Fort Smith population declines in 2023 Census report, Van Buren population up 1.7%

Fort Smith, the third most populous city in Arkansas, had an estimated 0.034% population decline in 2023 with population trends likely to see the city fall to the fourth largest Arkansas city in the next few years.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday (May 16), Fort Smith’s population declined by 0.3% to 89,770 in 2023 from 90,080 in 2022. Fort Smith had the state’s second-largest numerical decline in population, down 310 people. From 2020 to 2023, the population rose by 0.7%, the 16th-fastest in the state.

Following are Fort Smith population figures since the 2020 Census.
2023: 89,770
2022: 90,080
2021: 89,500
2020: 89,153

Springdale, the fourth-most populous city in Arkansas, saw its population grow from 87,802 in 2022 to 88,224 in 2023.

Van Buren’s population rose by 1.7% to 24,138 from 23,737. With a 4% growth rate from 2020 to 2023, it was the eighth-fastest growing city.

Arkansas had the 21st fastest housing unit growth in the United States from 2022 to 2023. The state’s estimated number of housing units rose by 1% to 1.4 million in 2023 from 1.39 million in 2022. Housing units are up by 3.2% from 1.36 million in 2020.

Sebastian County housing units are up 1.8% since 2020. Following are the housing unit figures for the county since 2020.
2023: 57,866
2022: 57,475
2021: 57,146
2020: 56,824

OTHER CENSUS DATA
The Census Bureau ranks cities based on a population of at least 20,000. But among Arkansas cities of at least 1,000 residents, Tontitown was the state’s fastest-growing city from 2022 to 2023. Over the period, the city’s population increased by 12.9% to 7,364 people. The city also had the state’s ninth-largest population gain, adding 841 people.

According to the Census Bureau, cities in the South grew the fastest by an average of 1%. The fastest-growing U.S. city is Celina, Texas, with a 26.6% growth rate. That’s 53 times the average U.S. growth rate of 0.5%.

Alison Wright, data center division head for the Arkansas Economic Development Institute, said she was not surprised that Little Rock remained the most populous city in Arkansas.

“It’s over double the population of Fayetteville, which is the next largest,” she said. “Fayetteville has now crossed the 100,000-population threshold for the first time.”

Link here for a more detailed report on Arkansas’ Census numbers.