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Little Rock Population Surpasses 200,000 For The First Time

Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. holds a news conference Thursday at City Hall to discuss recent Census data showing a growth in the city's population.
Daniel Breen
/
KUAR News

For the first time in history, Little Rock’s official population count has surpassed 200,000 residents. That’s according to preliminary data from the 2020 Census, which show the city’s population rose to 202,591 over the past decade, an increase of 9,067 people or 4.69%.

Mayor Frank Scott Jr. heralded the achievement at a press conference Thursday, attributing it to the city’s efforts to increase the Census response rate.

“It paid off because as our city grows with new opportunities to pitch for new business development, which means more jobs in our city," Scott said. "In 31 months, we’ve already achieved historic job growth with close to 5,000 new jobs since 2019.”

Scott said the city’s population growth bodes well for boosting workforce and business development, and in turn the city’s sales tax revenues. In addition to growing in population size, he said Little Rock is also becoming more diverse.

“The majority of our growth is among residents who identified having two or more races, approximately 8,252 residents. Our city’s population reflects what is known as the ‘global majority,’ meaning black, brown, and indigenous and people of color representing over 80% of the world’s population,” Scott said.

The city’s population of Hispanic and Latinx residents saw an increase of 55% since 2010, making up over 9% of the city’s current population. The city’s white population saw the largest decrease, losing 6,476 residents over the past 10 years.

Overall, Arkansas’ population grew by about 3% over the past decade, while Benton County in northwest Arkansas saw the highest growth rate at 28.5%.

Daniel Breen is News Director of Little Rock Public Radio.
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