Beware of Northwest Arkansas
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10/15/2006
In recent years Springdale and surrounding towns have been experiencing major growing pains. Due to poor planning, the roads are narrow and bumpy and traffic is horrible. The cities in Northwest Arkansas never planned on the kind of growth we've seen. The population of northwest arkansas has exploded. Ten years ago Springdale was a town of 20k; now it's got 62k people. Hispanics have been a very large component of the growth. Springdale is home to Tyson foods as well as other large poultry processing plants such as George's and Cargill which hispanics flock to. Hispanics represent well over 20% of the population; perhaps over 30% if one factors in the illegals. There are lots of jobs in northwest arkansas but most are low paying. Real estate prices here are nowhere near the state average. You have to go east of nwa or to southern missouri to find low cost housing. Taxes are high compared to surrounding areas in order to pay for desparately needed road improvements and new schools. The sales tax is at 9.5% right now. Groceries are taxed at the full rate. And property taxes get higher every year. Before you move to nwa, just consider the traffic congestion, high taxes, inflated home prices, and large number of hispanics.
jim | Springdale, AR