State bird
Northern mockingbird
Sources: Designation & background
Local timeLittle Rock ·
U.S. States / South · Card 004
Arkansas
The Natural State
The Buffalo River flows through the Ozark Mountains beneath limestone and sandstone bluffs.
Arkansas and its surroundings
● State capital · Gold highlights Arkansas.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
At a glance
- Capital
- Little Rock
- Postal abbreviation
- AR
- Population
- 3,114,791July 1, 2025 · Census estimate
- Total area
- 137,732 km²53,179 square miles · land and water
- Statehood
- June 15, 1836State number 25
- Region
- South
Sources: Census · population · Census · area
State symbols & traditions
State songs
Arkansas (You Run Deep in Me); Oh, Arkansas
Sources: Designation & background
Geography & flag
01
Location
Neighboring states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas.
02
Landscape & places
The Buffalo River flows through the Ozark Mountains beneath limestone and sandstone bluffs. Its largely free-flowing character allows visitors to see a river landscape without a chain of large dams interrupting the protected stretch.
03
Land and water
The total area includes 134,771 km² of land and 2,961 km² of water, according to Census area measurements.
State flag
A white diamond edged in blue on a red field, with stars and the name Arkansas.
Sources: Census · geographic reference · Census · area measurements · National Park Service · Buffalo
How the landscape works
A free-flowing river is not simply water that moves quickly. The phrase concerns how directly dams and other structures interrupt its course. On the Buffalo River, water, bluffs, floodplains, and surrounding habitats remain connected along a protected stretch. River conditions can still change with rainfall and seasons. Protection does not freeze a river in one condition.
History
What happened at Little Rock Central High School
After the Supreme Court ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, nine Black students prepared to attend Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Arkansas governor Orval Faubus used the National Guard to block their entry. Crowds also threatened the students, making a court-ordered change difficult to enforce locally.
President Dwight Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal authority and sent Army troops to protect the students. The Little Rock Nine attended classes under protection but continued to face harassment. The confrontation demonstrated that a court ruling alone did not end segregation; its enforcement could require federal action against state resistance.
Read more: Historical source ↗
Why this mattered
The Little Rock crisis concerned enforcement of school desegregation after the Supreme Court’s Brown decision. A court ruling by itself did not ensure students could safely enter a school. President Eisenhower’s use of federal authority addressed resistance to that ruling. The experience of the Little Rock Nine makes the difference between a legal decision and its implementation concrete.
Key dates
-
Louisiana Purchase
-
Arkansas Territory organized
-
Statehood · State number 25
Sources: Congressional Research Service · statehood · U.S. Census Bureau · historical geography · National Park Service
People and place
Indigenous history and communities today
The Quapaw Nation has historical ties to Arkansas and a present-day government in Oklahoma. This distinction matters: removal and migration mean a nation’s current headquarters need not lie within its ancestral homelands.
Continue with Quapaw Nation. This is one starting point, not a complete account of the peoples connected to this land.
Compare
Arkansas and Louisiana
| Measure | Arkansas | Louisiana |
|---|---|---|
| Population (2025) | 3,114,791 | 4,618,189 |
| Land area (km²) | 134,771 | 111,898 |
| People per km² of land | 23.1 | 41.3 |
Louisiana has more people per square kilometer of land. Population density divides population by land area. It is an average across the whole jurisdiction, not a claim that residents are evenly spread out.
Calculated from the Census population series and land-area measurements used on these pages. Rounded figures; water area is excluded. Explore Louisiana.
Economy
Main activities
In 2025, manufacturing was the largest of the broad industry groups compared here by current-dollar output. Other major groups included professional and business services, real estate and rental and leasing, and government and government enterprises.
Total economic output was $198.4 billion in current dollars in 2025.
Largest industry groups · 2025
- Manufacturing: 12.9%
- Professional and business services: 12.6%
- Real estate and rental and leasing: 11.0%
- Government and government enterprises: 10.9%
Share of total current-dollar GDP. These figures measure output, not employment.
Sources: BEA · annual GDP by state, SAGDP2
Production, jobs and wages answer different questions
The industry chart measures the value of production. It does not count workers. An industry with a large share of GDP need not employ the most people or pay the highest wages. Employment and wage data would be needed to answer those questions.
Population & economic trends
Population, 2020–2025
Millions of people3.112025 · millions of people
July 1 resident population estimates, using the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 series.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau
View data table
| Year | People |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 3,014,399 |
| 2021 | 3,027,127 |
| 2022 | 3,047,429 |
| 2023 | 3,069,856 |
| 2024 | 3,096,080 |
| 2025 | 3,114,791 |
Real GDP, 2010–2025
Billions of chained 2017 dollars150.642025 · billions of chained 2017 dollars
Real GDP measures economic output adjusted for inflation. The chart uses BEA’s chained 2017 dollars.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
View data table
| Year | Millions of chained 2017 dollars |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 113,000.9 |
| 2011 | 115,241.8 |
| 2012 | 116,616.2 |
| 2013 | 119,842.8 |
| 2014 | 121,409.4 |
| 2015 | 121,532.5 |
| 2016 | 123,034.9 |
| 2017 | 123,882.6 |
| 2018 | 126,371.2 |
| 2019 | 127,220.0 |
| 2020 | 128,395.6 |
| 2021 | 137,634.8 |
| 2022 | 138,672.0 |
| 2023 | 141,968.0 |
| 2024 | 147,389.9 |
| 2025 | 150,640.3 |
Read the trend, then ask what explains it
Arkansas’s population increased by about 3.3% between 2020 and 2025 in this series. That shows the size of the change. The chart alone cannot tell us how much came from births, deaths or migration.
Real GDP adjusts for changes in prices, so it helps compare production over time. Current-dollar GDP includes price changes. Neither measure tells us how income is distributed among residents.
Representation
- Electoral votes
- 62024 & 2028 elections
- Voting U.S. House seats
- 42020 Census allocation
- U.S. Senate seats
- 2
Electoral votes equal the state’s U.S. House seats plus its two U.S. Senate seats. These allocations apply to the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.
Practice
Test your knowledge
Use the explanations and data on this page to answer ten questions. Hints and links to the relevant sections are available throughout.
10 questions about Arkansas
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Sources & notes
Narrative and quiz updated 5 October 2026. Statistical data prepared 27 September 2026. Population: Census Bureau Vintage 2025, July 1 estimates for 2020–2025. Real GDP: BEA annual state accounts, SAGDP9, millions of chained 2017 dollars; industry shares: SAGDP2, current dollars. Data downloaded 27 September 2026. Area measurements include land and water.
Sources: Census · population estimates · BEA · state GDP · Census · area measurements · Natural Earth · map data
The capital clock shows current local time. Statistical figures are dated estimates and may be revised.
Updated 29 October 2026. Statistics retain the dated series shown in the charts; these are not live figures. Sources are linked beside each topic.