Census Bureau: Centerton remains state’s fastest-growing city

The state’s three fastest-growing cities are in Northwest Arkansas, with Centerton continuing to grow the fastest, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Northwest Arkansas also has some of the nation’s fastest growth in housing units.

The Census Bureau released Thursday (May 14) new population and housing unit estimates as of July 1, 2025. (See list of select population and housing numbers at the end of this report.)

Alison Wright, data center division head of the Arkansas Economic Development Institute (AEDI), said the population of Benton surpassing Pine Bluff’s stood out to her in the new estimates. From 2024 to 2025, the population of Benton in Saline County increased by 1.6% to 38,898, while Pine Bluff’s population fell by 1.39% to 38,213. Benton has eclipsed Pine Bluff to become the 10th most populous city in Arkansas.

“It’s now broken in there,” Wright said. “(Benton) had been moving up a little bit over these years, but it’s now in the No. 10 spot. That’s the only one that’s changed in our top 10 since last year or even the year before that.”

Wright said the new estimates are driven by changes in housing units. If the Census Bureau sees a rise in building permits, it will trigger an increase in the estimates.

Among cities with at least 20,000 residents, Centerton was ranked the fastest-growing city in Arkansas for the third consecutive year and is the 42nd fastest-growing city in the United States. Its population rose by 5.7% to 27,176 in 2025, up from 25,710 in 2024, according to the Census Bureau estimates.

Siloam Springs was the second fastest-growing city in Arkansas and the 47th fastest-growing city in the United States. Its population increased by 5.4% to 21,298 from 20,203.

Bella Vista was the third fastest-growing city in Arkansas and the 94th fastest-growing city in the United States. Its population increased by 3.7% to 34,518 from 33,286.

Fayetteville was the fourth fastest-growing city in the state and the 137th fastest-growing city in the United States. Its population increased by 2.8% to 106,623 from 103,715.

Bryant in Saline County was the fifth fastest-growing city in Arkansas and the 242nd fastest-growing city in the United States. Its population increased by 2% to 22,815 from 22,375.

Rounding out the top 10 fastest-growing cities in Arkansas are Rogers, Bentonville, Conway, Benton and Paragould. Their growth rates were 1.9%, 1.8%, 1.7%, 1.6% and 1.3%, respectively.

Accounting for population changes between 2020 and 2025, Bentonville is the fastest-growing city in Arkansas and the 118th fastest-growing city in the United States, with a 16.3% growth rate. Its population rose to 63,057 in 2025.

Over the same period, Bella Vista is the second fastest-growing city in Arkansas and the 134th fastest-growing city in the United States, with a 14.7% growth rate. Fayetteville is the third fastest-growing city in the state and the 167th fastest-growing city in the United States, with a 13.1% growth rate.

Conway is the fourth fastest-growing city in Arkansas and the 177th fastest-growing city in the United States, with a 12.7% growth rate. Its population rose to 72,328 in 2025. Benton is the fifth fastest-growing city in Arkansas and the 211th fastest-growing city in the United States, with an 11.1% growth rate.

SMALLER CITY GROWTH
The Census Bureau’s rankings are based on cities with at least 20,000 residents. Wright said she looks at population changes in cities with at least 1,000 residents.

“All the top ones are in Benton County,” she said. “It’s just crazy how consistent it is … Even the smaller places in Benton County are still growing by quite big percentages.”

Wright said some cities in Faulkner County are growing at good rates. Cities in Saline County are also growing. She noted that Bauxite in Saline County saw its population rise by 24.4% to 811, but it’s one she doesn’t track being below a population of 1,000. The counties that are growing will also have growing cities, she added.

Among cities with at least 1,000 people, Highfill is the fastest growing in the state, with a 30.6% growth rate. Its population rose from 2,814 in 2024 to 3,676 in 2025. Pea Ridge was second, with a 10.2% growth rate. Its population increased from 10,195 to 11,233. Decatur was third with a 9.4% growth rate. Its population rose from 1,731 to 1,893.

Rounding out the top 10 are Centerton, Siloam Springs, Lowell, Monette, Greenbrier, Gentry and Vilonia. Their growth rates are 5.7%, 5.4%, 5.3%, 5.1%, 4.7%, 4.6% and 4.5% respectively.

The top 10 cities with the largest numeric growth from 2024 to 2025 are all in Northwest Arkansas, except for Conway. Fayetteville had the largest numeric change, adding 2,908 people from 2024 to 2025. It was followed by Centerton with 1,466, Rogers with 1,457, Bella Vista with 1,232, and Conway with 1,205. Rounding out the top 10 are Bentonville, Siloam Springs, Pea Ridge, Springdale and Highfill. Excluding Highfill, each of the top 10 added more than 1,000 residents between 2024 and 2025.

Among the largest cities in Arkansas, Little Rock’s population rose by 0.2% to 206,427, Fort Smith’s by 0.12% to 90,855, and Jonesboro’s by 0.69% to 83,296.

HOUSING UNIT CHANGES
Two Northwest Arkansas counties ranked among the top 100 counties with the fastest growth in housing units in the United States, according to Census Bureau data.

Benton County has the fastest housing unit growth in the state and ranks 42nd fastest in the United States. Its housing units rose by 3.4% to 136,217 in 2025 from 131,795 in 2024. Washington County has the second-fastest housing unit growth in Arkansas and ranks 62nd fastest in the United States. Its housing units rose by 3% to 113,002 from 109,693.

Among other large counties in the state, Pulaski County’s housing units increased by 0.4% to 196,943, Sebastian County’s housing units increased by 0.54% to 58,589 and Craighead County’s housing units rose by 1.72% to 51,728.

In Arkansas, total housing units rose by 0.95% to 1.43 million in 2025 from 1.42 million in 2024. Between 2020 and 2025, the state’s housing units increased by 4.9% from 1.36 million in 2020.

U.S. GROWTH SLOWS
Between 2024 and 2025, population growth moderated nationwide, with growth rates falling across the largest cities in the United States, according to the Census Bureau. Over the period, growth in midsized cities has remained flat. The growth rates of midsized cities are outpacing those of larger cities in the same metro areas.

“Big-city growth slowed significantly between 2024 and 2025, with some major hubs even seeing small declines,” said Matt Erickson, a statistician in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. “In contrast, midsized cities found a ‘Goldilocks zone’ where domestic and international migration, paired with new housing, helped prevent the sluggish growth seen in small towns and larger metropolitan centers.”

The South has 10 of the 15 fastest-growing cities and 11 of the 12 cities with the largest numeric gains from 2024 to 2025. Over this period, Raleigh, N.C., has exceeded 500,000 residents, and Austin, Texas, has become one of a dozen U.S. cities with at least 1 million residents.

The top five fastest-growing U.S. cities are in Texas, with four of them in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. No. 1 is Celina, with its population rising by 24.6% to 64,427 in 2025 from 2024. Texas has eight of the 15 fastest-growing cities in the United States.

Charlotte, N.C., had the largest numeric population increase in the United States from 2024 to 2025. Its population increased by 20,731 to 964,784.

Texas had six of the 15 U.S. cities with the largest numeric population increase. Fort Worth ranked No. 2 and saw a 19,512 increase, bringing its population to 1.02 million. Celina, the fastest-growing U.S. city, had the fourth-largest numeric gain, adding 12,710 people from 2024 to 2025.

New York remains the most populous U.S. city with a population of 8.58 million, followed by Los Angeles with 3.86 million and Chicago at 2.73 million. Houston, with a population of 2.39 million, and Phoenix, with 1.66 million people, round out the top five most populous U.S. cities.

While population growth slowed nationwide from 2024 to 2025, housing growth did not. The total number of housing units rose by 1% to 148.3 million from 2024 to 2025. The increase is flat from 2023 to 2024. Between 2020 and 2025, U.S. housing units rose by 5.5% or 7.8 million.

Among states, Idaho had the highest growth rate in housing units from 2020 to 2025. From 2024 to 2025, the state’s units increased by 2.1%. Idaho was followed by Arizona, with a 2% growth rate, and South Carolina, at 1.9%.

California continues to lead all states in total housing units, with 15 million. Texas was No. 2 at 12.8 million, followed by Florida with 10.8 million.
Among U.S. counties, Jasper County, S.C., had the fastest growth in housing units for the second consecutive year. The county’s growth rate was 8.3%. It was followed by Dawson County, Ga., with a 6.3% growth rate. For the second consecutive year, Maricopa County, Ariz., had the largest numeric gain in housing units. It added about 42,000 units from 2024 to 2025. It was followed by Harris County, Texas, with 28,000 units; Kings County, N.Y., with 19,000 units; Los Angeles County, Calif., with 19,000 units; and Tarrant County, Texas, with 18,000 units.

Following are the population estimates for the 10 most populous cities in Arkansas.

Little Rock
2020: 202,616
2021: 202,253
2022: 203,671
2023: 204,625
2024: 206,014
2025: 206,427

Fayetteville
2020: 94,779
2021: 97,302
2022: 99,840
2023: 101,443
2024: 103,715
2025: 106,623

Fort Smith
2020: 89,156
2021: 89,417
2022: 90,134
2023: 89,791
2024: 90,742
2025: 90,855

Springdale
2020: 87,321
2021: 87,653
2022: 88,008
2023: 88,386
2024: 89,651
2025: 90,685

Jonesboro
2020: 78,814
2021: 78,753
2022: 79,687
2023: 80,910
2024: 82,722
2025: 83,296

Rogers
2020: 70,090
2021: 71,130
2022: 72,873
2023: 73,971
2024: 75,499
2025: 76,956

Conway
2020: 64,357
2021: 65,951
2022: 67,692
2023: 69,619
2024: 71,123
2025: 72,328

North Little Rock
2020: 64,678
2021: 64,215
2022: 64,782
2023: 64,824
2024: 64,940
2025: 65,120

Bentonville
2020: 54,814
2021: 56,933
2022: 58,009
2023: 59,613
2024: 61,912
2025: 63,057

Benton
2020: 35,135
2021: 35,723
2022: 36,637
2023: 37,606
2024: 38,285
2025: 38,898

Following are the estimates for the 10 counties with the most housing units in Arkansas.

Pulaski
2020: 190,910
2021: 192,034
2022: 193,788
2023: 194,966
2024: 196,143
2025: 196,943

Benton
2020: 114,006
2021: 118,161
2022: 122,367
2023: 127,240
2024: 131,795
2025: 136,217

Washington
2020: 101,222
2021: 103,093
2022: 105,653
2023: 107,675
2024: 109,693
2025: 113,002

Sebastian
2020: 56,833
2021: 57,177
2022: 57,527
2023: 57,938
2024: 58,274
2025: 58,589

Faulkner
2020: 51,789
2021: 52,691
2022: 53,664
2023: 54,791
2024: 55,394
2025: 56,264

Saline
2020: 51,968
2021: 52,448
2022: 53,026
2023: 53,495
2024: 53,818
2025: 54,365

Garland
2020: 52,357
2021: 52,494
2022: 52,922
2023: 53,054
2024: 53,157
2025: 53,295

Craighead
2020: 46,944
2021: 47,883
2022: 48,934
2023: 49,956
2024: 50,850
2025: 51,728

White
2020: 33,300
2021: 33,480
2022: 33,714
2023: 34,399
2024: 34,634
2025: 34,869

Lonoke
2020: 30,201
2021: 30,621
2022: 30,919
2023: 31,185
2024: 31,526
2025: 31,734