Arkansas Facts. Arkansas Real Estate.The name Arkansas derives from the same root as the name for the State of Kansas. The Kansas tribe of American Indians are closely associated with the Sioux tribes. The word is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw (a related "Kaw" tribe) word meaning "land of downriver people" or "people of the south wind". The pronunciation of Arkansas was made official by an act of the state legislature in 1881 after a dispute between the two U.S. Senators from Arkansas
The Mississippi River forms most of Arkansas's eastern border, except in Clay and Greene counties where the St. Francis River forms the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel, and in dozens of places where the current channel of the Mississippi has meandered from where it had last been legally specified. Arkansas shares its southern border with Louisiana, its northern border with Missouri, its eastern border with Tennessee and Mississippi, and its western border with Texas and Oklahoma.
Arkansas is a land of mountains and valleys, thick forests and fertile plains. The so-called Lowlands are better known by names of their two regions, the Delta and the Grand Prairie. The Arkansas Delta is a flat landscape of rich alluvial soils formed by repeated flooding of the adjacent Mississippi. Further away from the river, in the southeast portion of the state, the Grand Prairie consists of a more undulating landscape. Both are fertile agricultural areas.
The Delta region is bisected by an unusual geological formation known as Crowley's Ridge. A narrow band of rolling hills, Crowley's Ridge rises from 250 to 500 feet (150 m) above the surrounding alluvial plain and underlies many of the major towns of eastern Arkansas.
Northwest Arkansas is part of the Ozark Plateau including the Boston Mountains, to the south are the Ouachita Mountains and these regions are divided by the Arkansas River; the southern and eastern parts of Arkansas are called the Lowlands. All of these mountains ranges are part of the U.S. Interior Highlands region, the only major mountainous region between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains. The highest point in the state is Mount Magazine in the Ozark Mountains; it rises to 2,753 feet (839 m) above sea level.
Buffalo National River, one of many attractions that give the state's nickname The Natural State.Arkansas is home to many caves, such as Blanchard Springs Caverns. It is currently the only U.S. state in which diamonds are mined (near Murfreesboro).
Climate
Arkansas generally has a humid subtropical climate, which borders on humid continental in some northern highland areas. While not bordering the Gulf of Mexico, Arkansas is still close enough to this warm, large body of water for it to be the main weather influence in the state. Generally, Arkansas has very hot, humid summers and mild, slightly drier winters. In Little Rock, the daily high temperatures average around 90 °F (32 °C) in the summer and close to 50 °F (10 °C) in winter. Annual precipitation throughout the state averages between about 40 and 60 inches (1,000 and 1,500 mm); somewhat wetter in the south and drier in the northern part of the state. Snowfall is not uncommon, but not excessive in most years, as the average snowfall is approximately five inches (13 cm).
Despite its subtropical climate, Arkansas is known for occasional extreme weather. Between both the Great Plains and the Gulf States, Arkansas receives around 60 days of thunderstorms. As a part of Tornado Alley, tornadoes are not an uncommon occurrence in Arkansas, and a few of the most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history have struck the state. While being sufficiently away from the coast to be safe from a direct hit from a hurricane, Arkansas can often get the remnants of a tropical system which dumps tremendous amounts of rain in a short time and often spawns smaller tornadoes.
As of the 2005-2007 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, White Americans made up 78.6% of Arkansas' population. African Americans made up 15.6% of Arkansas' population. American Indians made up 0.7% of the state's population while Asian Americans made up 1.1% of the state's population. Pacific Islander Americans made up only 0.1% of the population. Individuals from some other race made up 2.3% of Arkansas' population while individuals from two or more races made up 1.6% of the state's population. In addition, Hispanics and Latinos made up 5.0% of Arkansas' population.
The state's gross domestic product for 2005 was $87 billion. Its per capita household median income (in current dollars) for 2004 was $35,295, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The state's agriculture outputs are poultry and eggs, soybeans, sorghum, cattle, cotton, rice, hogs, and milk. Its industrial outputs are food processing, electric equipment, fabricated metal products, machinery, paper products, bromine, and vanadium.
Several global companies are headquartered in the northwest corner of Arkansas, including Wal-Mart (the world's largest public corporation by revenue in 2007), J.B. Hunt and Tyson Foods. This area of the state has experienced an economic boom since the 1970s as a result.
In recent years, automobile parts manufacturers have opened factories in eastern Arkansas to support auto plants in other states. Additionally, the city of Conway is the site of a school bus factory.
Tourism is also very important to the Arkansas economy; the official state nickname "The Natural State" was originally created (as "Arkansas Is A Natural") for state tourism advertising in the 1970s, and is still regularly used to this day.
According to Forbes.com Arkansas currently ranks 21st for The Best States for Business, 9th for Business Cost, 40th for Labor, 22nd for Regulatory Environment, 17th for Economic Climate, 9th for Growth Prospects, 34th in Gross Domestic Product, and positive economic change of 3.8% or ranked 22nd.
Arkansas Cities and Towns
Alma
Arkadelphia
Avoca
Batesville
Beebe
Bella Vista
Benton
Bentonville
Blytheville
Booneville
Bryant
Cabot
Camden
Conway
El Dorado
Eureka Springs
Fayetteville
Forrest City
Fort Smith
Greenwood
Harrison
Helena-West Helena
Hope
Hot Springs
Jacksonville
Jonesboro
Lake Village
Little Rock
Lonoke
Magnolia
Malvern
Marion
Marked Tree
Maumelle
Monticello
Morrilton
Mountain Home
Mountain View
Natural Steps
Newport
North Little Rock
Osceola
Paragould
Pine Bluff
Pleasant Hill
Pocahontas
Rogers
Russellville
Searcy
Sherwood
Siloam Springs
Springdale
Stuttgart
Texarkana
Trumann
Van Buren
Walnut Ridge
Warren
West Memphis
Wynne
Real estate market info. Help in finding real estate across the US. Homes for sale, selling your home, mortgages, foreclosures, short sales, bank owned real estate. Finding a Realtor and searching the MLS assistance
Arkadelphia
Avoca
Batesville
Beebe
Bella Vista
Benton
Bentonville
Blytheville
Booneville
Bryant
Cabot
Camden
Conway
El Dorado
Eureka Springs
Fayetteville
Forrest City
Fort Smith
Greenwood
Harrison
Helena-West Helena
Hope
Hot Springs
Jacksonville
Jonesboro
Lake Village
Little Rock
Lonoke
Magnolia
Malvern
Marion
Marked Tree
Maumelle
Monticello
Morrilton
Mountain Home
Mountain View
Natural Steps
Newport
North Little Rock
Osceola
Paragould
Pine Bluff
Pleasant Hill
Pocahontas
Rogers
Russellville
Searcy
Sherwood
Siloam Springs
Springdale
Stuttgart
Texarkana
Trumann
Van Buren
Walnut Ridge
Warren
West Memphis
Wynne
Real estate market info. Help in finding real estate across the US. Homes for sale, selling your home, mortgages, foreclosures, short sales, bank owned real estate. Finding a Realtor and searching the MLS assistance
