A strong August has pushed Bentonville back to the top of the Arkansas Tech Business Index, a project created by the Arkansas Tech University College of Business and sponsored by Arvest Bank.
Bentonville finished August 2015 with an index rating of 107.98, an increase of 2.41 points over July 2015. It marks the third time in the last four rankings and the fifth time in the 20-month history of the ATBI that Bentonville has held the No. 1 position.
The Arkansas Tech Business Index is a comprehensive measure that provides a snapshot of economic activity around the Natural State. It encompasses a labor index, housing market index, construction index and retail sales index. The index is based around 100. A city rating above 100 indicates that the city is currently doing better than the state average from 2009 to the present.
Joining Bentonville with an ATBI rating above 100 for August 2015 are Springdale (2nd, 106.20), Rogers (3rd, 105.76), Fayetteville (4th, 105.10), Fort Smith (5th, 102.03), Mountain Home (6th, 100.68), Hot Springs (7th, 100.41) and Conway (8th, 100.15).
Van Buren (9th, 99.87), Searcy (10th, 98.58), Russellville (11th, 98.34), El Dorado (12th, 97.67), Jonesboro (13th, 97.41), North Little Rock (14th, 96.01), West Memphis (15th, 95.70), Texarkana (16th, 95.49), Pine Bluff (17th, 92.76) and Little Rock (18th, 92.57) complete the August 2015 index.
Dr. Marc Fusaro, associate professor of economics at Arkansas Tech, is the developer of the Arkansas Tech Business Index.
Visit www.atu.edu/atbi to access the data used to develop the ATBI.
