Arkansas

Summary Demographic State Data (and Source)
Population (2008 CB est.):	2,855,390
Population (2000 Census):	2,673,398
Foreign-Born Population (2008 FAIR est.):	120,905
Foreign-Born Population (2000 Census):	73,690
Share Foreign-Born (2008 FAIR est.):	2.8%
Share Foreign-Born (2000):	2.0%
Immigrant Stock (2000 CB est.):	124,000
Share Immigrant Stock (2000 est.):	4.6%
Naturalized U.S. Citizens (2006 CB est.):	30,552
Share Naturalized (2006):	28.5%
Legal Immigrant Admission (DHS 1997-2006):	19,763
Refugee Admission (DHS 1997-2006):	1607
Illegal Alien Population (2008 FAIR est.):	50,000
Costs of Illegal Aliens (2005 FAIR)	$117,000,000
Projected 2050 Population (2006 FAIR):	3,782,770

The immigrant population in Arkansas exploded in the 1990s, with thousands of immigrants arriving to work in poultry and construction jobs in the region. In fact, Arkansas experienced the fourth largest percent increase in immigrants in the U.S. during the 1990s, increasing 196 percent. Communities in the state are struggling to hold up under the strain of this dramatic population growth.

Arkansas : Extended Immigration Data

STATE POPULATION

Using the Current Population Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that in July 2008 Arkansas’ population had increased by an annual average of about 21,925 residents since 2000 (to 2,855,390 residents). That is a rate of increase of about 0.8 percent per year.

Arkansas Population 1900-2008

NET INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION (NIM)

Using the Current Population Survey, the Census Bureau estimated that between the 2000 Census and July 2008 the state’s population increased by about 27,400 from Net International Migration. That was an annual average increase of about 3,300 residents, i.e., more than one-seventh (15.1%) of the total increase (not including the children born to the immigrants after their arrival in the United States).

Arkansas Source of Population Change 2000-08

The 2000 Census found 2,673,400 persons resident in Arkansas. This was an increase of 322,675 persons above the 1990 Census (13.7%). The amount of increase was not among the 25 highest in the country, however the rate of increase was the 19th fastest increasing population in the country.

The 2000 population is about 60,000 more persons than the Census Bureau had expected to find in the state in 2000 when it issued its most recent state population projections in 1996. The significance of this is that the Census Bureau has concluded that much of the shortfall in their population estimates during the 1990s was due to an underestimation of the illegal alien population .

Arkansas had the 23rd greatest rate of population increase in the country between 1960-2000.

The 1980 Census recorded 2,308,495 residents in Arkansas. By 1990, the population had increased by 2.9 percent to 2,375,358 residents.

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated on the basis of the American Community Survey (ACS) that the foreign-born population of Alabama was 109,102 persons in 2006. The ACS is a large-scale, continuous sampling process designed to replace the need for a long-form in the 2010 Census. However, because the ACS does not have the same follow-up procedures as the Census to include non-respondents, the ACS may underestimate the foreign-born population.

FAIR estimates that the foreign-born population of Arkansas was about 120,905 residents in July 2008. This meant a foreign-born population share of 4.2 percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 5,690 people, which is more than one-fourth (25.9%) of the state’s annual average population increase. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 64.1 percent compared to a 5.2 percent increase in the native-born population.

Immigration also contributes to population growth through the children born to immigrants in this country. Nationally the share of births to the foreign-born is about double their share of the population. An 8.4 percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 3,280 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account nearly 9,170 persons added to the state’s population annually, i.e., more than two-fifths (40.9%) of the state’s overall population increase.

Arkansas Foreign-Born Population 1900-2008

The 2000 Census found that 55.3 percent of Arkansas' foreign-born population had arrived in the state since 1990. This demonstrates the effects of the current mass immigration, and it is a much higher share than the national average (43.7%).

An indicator of the change in the immigrant population may be seen in data on the share of the population that speaks a language other than English at home. Between 1990 and 2000 the share of non-English speakers at home in Arkansas increased by more than one third from 2.8 percent to 3.8 percent. Less than half (46.6%) of those who said they spoke a language other than English at home in 2000 also said they spoke English less than very well.

Speakers of Foreign Languages (at home in Arkansas in the 2000 Census)
Spanish	82,465
German	7,435
French	7,260
Vietnamese	3,465
Laotian	2,500
Chinese	2,135
Tagalog	1,625
Korean	1,250
Japanese	1,195
Italian	1,105
(Source: Census Bureau report: Language Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over, April 2004)

Between the 2000 Census and the Census Bureau estimate for 2006, the foreign-born population in Arkansas increased by nearly 33,700 persons (45.7%). Latin America (including Mexico) accounted for an additional nearly 26,700 immigrants (up 61.7%). Mexico alone accounted for more than 19,000 additional immigrants (up 56.6%). Immigrants from Asia grew by 37% (about 6,300 people). Immigrants from Africa grew by 8.8% (about 130). The immigrant population from Europe and Canada increased by about 510 persons (4.3%).

The Census Bureau‘s American Community Survey found that in 2006, the state’s foreign born population was 107,346 residents, an increase of 45.7% percent since 2000. In comparison, the foreign-born population changed from 24,867 to 73,690 residents between 1990 and 2000, an increase of 196.3 percent.

The ten countries below constituted 76.1% of the foreign-born population in Arkansas in 2006. Mexico and El Salvador account for 58.1%.

Foreign-Born Change: Top Ten Countries 1990-2006
Rank	Country	1990	Country	2000	Country	2006
1	Germany	2,666	Mexico	33,704	Mexico	52,794
2	Mexico	2,507	El Salvador	4,469	El Salvador	9,544
3	United Kingdom	1,971	Germany	3,346	Germany	3,561
4	Laos	1,667	Vietnam	3,002	China	3,233
5	Canada	1,407	United Kingdom	2,666	Philippines	2,842
6	Vietnam	1,243	China	2,111	Canada	2,513
7	Philipines	1,037	Laos	2,017	Korea	2,275
8	Korea	827	Philipines	1,867	.India	2,155
9	Japan	715	Canada	1,788	Vietnam	1,937
10	India	698	India	1,728	Colombia	789
	All Other	10,129	All Others	17,399	All Others	25,703
	Total	24,867	Total	73,690	Total	107,346

THE IMMIGRANT STOCK

The Census Bureau estimates that there were about 124,000 people in Arkansas in 2000 who were "immigrant stock." That is a term that refers to immigrants and their children born here after their arrival. Based on that estimate and a population of 2,673,400, the immigrant stock share of the state's population was 4.6 percent.

As the graph below shows, the amount of Arkansas’ population change due to the increase in the foreign stock is rising rapidly. Over the past 34 years the new immigrants and children born to them have added about 112,200 people to the population. Over this period, the increase in the foreign stock has accounted for 13.6 percent of the state’s population increase.

Arkansas Foreign Stock

NATURALIZATION

Data from the 2006 American Community Survey indicate that 30,552 residents, or 28.5 percent, of the foreign-born population in Arkansas were citizens, compared to 22,055 residents, or 29.9 percent, in 2000.

Nationally, 40.3 percent of the foreign-born population was citizens in 2000, and 42.0 percent in 2006.

REFUGEE SETTLEMENT

Arkansas has received 160 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06) including only one person in FY'06.

Under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (HHS/ORR) assistance funding for FY'02 $106,915 is available for refugee employment training and other services programs in Arkansas based on a three-year refugee settlement program covering 426 refugees (an average of $251 per refugee). This allocation does not include a larger share (55%) of funding programs for communities heavily affected by recent Cuban and Haitian entrants, communities with refugees whose cultural differences make assimilation especially difficult, communities impacted by federal welfare reform changes, educational support to schools with significant refugee students, and discretionary grants. ORR grants for FY’05 and FY’06 respectively were $138,945 and $163,506.

LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY STUDENTS

Data are not available nationally on immigrant students (either legally or illegally resident in the United States) who are enrolled in primary and secondary schools (K-12). However, many of these students are enrolled in Limited English Proficiency/English Language Learning (LEP/ELL) instruction programs. Many may be U.S.-born, but the majority of these students may be assumed to be either immigrants or the children of immigrants, with the exception being areas with native Americans who speak a native language other than English.

In Arkansas, overall enrollment in 2004 (463,115) was 3.9 percent above enrollment in 1995. By contrast, LEP enrollment was 295 percent higher than a decade earlier.

Data on enrollment in LEP/ELL programs are collected by the federal government from school systems that receive Title VII funds for these special instruction programs. The data on LEP/ELL enrollment are understated because data from private schools that do not apply for Title VII assistance are sketchy.

FOREIGN STUDENTS

The 2006/07 annual report of the Institute of International Education (IIE) lists the number of foreign students attending post-secondary school in Arkansas as 2,899. Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in Arkansas from 1960-2007.

For information on foreign student issues see: Foreign Students in the United States.

ILLEGAL ALIENS

FAIR Estimate - FAIR estimates the state’s illegal alien population as of 2008 is about 50,000 persons. This is part of an overall estimate of the U.S. illegal alien population of about 13 million persons.

INS/DHS Estimate - The INS (now dissolved into the Dept. of Homeland Security) estimated in February 2003 that the resident illegal population in Alabama was 27,000 as of January 2000. This number was 21,600 higher than the INS' 1996 estimate.

Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal alien population of the state at 30,000 to 50,000 as of 2005.

COSTS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

Incarceration Cost -Arkansas has received partial compensation under the federal State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) that was established in 1994 to compensate the states and local jurisdictions for incarceration of "undocumented," aliens who are serving time for a felony conviction or at least two misdemeanors.

The recent SCAAP amounts that Arkansas has received were:

FY’99	—	$173,955
FY’00	—	$214,006
FY’01	—	$318,863
FY’02	—	$392,912
FY’03	—	$165,629
FY’04	—	$195,972

The amount of SCAAP awards has been declining in both total distributions and even more as a share of the state’s expenses. In FY’99 the state received 38.6% of its costs. SCAAP data indicate that Arizona's illegal alien inmate population had nearly tripled from the 34.4 inmate years in FY'99 to 99 inmate years in FY'02.

Medical Costs - Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, hospitals with emergency rooms are required to treat and stabilize patients with emergency medical needs regardless whether or not they are in the country legally or whether they are able to pay for the treatment. Congress in 2003 enacted an appropriation of $250 million per year (for 4 years) to help offset some of the costs due to use of this service by illegal aliens. This amount has been allocated among the states based upon estimates of the illegal alien population and data on the apprehension of illegal aliens in each state. This amount compensates only a fraction of the medical outlays. For Arkansas, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $643,867.

Educational Costs - In our study Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools into the Red, we estimated based on 2004 data that educational expenditures for illegal immigration were costing the Arkansas taxpayer $89.5 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($37.3 million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($52.2 million).

LOCAL ORGANIZATION

You can find information on local immigration reform groups here.

STATE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VOTING RECORD

You can view the voting record of your representatives in Congress regarding immigration issues in our voting report section.

Arkansas : Poll Data

Rasmussen Poll: Arizona Law SB 1070
July 2010

Suppose the new Arizona immigration law was being considered for your state. Would you favor or oppose passage of that law in your state?

The U.S. Justice Department has decided to challenge the legality of Arizona’s new immigration law in federal court. Do you agree or disagree with the decision to challenge the legality of Arizona’s new immigration law?

Opinion Research conducted the poll from Aug. 15-19 of 500 respondents - 125 from each of Arkansas' four congressional districts found that:

67% either strongly or somewhat agree that illegal immigrants should be denied publicly funded social and medical services.
57% either strongly or somewhat agree that U.S border with Mexico should be closed.
52% either strongly or somewhat agree that illegal immigrants should be deported.

Arkansas : Immigration Impact

Environmental and Quality of Life Profile

Water: If current growth trends continue, Arkansas' population will surpass 3.7 million by 2050, nearly a one-third (32.5%) increase from 2006.¹ Arkansas has a daily, per-capita demand of over 157 gallons each day.² If population projections hold and consumption remains unabated, by 2050 there will be a surge in demand of over 143 million gallons per day. With a waning water supply, Arkansas cannot slake such a thirst forever.

Arkansas is the fourth greatest consumer of groundwater in the Union. Drawing from the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer and the Sparta aquifer, their unsustainable consumption can no longer be ignored. In both aquifers, large cones of depression are appearing from over-pumping, some up to as much as 100 feet deep. In the alluvial aquifer, long-term water level readings indicate an average decline of one foot per year in some areas.³ In three potential ground-pumping scenarios postulated in the U.S. Geological Survey in 2005, all revealed unmet water demand by the year 2049.⁴

Exacerbated by population growth, Arkansas' water resources are beginning to show signs of their constraints.

School Overcrowding:Arkansas's K-12 and High School enrollment increased by approximately 5% between the 1999/2000 and the 2005/2006 school year and is projected to grow to a total enrollment of 484,000 in 2015, a 2 percent increase.⁵ School overcrowding is no longer limited to Arkansas's cities; population growth is pushing the problem into small town school districts as well.⁶

In Bentonville, where enrollment grew by 15 percent between 1998 and 2002, the school district is squeezing children into ever larger elementary schools; despite research suggesting that elementary schools should be limited to 200 to 500 students, the city is planning schools as large as 700 students. Administrators say they have no choice but build larger schools to handle population growth.⁷

In Springdale, even plans to add an elementary school every two years from now until 2010 won't be enough to accommodate population growth. Springdale enrollment increased so much in 2002 that if it continues at its current rate, it will double in the next ten years.⁸ Springdale's schools are so crowded that hundreds of students are being bused to campuses outside their neighborhoods. ⁹

Traffic:The typical Little Rock commuter spent 22 extra hours in traffic due to congestion in 2007, resulting in 15 gallons of wasted fuel. The total cost of the wasted time and fuel was estimated at $97 million.¹⁰ About 11 percent of Arkansas commuters had a commute of 45 minutes or longer in 2008.¹¹ As population growth put more traffic on the roads, the average commute for Arkansas residents increased 15 percent during the 1990s, from 19 minutes to 22 minutes in 2000.¹² Two-fifths (39%) of Arkansas' major urban highways were rated as “congested” by The Road Information Project in 2010.¹³

Arkansas highways saw their traffic volume rise by 52 percent between 1990 and 2008. Unfortunately, road maintenance has not fully kept up. Over one-third (34%) of Arkansas major roads are considered to be in poor or mediocre condition, which takes a toll on passenger vehicles. Each year, the typical Arkansas motorist incurs $308 in vehicle maintenance and operational costs due to poor road conditions.¹⁴

Disappearing Open Space:The amount of developed land in Arkansas increased by 577,100 acres from 1982 to 2007, growing at a pace of 28,090 acres per year over the last ten years of that period.¹⁵ Between 1992 and 1997, Arkansas lost nearly 112 square miles of its best farmland to development, 254 percent more than the land lost during the previous five-year period.¹⁶

Between 1985 and 2000, Fayetteville lost 18 percent of tree cover (the amount of area shaded by trees), leaving the city with only 27 percent tree cover; 40 percent is considered ideal by forestry experts. Tree cover is important because it improves the air quality by removing elements like carbon monoxide from the air; Fayetteville's trees remove 731,000 pounds of air pollutants each year.¹⁷

Solid Waste: Arkansas generates 1.24 tons of solid waste per capita annually.¹⁸

Air Quality: In 2010, the American Lung Association only graded five Arkansas counties on frequency of high ozone days. Of those, Crittenden and Pulaski received a grade of "F.”¹⁹

Crowded housing: An estimated 26,270 of Arkansas' housing units were classified as crowded in 2008, defined as units with more than one occupant per room. This amounted to 2.4 percent of the state's housing units. 5,354 of those were severely crowded, with at least 1.5 occupants per room.²⁰ 11 percent of children live in crowded housing.²¹ Nationwide, children in immigrant families were three times as likely to live in crowded conditions as children in native families (27 percent to 9 percent).²²

Poverty: Arkansas' immigrants are more likely to be poor than their native-born counterparts. In 2007, 22.7 percent of foreign-born households were below the poverty line, compared to 17.7 percent of native households. An additional 19.9 percent of the foreign-born and 11.1 percent of native households had incomes between 100 and 149 percent of the poverty level.²³ 26.8 percent of children in immigrant families were poor in 2006, compared to 24.0 percent of native children.²⁴

End Notes:

Jack Martin and Stanley Fogel, "Projecting the U.S. Population to 2050." FAIR, March, 2006
U.S. Geological Survey 2000.
U.S. Geological Survey 2005.
Chris Branam, "Growing Pains Continue," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, February 25, 2002.
Projections of Education Statistics to 2010, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. "Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000," Census 2000, U.S. Census Bureau."Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 1990," 1990 Census, U.S. Census Bureau.
Editorial, "The Challenge of Growth Springdale's Schools Feel the Pinch," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, September 23, 2002.
Chris Branam, "Springdale Enrollment Jumps 10.7% in 2 Years," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, October 4, 2001.
Public Elementary and Secondary School Student Enrollment, High School Completions, and Staff From the Common Core of Data: School Year 200506. National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education.
"Overview of Public Elementary and Secondary Schools and Districts: School Year 1999-2000," National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education.
Texas Transportation Institute, “Urban Mobility Report 2009,” p 8-9, 22-24
American Community Survey, 2008 Estimates, Custom Data Table.
"U.S. Population 2007 Data Sheet," Population Reference Bureau. Report Card for America's Infrastructure 2005," American Society of Civil Engineers.
The Road Information Project (TRIP), “Key Facts about Arkansas’ Surface Transportation System and Federal Funding,” May 2010.
The Road Information Project (TRIP), “Key Facts about Arkansas’ Surface Transportation System and Federal Funding,” May 2010.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, “Summary Report: 2007 National Resources Inventory.”
David Mercer, "Bitter Harvest: From 1992-1997, Arkansas Lost 71,600 Farm Acres to Cities," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, October 27, 2002.
Brad Branan, "NW Arkansas Pollution Linked to Tree Loss," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, January 23, 2003.
Report Card for America's Infrastructure 2005," American Society of Civil Engineers.
American Lung Association, “State of the Air 2010.”
American Community Survey, Three-Year Estimates 2006-2008. Data retrieved using ACS Custom Table tool.
Kids Count Data Center, which used 2008 American Community Survey Data.
“Wisconsin Children in Immigrant Families,” WisKids Count Issue Brief, Spring 2008. Cited 2006 ACS data.
Migration Information Source State Data (Migration Policy Institute)
Urban Institute, Children of Immigrants Data Tool.

Page Tools