Fort Smith population up 0.7% in 2024, Van Buren up 1.35%

Fort Smith’s population in 2024 rose 0.7% compared with 2023, and is up 1.5% compared with 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Of Fort Smith metro cities in Arkansas with a population greater than 5,000, Barling has the highest percentage population gain between 2020 and 2024.

Thursday’s (May 15) Census report, which is an estimate of population and housing units through July 1, 2024, indicates that all cities with a population greater than 5,000 in the three Arkansas counties – Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian – in the Fort Smith metro had population gains between July 1, 2024 and July 1, 2020.

Barling had the largest gain of 10.2%, followed by Van Buren at 5%, Alma at 3.3%, Greenwood at 2.2%, and Fort Smith at 1.5%. Barling City Administrator Steve Core said the percentage population gain is not a surprise because the city has in recent years seen significant growth in the number of homes.

“One driver of that (population) is the new housing starts that are out on the old Chaffee reservation. There are just numerous subdivisions out there and here in Barling. And those just change the population numbers drastically,” Core said.

Tracee McKenna, director of community and economic development at the Western Arkansas Planning and Development District, noted the Van Buren population growth.

“Compared to Fort Smith’s increase of just 1.5% for the 2020 to 2024 period, I think that’s (Van Buren gain) worth mentioning.

She also said population and housing unit gains in the Fort Smith metro are not a surprise.

“As far as the work I do at the district, requests for assistance with water/wastewater infrastructure have been on the rise and I think that can partially be attributed to the growth in housing and population,” McKenna said.

Following are the population numbers for the five cities between 2024 and 2020.
Fort Smith
2024: 90,507
2023: 89,859
2022: 90,167
2021: 89,411
2020: 89,159

Van Buren
2024: 24,396
2023: 24,069
2022: 23,719
2021: 23,391
2020: 23,241

Greenwood
2024: 9,730
2023: 9,662
2022: 9,607
2021: 9,603
2020: 9,523

Alma
2024: 6,017
2023: 5,978
2022: 5,893
2021: 5,821
2020: 5,824

Barling
2024: 5,284
2023: 5,225
2022: 4,910
2021: 4,816
2020: 4,795

HOUSING UNITS
Housing units Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian counties rose 2,009, or 2.2%, between 2024 and 2020. Sebastian County has the fourth-highest number of housing units in Arkansas at 58,173 in 2024, up from 57,863 in 2023.

Sebastian County housing units totaled 58,713 in 2024, up 2.4% compared with 56,825 in 2020. Crawford County had 25,894 housing units in 2024, up 2.2% compared with 25,330 in 2020. Franklin County housing units totaled 7,813 in 2024, up 1.3% compared with 7,716 in 2020.

Housing units in Arkansas rose by 0.86% to 1.42 million in 2024 from 1.4 million in 2023. Housing units have increased by 3.86% from 1.36 million in 2020. (Link here for a broader Census report on Arkansas.)

Following are housing unit numbers in the three counties between 2024 and 2020.
Sebastian County
2024: 58,173
2023: 57,863
2022: 57,474
2021: 57,147
2020: 56,825

Crawford County
2024: 25,894
2023: 25,743
2022: 25,623
2021: 25,455
2020: 25,330

Franklin County
2024: 7,813
2023: 7,789
2022: 7,761
2021: 7,737
2020: 7,716