General Information and Demographics for Little Rock

Little Rock, the capital city of Arkansas, is located near the center of the state at the junction of Interstate Highways 30 & 40,and on the south bank of the Arkansas River. Also located near the geographical center of the United States, Little Rock and Arkansas are in the center of what is commonly referred to as the Sunbelt. Little Rock covers an area of 105.4 square miles with its neighbor North Little Rock covering 37.30 square miles¹. There are 183,133 people in the Little Rock city limits and 513,117 living in the Greater Little Rock Metropolitan area¹. Little Rock is home to several national companies including Dillard's, Alltel, and Stephens, Inc. Top manufacturing employers are AFCO Steel, Inc., A.G.L. Corporation and AMERON Protective Coatings Group. The government, including local, state and federal offices, is our largest employer. Little Rock serves as the center of Arkansas' medical industry, with a number of excellent hospitals, including a top VA hospital. The unemployment rate for this area stands at an average of 4.1%, which is below the national average of 6.0%. Job growth in the area is 3.8 percent, with the national average being at 1.9 percent According to statistics from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, an arm of the U.S.Department of Commerce; Little Rock's annual per capita personal income in 2003 was $23,471 (the national average was $30,941). The City of Little Rock operates under a Council/City Manager form of government. This system combines the strong political leadership of elected officials in the form of a Board of Directors, with the strong managerial experience of an appointed local government manager. Little Rock has established a representative system where all power is concentrated in the elected council as a whole and the Board of Directors hires a professionally trained City Manager to oversee the delivery of public services.²