Arkansas’ Smaller Communities a Potent Attractor of Companies, People

After years of eating metropolis dust and being derided as merely bedroom communities, small to medium-sized towns across America are enjoying a boom in popularity. In part, they have COVID-19 to thank for it.

“During the pandemic, when remote working was enforced, the concept of ‘Zoom towns’ became a phenomenon,” wrote Snejana Farberov earlier this year in the New York Post. “These remote suburbs and rural areas soon saw an influx of city workers ridding themselves of their cramped apartments and homes in favor of larger and more affordable living.

“Young adult populations in most rural counties were accompanied by a surge in incomes, suggesting that many were able to hold on to their remote work arrangements in the postpandemic years.”

Unlike the 2010s, when 90 percent of the growth in the young adult population was concentrated in large metros with more than 4 million residents, the 2020s have been starkly different. Farberov noted U.S. Census Bureau trends over the past five years that showed 75 percent of the growth in the 25 to 44 demographic has been seen in cities with populations of less than 1 million or in rural areas.

What is more, young adults are not proving to be nomads but are staying put and putting down deep personal and career roots. Many are going all in by launching small businesses in their new hometowns. From 2019 to 2023, IRS applications to launch new businesses in the smallest metro areas and rural counties shot up 13 percent faster than in other parts of the U.S., the Post reported

The influx is not headed just anywhere, however, but is selective of smaller cities and rural enclaves that offer sufficient amenities for recreation, leisure and outdoor activities. With all that being equal, however, small to medium communities are facing their best opportunities for demographic growth and economic development in a decade, which is great news for Arkansas communities. Arkansas Money & Politics spoke to chamber leaders in four such towns to see what is underway in those areas.

CABOT AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

With an outstanding public school system, inflow of national retail and restaurants, and a pro-business environment with an eye on the future, Cabot is one of the major success stories in central Arkansas. Chain restaurants, a forthcoming veterinary college and a sparkling multisport complex just scratch the surface of what is new in town.

Gina Jones, president and CEO of the Cabot Area Chamber of Commerce, said a combination of big-city ambition and small-town friendliness are what sets the business community apart from other cities Cabot’s size.

Gina Jones

“We truly love our area, and we support local,” Jones said. “We are a very active chamber. We are very much hands on, and we’re always out in the community, loving on our members.”

Jones said the organization pours a lot of time and effort into its slate of activities, giving the more than 600 chamber member businesses ample opportunity to get involved and stay involved. Chamber staff are constantly beating the drum for companies to brand themselves and push that brand, she added.

“We are very big into networking,” she said. “We have 14 or 15 different events every year, whether it be a morning brew once a month, a local lunch once a month and then any of our ribbon cuttings. These are great for networking, but we also use these events to preach to members to show up and participate because that’s when people see them and when they can talk about their services.

“We’re always telling our members, ‘You’ve got to get out, and you’ve got to be seen. You can’t hide behind your keyboard and stay in your office the whole time, or you’re not taking full advantage of your membership.’ As a result, we have a huge group of small businesses here, and they support one another like no other.”

HARRISON REGIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

A community of great natural beauty and easy proximity to outdoor attractions, Harrison is looking to exploit those resources to the fullest as a way to diversify the corporate base.

“Diversification of the workforce is always a big issue,” said Jeff Nielsen, president and CEO of the Harrison Regional Chamber of Commerce. “We’re a small town of 13,500 people here, and our business community is primarily industrial. We’ve got a very strong, very healthy business community, but some of what we’ve been looking at as far as prime directives are we have an industrial park that’s pretty much full. One of our big pushes is to try and find ways to grow the industrial park and get some new businesses to relocate.

Jeff Nielsen

“We have somewhat of a tourist industry here. We’re what we call the Gateway to the Ozarks. Branson’s 30 minutes to the north. The Buffalo River is 30 minutes to the south. If you go to the Buffalo River, that’s a great place to go visit, but it’s going to be very rustic. We’re the closest town to come to for dining, entertainment and things like that, so we’re trying to develop some of that tourism.”

Nielsen said athletic tourism holds a lot of promise for the city’s future thanks to investment in facilities.

“The mayor has done an outstanding job developing facets of the city,” he said. “We just got through completing the Creekside Community Center, which has a full Olympic swimming pool and multiple indoor basketball courts that double as volleyball courts. The city’s done a good job of marketing that for high school tournaments and travel tournaments. It’s a really great facility, and hopefully, it can attract enough events that it will help persuade a hotel chain to look at us a little closer.”

RUSSELLVILLE AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Representing 750 members spread out over Johnson, Pope, Yell and Faulkner counties, the Russellville Area Chamber of Commerce is an organization on the move. Not only has the active group — described by CEO Megan Selman as “hungry to win” — seen business growth across the board in number and scope; it has also adopted a new image and mindset thanks to recent rebranding.

Selman said the move was less about coming up with a new logo and website and more about changing the way the chamber sees its role in the community.

Megan Selman

“The chamber has always been a very strong networking group in Russellville,” she said. “What we’re moving to and what I would want every business to know is that in addition to being that networking convening group, we also want to level up and be problem solvers, the advocates, the growth partners, really championing these businesses in our community. I think we’re ready to do that, and we’re excited to do that.”

The new shift coincides with one of the most ambitious periods in the city’s history. Over the past three years, the community has attracted $250 million in new investment from the aerospace, defense, cold storage and advanced manufacturing sectors; has invested in downtown revitalization; and opened a new office park. All of that is growing the area’s pro-business reputation and catching attention from all corners of the country.

“SelectUSA identified the top 100 micropolitans in the United States, and Russellville was the only city in Arkansas on the list in 2025,” Selman said. “We’ve got several competitive advantages: We have strong schools all the way through the college level, we’ve got natural beauty and resources, and we’re a values-driven culture. All that adds up to a place where companies want to locate and a place where families want to live.”

SEARCY REGIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

In the 25 years that she has been involved with the Searcy Regional Chamber of Commerce, Tara Cathey has seen a great deal of change for the better. The White County community has steadily added amenities and invested in infrastructure, moves that today are starting to pay off in new residents and new economic development.

Tara Cathey

Cathey, who serves as chamber CEO and president, said quality-of-life improvements have led the city’s recent run of prosperity and growth.

“We’re getting a brand-new outdoor aquatics center, we’re getting some new ball fields, and we are completely changing the face of our trail system,” she said. “We’re even getting a dog park, which is very, very needed.”

All over town, one can see signs of prosperity, starting with the charming city square. Cathey said the neighborhood is a far cry from a few years ago, and the city is better for it.

“Probably starting in the mid-2000s, the city made the decision we were going to invest in downtown, and it’s paid off,” she said. “Having the festivals and the farmers market and trying to have that mixed use of downtown is so very important. It’s now a very active downtown, and that’s exciting to see.”

With all the growth, however, comes challenges, especially pertaining to the community’s independent, home-grown businesses.

“One of the things about us is we’re growing so much that we are starting to attract big-box retailers,” she said. “One of the challenges that we’re going to face as a result of that — not just the chamber but the community as a whole — is how do we make sure that we support those small, privately owned mom-and-pop businesses that really make our community unique? We’re planning a lot of ‘shop local’ events to help the independent businesses thrive.”