Reports · Monthly · Dec 2020
Northwest Arkansas, Dec 2020
Local sales-tax receipts across 22 NWA cities (excluding 6 with a likely new or changed local tax) rose 8.1% versus the same period a year earlier. Receipts totaled $21.2M across all 30 reporting cities.
What happened
generated from the data
- Local sales-tax receipts across 22 NWA cities (excluding 6 with a likely new or changed local tax) rose 8.1% versus the same period a year earlier. Receipts totaled $21.2M across all 30 reporting cities.
- Among the Core cities, Rogers led at +9.7% and Bentonville trailed at +2.5%.
- The fastest register growth was outside the Core: Lowell at +37.5%.
- 6 cities show moves large enough to reflect a new or changed local tax rather than spending (Cave Springs, Springtown, Bella Vista, Goshen…); they are marked in the table and left out of the rankings above.
- Builders pulled permits for 404 residential units region-wide, down 40.4% year over year.
- The 30-year mortgage rate averaged 2.68% in the period, 104 basis points lower than a year earlier.
- Employed residents in the NWA metro averaged 254,663 in the period, down 2.9% from a year earlier.
- Momentum at period end (12-month sales-tax growth vs a year earlier): speeding up in Bella Vista, Springdale, Fayetteville; slowing in Bentonville, Rogers.
- The metro counted 256,200 jobs in December 2020, down 4,200 from December 2019; mining, logging & construction added the most (+1,000), leisure & hospitality shed the most (-3,100) (BLS, preliminary for recent months).
Every sentence above is a fixed template filled with computed values; no figure is typed by hand. Trend arrows compare this period with the three before it of the same length: they describe, they don't forecast. Market commentary, not advice.
Demand: the registers
local sales tax · vs same period a year earlier
Supply: homes permitted
| Place | Units | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Fayetteville | 109 | -59.6% |
| Centerton | 82 | +41.4% |
| Bentonville | 31 | +14.8% |
| Bella Vista | 30 | +20.0% |
| Rogers | 29 | -46.3% |
| Lowell | 23 | +35.3% |
| Pea Ridge | 20 | small base |
| Siloam Springs | 16 | small base |
| Farmington | 13 | small base |
| Springdale | 12 | -58.6% |
| Cave Springs | 8 | small base |
| Elm Springs | 7 | -30.0% |
| Gentry | 7 | small base |
| Highfill | 3 | -85.0% |
| Tontitown | 3 | -89.3% |
| Goshen | 3 | small base |
| Gravette | 3 | small base |
| Elkins | 2 | -80.0% |
| Prairie Grove | 2 | -81.8% |
| Lincoln | 1 | small base |
Census Building Permits Survey, residential units authorized (all building sizes). Places with zero units in the period are omitted; changes off fewer than 10 units show as "small base".
Bentonville's permit records in this project begin 2026-04-01. For earlier periods, the Census homes-permitted table (left) covers every city.
City of Bentonville permits-issued reports (public record). Valuation as printed by the city. Rogers, Springdale and Fayetteville join as their records load.
Economy
| Measure | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Employed residents, NWA metro | 254,663 | -2.9% |
| Unemployment rate, NWA metro | 3.80% | window avg |
| Unemployment rate, U.S. | 6.70% | window avg |
| FHFA house price index, NWA | 2020-Q4 | +6.9% |
BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics and FHFA All-Transactions HPI via FRED. Metro = Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR-MO (includes Madison Co. AR and McDonald Co. MO).
Capital markets
| Rate or balance | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 30-year mortgage, average | 2.68% | -104 bp y/y |
| 10-year Treasury, average | 0.93% | |
| 2-year Treasury, average | 0.14% | |
| CRE loans at U.S. banks | $2.40T | +3.7% y/y |
| CRE loan delinquency, U.S. banks | 1.15% | 2020-Q4 |
Freddie Mac PMMS, U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve (H.8; charge-off and delinquency rates) via FRED. National series: the cost and availability of the money that buys NWA property.
New businesses
applications to start a business
| Measure | This period | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Arkansas, all applications (1 mo.) | 2,549 | +21.4% |
| Arkansas, likely employers | 826 | +10.4% |
| Benton + Washington, 2020 | 5,477 | +7.6% |
Census Business Formation Statistics: IRS employer-ID applications. Arkansas monthly, seasonally adjusted, compared with the same months a year earlier; county counts are published yearly. Applications are intent, not openings. More on new businesses
Growth patterns
core cities · 12-month sales tax at period end
| City | Growth now | A year earlier | Momentum | Share of core 6 | A year earlier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bella Vista | +88.6% | +10.7% | ↗ speeding up | 2.5% | 1.4% |
| Siloam Springs | +12.9% | +11.1% | → steady | 5.4% | 5.1% |
| Springdale | +8.2% | +5.4% | ↗ speeding up | 20.2% | 19.8% |
| Bentonville | +5.4% | +21.0% | ↘ slowing | 19.8% | 19.9% |
| Fayetteville | +5.0% | +2.5% | ↗ speeding up | 27.9% | 28.2% |
| Rogers | +0.6% | +7.1% | ↘ slowing | 24.2% | 25.6% |
Growth = the 12 months of local sales-tax distributions to 2020-12 vs the 12 before (Arkansas DFA); momentum compares that rate with the same reading a year earlier (±2 points). Share = each city's part of the core-6 total. More ways to read growth in the Growth Lab.
City by city
30 cities · Core first
| City | Sales tax | Change | 24 months | Homes permitted | Per 1,000 residents | Growth score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fayetteville | $5.0M | +7.0% | 109 | 1.2 | 56 | |
| Rogers | $4.7M | +9.7% | 29 | 0.4 | 43 | |
| Bentonville | $3.8M | +2.5% | 31 | 0.6 | 57 | |
| Springdale | $3.2M | +7.4% | 12 | 0.1 | 32 | |
| Siloam Springs | $900,838 | +7.1% | 16 | 0.9 | 49 | |
| Bella Vistatax change? | $562,405 | +165.1% | 30 | 1.0 | 60 | |
| Lowell | $546,973 | +37.5% | 23 | 2.3 | 56 | |
| Centerton | $433,196 | +37.0% | 82 | 4.6 | 59 | |
| Tontitown | $280,551 | -0.3% | 3 | 0.7 | 67 | |
| Farmington | $227,805 | — | 13 | 1.7 | 60 | |
| Eureka Springs | $222,079 | +3.8% | — | — | — | |
| Prairie Grove | $195,743 | +21.8% | 2 | 0.3 | 66 | |
| Cave Springstax change? | $186,114 | +286.0% | 8 | 1.4 | 71 | |
| Elkins | $132,929 | +3.6% | 2 | 0.6 | 48 | |
| Gentry | $128,369 | +8.0% | 7 | 1.8 | 54 | |
| Gravette | $109,496 | +14.9% | 3 | 0.8 | 40 | |
| Pea Ridge | $97,918 | +20.3% | 20 | 3.0 | 77 | |
| Johnsontax change? | $83,440 | +52.5% | 0 | — | 69 | |
| West Fork | $82,740 | +7.4% | 0 | — | 12 | |
| Lincoln | $61,073 | +5.7% | 1 | 0.4 | 37 | |
| Greenland | $42,143 | +20.5% | 0 | — | 32 | |
| Goshentax change? | $34,395 | +135.8% | 3 | 1.4 | 38 | |
| Highfilltax change? | $29,580 | -49.0% | 3 | 1.9 | 40 | |
| Decatur | $24,783 | +29.1% | 0 | — | 50 | |
| Garfield | $21,971 | +24.2% | — | — | 45 | |
| Little Flock | $21,624 | — | 0 | — | 37 | |
| Elm Springs | $15,901 | +15.3% | 7 | 3.0 | 61 | |
| Avoca | $10,322 | +21.7% | — | — | 47 | |
| Sulphur Springs | $2,642 | -0.1% | 0 | — | 20 | |
| Springtowntax change? | $548 | +194.6% | — | — | 54 |
Sales tax: AR DFA local distributions in the window; sparkline = the 24 months ending 2020-12. Homes: Census BPS. Per 1,000 residents uses the 2020 census. Growth score is today's 479 Growth Pressure Score, not the score as of this period.
Method and definitions
- Local sales tax
- What the state distributes back to each city from its local sales and use tax, by distribution month (about two months after the sale). Changes compare the same cities in both periods.
- Tax change?
- A city whose receipts moved 40% or more in one period, or 15% a year over several, usually adopted or changed a local tax. It's shown, and left out of rankings and region totals.
- Homes permitted
- Residential units authorized by building permits, all building sizes (Census Building Permits Survey, place level).
- 4-period trend
- Direction of this period and the three before it of the same length (least-squares slope with a small tolerance). Describes what happened; not a forecast.
- Metro
- Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR-MO metropolitan area (CBSA 22220).
Cite this report
The 479 Report, "Northwest Arkansas Monthly Report: Dec 2020," https://the479report.com/reports/monthly/2020-12/ (data through 2020-12; generated 2026-10-06).
Free to reuse with that credit. This report as JSON.
Who publishes this. The 479 Report is written by Andrew Elsass, a licensed Arkansas real estate broker (Elsass & Co Real Estate Team, Lindsey & Associates). The numbers come from public agencies; commentary is market commentary, not investment, legal or tax advice.