low.

Even with a more accurate count, mayors across the state are grumbling — especially since July, when state turnback funds based on population were announced.

Mayors of small, predominately black towns know their people, Breshears said, and they believe many of the elderly didn’t fill out their census forms.

To absolutely no one’s surprise, the Delta region continued to lose population while the northwest and areas bordering the Little Rock region continue to grow.

“Jonesboro is like an oasis” in the Delta farmland, Breshears said. It grew by more than 19 percent between 1990 and 2000.

Twenty counties lost 21,578 people during the ’90s, and 55 gained 344,354 people.

Two counties bordering Louisiana, Chicot County in the far southeast corner and Lafayette County in the southwest corner, were among the biggest losers in the state. Chicot County saw its population decline by 10.2 percent, while Lafayette County’s population fell 11.2 percent. Even Union County, in the middle, lost 2.3 percent of its population.

Although Arkansas, Lee, Mississippi, Jefferson and Phillips counties contain some of the richest crop-growing territory in the country, all lost population. That farmland area used to elect state legislators who dominated the General Assembly, but that day is rapidly coming to an end. Term limits have further crippled the strong voice the area used to have in state government.

Monticello was an standout exception in southeast Arkansas. The college town grew 12.7 percent.

Much of whatever growth occurred in the Delta came in areas that were suburbs of larger areas. For example, while Pine Bluff was declining from 57,140 to 55,086, neighboring Cleveland and Lincoln counties grew by 10.2 percent and 5.9 percent respectively. Much of Pine Bluff’s loss is from whites leaving the city, which is now 66 percent African-American. In the 1990 census, blacks made up about 55 percent of the population.

White Hall has benefited from the exodus. It grew 22.9 percent during the ’90s, and houses continue to be built at a rapid rate.

Statewide, African-Americans make up only 15.7 percent of the population, while those who identify themselves as white make up 80 percent.

Little Rock grew by 4.2 percent, but most towns surrounding the capital showed much faster growth. North Little Rock’s population actually declined slightly, but Benton grew by 20.5 percent; Sherwood, 13.9 percent; Cabot, 83.4 percent; Conway, 63 percent; Bryant, 85.3 percent; and Maumelle, 57.2 percent.

The Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers-Bentonville MSA grew more than 45 percent, or three times the national average.

The Little Rock MSA, with 583,645 people, continues to be the largest MSA in the state. Washington and Benton counties, which make up the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers-Bentonville MSA, has 311,121 people; while the Fort Smith MSA has 168,318.

Recent Growth Slows

A more recent estimate of population growth issued late last month and covering the period between the census in April 2000 and July 1, 2001, showed Arkansas gaining 18,690 people — a 0.7 percent increase, which was slower than the national rate of 1.2 percent.

Breshears said conclusions cannot be drawn from the recent figures, which she called an “administrative adjustment.”

If Arkansas maintains its current growth rate, by the next census it will probably overtake Kansas and possibly Mississippi and Iowa. However, Nevada, which has been the fastest-growing state in the country for 15 years, and possibly Utah, likely will overtake Arkansas. Nevada grew 66.3 percent over the past decade, while Utah has grown by 29.6 percent.