Happy Birthday Arkansas

On Saturday June 15, 2019 Arkansas will celebrate 183 years as the 25th state admitted to the union. To celebrate, we used State Data Lab to find fun facts about Arkansas and to learn more about The Natural State.

In 2017 Arkansas spent $68 million on parks and recreation. Some of that money went to Burns Park in North Little Rock, one of the largest municipal parks in the country.

The state also spent $283.6 million on natural resources that same year. Sounds like a lot? Well Arkansas has over 600,000 acres of lake and 9,700 miles of rivers. In fact, Arkansas is home to one of the few remaining unpolluted, free flowing rivers in the lower 48 states, Buffalo River.

26.3 percent of Arkansas’ 25 and older population has a bachelor’s degree. In 1907 the University of Central Arkansas was founded in Conway, Arkansas.

In 2017, 47.9 percent of households in Arkansas were married couple households, but the state has not always been a haven for couples. In Little Rock, before 1932, if a man and a woman openly flirted in the streets they could be sent to jail for 30 days.

4.1 percent of Arkansas’ workforce is employed in the farming industry, either working with crops or livestock. Some of these workers contribute to the City of Hope’s watermelon stock, since Hope is the self proclaimed Watermelon Capital of the World.

Arkansas was ranked the 21st best state for business by the Chief Executive Magazine Best and Worst States For Business Survey. One of the world’s largest businesses, Walmart, was founded in Rogers, Arkansas by Sam Walton and now has over 11,000 stores in 27 countries.

50.85 percent of Arkansas’ population is female, and the median age for female residents is 39.7 years old. The first woman elected to the U.S. Senate in November 1932 was Arkansas’ Hattie Caraway.

You can learn more about Arkansas and make your own charts using State Data Lab. And we at Truth in Accounting wish Arkansas a very happy 183rd birthday!

Madison Randolph is an online marketing and social media intern at Truth in Accounting, a nonprofit organization based in Chicago that researches government financial data.