Springdale Named "Best Place to Raise Kids in Arkansas" Again!…BusinessWeek Magazine Tabs Springdale Tops for Second Straight Year

 For the second straight year, Springdale has been named by BusinessWeek Magazine as the Best Place to Raise Your Kids in the state of Arkansas. Springdale topped neighboring Northwest Arkansas cities Fayetteville and Rogers which the magazine ranked second and third in the state's ranking.

With a population of 68,000 and a median family income of almost $54,000, Springdale has much to offer families looking to live, work, play and learn. BusinessWeek highlighted the world headquarters of Tyson Foods in Springdale as well as being one of only 30 U.S. cities with a Double-A minor league baseball team. A major rodeo event (Rodeo of the Ozarks), easy access to nearby outdoor sports, outstanding schools and community services are also reasons for Springdale's top ranking. Home to the Midwest's premier community family center (The Jones Center), the fourth-largest city in Arkansas also offers families quality museum, community arts/theater and recreation experiences.

It's more good news for Springdale! Two recent rankings reflect why Springdale and its metro area is THE place to do business in the Midwest. A recent CNN Money poll ranks the Springdale metro as the 13th Best Midsize Place to Launch a Business. The prestigious Milken Institute currently ranks Northwest Arkansas 27th in its annual list of Best Performing Large Metros in the United States.

The Springdale-Fayetteville-Rogers metro ranks fourth in the country in one and five-year relative high tech GDP growth and 17th in the nation in five-year job growth and five-year wages/salaries growth. In 2009, Springdale welcomed the state's first nanomanufacturing facility to the Springdale Technology Park. The Springdale-Fayetteville-Rogers metro, ranked the top performing metro in the United States in 2003, has been ranked in the Top 10 by Milken three of the last seven years and in the top 30 of large US metros all but one of the last seven years.