June 2009 Forbes.com Lists Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers MSA #2 "The Best Cities for Recession Recovery"

Followup story on Forbes "Best Cities for Recession Recovery":

Each year, Southern Growth Policies Board honors Southern initiatives that are improving economic opportunities and quality of life in the region. Innovator Awards are presented annually to one organization in each of Southern Growth's thirteen member states, and winners are recognized at Southern Growth's Annual Conference. The 2009 Innovator Awards were chosen from creative initiatives in the region that encourage economic opportunities relating to bio-products, alternative energy, and/or energy efficiency. The 2009 Innovator Award winners are as follows:

Fayetteville - Springdale - Rogers - Bentonville Metro with population of approximately 442,000 is once again placed on Forbes Best Places list in 2009. The latest ranking #4, is up considerably from the #17 position in 2008 and #8 in 2007. For full story and related statistics, please click on the link below:

The report ranks the MSA #11 Cost of Doing Business; #8 Income Growth; #16 Job Growth Projected; and #16 Net Migration.

Business Week - Small Biz March, 2009 - The Pros of Planting Startups in Smaller Cities: For more information, click on the link below:

Quality of life and local incentives can lend a competitive advantage to entrepreneurs when they need it most. Arkansas's small city is Fayetteville.

Business Week - Small Biz March, 2009

What to know about starting up in Fayetteville: "It's just about the right size. It's a university town, University of Arkansas is here. That's been a big advantage to us. We've leveraged their technology facilities and test equipment. All of the employees that I've hired have been through the university, and they've all been highly qualified. It's just a real good environment, real supportive state government." -Chuck Chalfant, president and CEO, fiber optics firm Space Photonics

100 BEST PLACES to LIVE and LAUNCH 2008 Fortune Small Business scoured the country for towns that combine a great business environment with alluring leisure offerings. We looked at economic conditions such as local taxes rates alongside natural beauty - and easy access to museums, hungry gamefish, and more. Follow the link below to Fayetteville, the only city in Arkansas to make this top 100 list:

Forbes Magazine names Fayetteville #6 in list of top college sports towns. Read full article at link below along with a slide show

A medium-sized city of 75,000, Fayetteville has access to countless lakes and trails in the area around the Ozarks. The Razorbacks finished 24th in last year's Director's Cup, even though their legendary track team came up short in the NCAA Championships. Off the playing fields, Fayetteville four-bedroom homes run $252,950, which, for a median income earner of $38,983, isn't too bad. The town tied for 12th best in our quality of life rating that measured school performance and crime rates. Statistics: University of Arkansas, Razorbacks Football - Value: $53 million - Profit: $19.3 million - Conference: SEC - Head Coach: Bobby Petrino - Each Razorback home game results in $7.3 million of incremental spending throughout the county.

To access the latest news about Northwest Arkansas's Green Valley, click on the link below:

Fayetteville has made some important lists in recent years. Located in the foothills of the Ozarks and within an easy drive of Wal-Mart's corporate headquarters, it has recently been named one of the best places to live (by Kiplinger) and to do business (by Inc.). Employment, which had been strongly positive since 2005, dropped somewhat in the fourth quarter of last year. Recent layoffs at Wal-Mart's corporate office sent tremors through the market. But several Fortune 500 companies that sell products to Wal-Mart have established offices here, and they have helped Fayetteville achieve one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, 4.1 percent in the fourth quarter. The University of Arkansas is also located in Fayetteville, and it has helped attract start-up businesses. Residents are drawn by an affordable housing stock; median prices average only $139,400, below the national average, and they've lost only 2.4 percent of their value in the last year. Builders pulled only 2,989 residential permits last year, down from 7, 449 in 2005. Click on link from Builder Online below:

Expansion Management Magazine - Summer, 2007 lists Fayetteville MSA #3

Click on link above, click on cover story, then go to page 5. These communities are literally magnets for business. Researchers looked at the facility relocation activity of 19 million companies during the past eight years to detrmine the most popular destinations for relocating businesses.

In its 2007 report,"Best Cities for Doing Business," Inc. Magazine ranked Fayetteville, Arkansas No. 4 in the top 20 mid-size city category to do business and "Overall" rank moved up to #13 from #19 in 2006. Hottest industries in NWA are Wholesale, Business Services & Government

iN Northwest Arkansas jobs are up 14 percent since 2001, with growth in services, education, and transportation. Two key drivers: Wal-Mart's headquarters in nearby Bentonville and the University of Arkansas. Overall Rank is 13, up from 19 in 2006 | 1-Year Job Growth 3.2% | 5-Year Job Growth 20.7% | Index Score 93.4 --- The index is calculated from a normalized, weighted summary of: 1) recent growth trend: the current and prior year's employment growth rates, with the current year emphasized (two points); 2) midterm growth: the average annual 2001-2006 growth rate (two points); 3) long-term trend: the sum of the 2001-2006 and 1995-2000 employment growth rates multiplied by the ratio of the 1995-2000 growth rate over the 2001-2006 growth rate (two points); and 4) current year growth (one point).

COPD Digest magazine 2007 award for best air quality and hospitals with pulmonary programs, support groups, assisted living facilities, cost of living, crime rate and population were all factors considered.

According to MSN, some of the best places to live and work may be smaller so-called flyover cities such as Fayetteville, Arkansas, according to Bert Sperling of Sperling's Best Places. Fayetteville MSA recognized as #1

Sperling has put together a list of the top 10 affordable job powerhouses for MSN Real Estate: places where the cost of living and unemployment are low and the number of jobs is growing steadily.

Attractions of a College Town - Fayetteville, Ark.: Down-home sophisticate

From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, May 2007

NuWire Investor magazine has chosen Fayetteville as one of 10 college towns for real estate investment, August, 2007. Read entire story by clicking on the link below:

This list of the top 10 college towns was compiled by weighing factors such as growth potential, job markets, property values, cost of living, atmosphere, retirement appeal, intangibles and overall investment potential.

Warren Bland, PhD, a nationally recognized expert on retirement towns, has just released his "best college towns" list for 2007. Not only are these great college towns, but they also rank high in Bland's retirement location model which uses 12 criteria to evaluate each place. So if you plan to spend some time this summer visiting college towns for eventual retirement, start in Boulder, Colorado, Bland's top pick. The towns are located in 10 different states across the US.

Fayetteville tied with two other cities for 6th place on this list.

Country Home magazine, in conjunction with Sperling's BestPlaces, reveals that Fayetteville MSA is ranked #74 out of 379 MSA's 2007 Best Green Place to live in America and #1 in the state of Arkansas.