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Will NWA ever be largest metro in state?

bigboyz05

By bigboyz05
in Northwest Arkansas

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Aporkalypse City

Aporkalypse

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I don't think it will, largely because I think as time goes on (and I'm talking decades, not anything immediate) there are other counties that will be incorporated into the LR/NLR MSA such as Jefferson, Garland, White, and Conway whereas this is much more difficult for NWA to do because of the proximity of other viable metros (Springfield, Tulsa, and Ft Smith). LR has over a million people within a 50 mile radius but only 660,000 are actually in the MSA. I think growth in Benton and Wash Cos will slow some as WM growth plateaus but remain pretty robust because of growth in other industries.

I always find the stereotypes about growth in NWA interesting. I think NWA despite its high-end growth has also had a tremendous lower-income boom fueled by Hispanic immigrants at the same time. The metro still has significantly lower per-capita income than LR/NLR and that's probably why. I don't think housing prices are an issue yet. Rents are really reasonable compared to areas like Houston and DFW.

I think LR/NLR over the next 20 years will experience a huge Latin immigrant wave. It's kind of set up for this for a lot of reasons - proximity to Texas, plenty of jobs, cheap housing, and a politically immigrant-friendly climate as well as older neighborhooods on the decline with the potential to become enclaves. I think to an extent that will fuel some of LR's growth though I think the two core NWA counties will WELL outpace Pulaski Co's growth. I think the satellite cos - Lonoke, Faulkner, and Saline will continue to grow at a pace pretty comparable to NWA.

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strmchsr77 Burg

strmchsr77

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Central Arkansas is also better equiped to handle traffic and growth. They have a good interstate system with multiple major highways in place. As compared to NWA with only 540. NWA really needs a major east-west interstate to bring more people through and into the area. So unless we really get aggressive on building highways it will be impossible to catch up w/ Central Arkansas in the next 30 years maybe ever.

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masons_dad1 Town

masons_dad1

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I don't think it will, largely because I think as time goes on (and I'm talking decades, not anything immediate) there are other counties that will be incorporated into the LR/NLR MSA such as Jefferson, Garland, White, and Conway whereas this is much more difficult for NWA to do because of the proximity of other viable metros (Springfield, Tulsa, and Ft Smith). LR has over a million people within a 50 mile radius but only 660,000 are actually in the MSA. I think growth in Benton and Wash Cos will slow some as WM growth plateaus but remain pretty robust because of growth in other industries.

I always find the stereotypes about growth in NWA interesting. I think NWA despite its high-end growth has also had a tremendous lower-income boom fueled by Hispanic immigrants at the same time. The metro still has significantly lower per-capita income than LR/NLR and that's probably why. I don't think housing prices are an issue yet. Rents are really reasonable compared to areas like Houston and DFW.

I think LR/NLR over the next 20 years will experience a huge Latin immigrant wave. It's kind of set up for this for a lot of reasons - proximity to Texas, plenty of jobs, cheap housing, and a politically immigrant-friendly climate as well as older neighborhooods on the decline with the potential to become enclaves. I think to an extent that will fuel some of LR's growth though I think the two core NWA counties will WELL outpace Pulaski Co's growth. I think the satellite cos - Lonoke, Faulkner, and Saline will continue to grow at a pace pretty comparable to NWA.

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KJW Burg

KJW

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I hadn't been to downtown Rogers in awhile, and was amazed to see THREE supermercados there, all apparently thriving in buildings formerly housing non-Wal-Mart-or-Harp's grocery stores.

Aporkalypse, do you have access to the most recent census estimates on the central Arkansas hispanic population? I know NWA leads CA in asian population numbers, and I was wondering how the two currently compare on this category as well.

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masons_dad1 Town

masons_dad1

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I hadn't been to downtown Rogers in awhile, and was amazed to see THREE supermercados there, all apparently thriving in buildings formerly housing non-Wal-Mart-or-Harp's grocery stores.

Aporkalypse, do you have access to the most recent census estimates on the central Arkansas hispanic population? I know NWA leads CA in asian population numbers, and I was wondering how the two currently compare on this category as well.

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KJW Burg

KJW

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Where do you get that information about Asians in NWA? That's outrageuous considering Los Angeles alone has nearly 200,000 Asians and San Francisco has nearly 150,000 Chinese (20%) and another 30,000+ Other Asians. I'd love to see how NWA has anything but a meager Asian presence.
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strmchsr77 Burg

strmchsr77

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Yes, but OKC is the capitol and Tulsa is the other big city in Oklahoma. OKC's metro is around 1,053,000 and Tulsa's is about 793,000. LR's is about 600,000 while NWA's is about 400,000. So in a way, when you break it down percetage wise they are acurate representations. One could even make the analogy between Lawton and Ft. Smith.
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hogwash Whistle-Stop

hogwash

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I think NWA may end up choking themselves out of growth eventually if growth trends and development patterns remain the same. NWA regional planning commission has not done a good job of planning for future infrastructure (roads) and its pretty late in the game to be playing catch up. I think LR has definite leg up in that area. I am a Metroplan homer though.

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