Looking into Fayetteville (Little Rock, Jonesboro, Springdale: low crime, hotels, house)

[Travtex]

Hello, all.

My SO and I are currently in San Antonio, TX and have been considering a move to transplant our combined family. I did a pretty indiscriminate browse, looking for such things as population, school ratings, crime data, etc. As I'm sure you all know The Stereotypes, I never would have imagined that Arkansas would keep popping up. *hah*

In any event, it's currently sitting right at the top of the list and I've been talking to some of the local medical facilities with regard to some specifics (How the departments are run, relocation assistance, patient loads, etc). I've read pretty much everything online, have my visitor's guide in the mail, and so on... just wanted to hear some personal experiences and opinions on the area that might be relevant to our particular situation.

I'll probably be a bit disjointed here, but I'll just start rattling off some details, hopes, concerns, etc.

* Low crime/Good schools is a big priority. Her two children are 8 and 10, and we're planning on getting married and having one more. I really don't "feel" San Antonio as a place to raise them. Not as a slam on San Antone, but I grew up a farm boy in Nowhere, New Mexico and like that small town environment for raisin'.

* Still like having some of the urban amenities. Hospitals happen to be a must -- I'm a respiratory therapist. She's concerned that the smaller area might make it difficult for her to find a job. She's a new grad business major (human resources) and has had a hard time finding anything in San Antone, she understandably feels it might be more difficult in a smaller new area... particularly moving there without knowing anybody.

* Social concern: We're both fairly non-religious, fiscally conservative, and I guess overall libertarian politically. Is that going to put us 'out of the loop' socially that we're not Christian? (To be fair, I've seen a bit of that 'Shun the Nonbeliever' everywhere, haha.)

* I saw the wasp thread. I have a pretty major phobia, there. (I'm being mostly glib, here... but don't think I won't run away squealing the first time a paper wasp dive bombs me. )

I guess that's good enough to start. Appreciate the time, all.

[OurGreatEscape]

One word--Fayetteville. I think you'll find everything you're looking for here. It will be harder for your SO to find a job. She will need to try the big three--JB Hunt, Tyson, and Walmart. The University too. Be warned, HR people seem to be the first to go in bad economic times.

[jim9251]

Here ya go:

The City of Fayetteville, Arkansas*-*Welcome

Welcome to the Fayetteville, Arkansas Chamber of Commerce

Experience Fayetteville - The vacation, recreation and sport capitol of Northwest Arkansas

Fayetteville is a beautiful town, population around 70,000 all four seasons, low humidity, little crime.

[TruBlubadger]

Travtex, as the prior posters indicated it is a good place to live. I moved here from Wisconsin and have been here over three years. It is smaller than Austin or San Antonio, but there are enough services in the two county area. All the cities combined make up a population of well over 250,000, and I might be very low with that number. I am a non-believer, as you can verify by checking the posts on the other forums on those topics, and have enjoyed riling up the fundies in letters to the editor. It can be fun if you don't care about the responses. You get the same problem in any area of the Bible Belt.

Back to Fayetteville. Northwest Arkansas is not the sterotype of the rest of Arkansas that you might have read. Stereotypes often are totally wrong anyway. Think of the Texan stereotypes.
It is a very liveable area, easy to get around. Fayetteville is a State University town, with a large student population. People are friendly and helpful. You don't need to discuss politics or religion and you will do fine. Springdale has more industry other than education. Rogers and Bentonville are near the WalMart headquarters. Jobs I do not know about, since I am retired. Anyway, more people will chime in and add to or correct anything I said.

[Agingwell]

Consider the Little Rock metropolitan before you settle on NW Arkansas. There is a greater diversity of job opportunities, cultural activites, and shopping in Central Arkansas as well as very livable neighborhoods and good schools. Little Rock, Arkansas: City Limitless - CVB, hotels, attractions, history, info

[TruBlubadger]

I don't agree with Little Rock being better than NW Arkansas. One only has to look at their crime statistics that are online and can't be debated. They are well above the national average. The other factors you mentioned also don't appear to me to compare well with NW Arkansas. The main state university is here so I don't know why the cultural scene would be less than Little Rock. If you are considering Little Rock also, then compare the two areas carefully. I may be wrong, but I sure would not move to Little Rock.

[Agingwell]

There will always be different points of view about NW Arkansas and Central Arkansas. However, here are the facts about the University of Arkansas System.

The "main state university" or the University of Arkansas System comprises five main campuses within the state of Arkansas; a medical school; two law schools; a unique graduate school focused on public service; statewide research, service and educational units for agriculture, criminal justice and archeology; and several community colleges. Over 42,000 students are enrolled in over 188 undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs.
Legally, the entire system carries the name University of Arkansas; nonetheless, to avoid confusion with its flagship campus in Fayetteville, the system usually refers to itself as the University of Arkansas System.

In Little Rock, there are the following parts of the system:
· University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)
· University of Arkansas, Little Rock (UALR) and the William H. Bowen School of Law
· University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service (UACS)
· Cammack Campus, site of the University of Arkansas System Headquarters in Little Rock
Also, Central Arkansas has the University of Central Arkansas (another state university separate form the U of A System).
Don't forget Northeast Arkansas has Arkansas State University in Jonesboro - another city to consider other than Fayetteville. ASU is also a state university separate from the U of A System. There are many nice places to live in Arkansas other than Northwest Arkansas.

[Dr. Foosball]

If you want a safe, small city environment, don't even consider Little Rock. I think one of the samller cities in NWA would fit you well.

The average crime rate in American cities is 320.9.

Little Rock's latest available crime rating (2008) was 775.6.

Fayetteville's crime rating in 2008 was 307.8

The most amazing statistic is murders over the last ten years:
Little Rock, AR: 410
Fayetteville, AR: 13

[bagelw]

As much as I actually enjoyed my time living in Little Rock I would never say that LR is a better place to live than NWA. LR has all the problems of a major city and then some. NWA has just as much culture and entertainment opportunities but doesn't have the crime or the impoverished southern mentality LR has. I wouldn't even say LR has better job opportunities. It probably depends on your field. Don't get me wrong, I really like LR but it can't compare to NWA.

Based off the OPs questions, NWA (Fayetteville, Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale) is the best bet. A friend of mine is a respiratory therapist but spends most of his time making house calls covering most of NWA and southern Missouri. He had a job here as soon as he graduated but this was a few years ago so I'm not sure what the market is like now. Your wife might be able to find a job with a vendor office. Protor and Gamble and Unilever are the two big ones but there is a vendor office here for just about every product sold at Walmart. Nickelodeon is about to open and office here.

[TruBlubadger]

Travtex: You might also go to the Public Library or a larger book store to check out the book:

Places Rated Almanac : The Classic Guide for Finding Your Best Places to Live in America by David Savageau, ISBN-13: 9780979319907, March 2007.
In this unique reference, every one of America s 379 metropolitan areas is rated by factors that are important to anyone considering a move.

That source will give you better, unbiased, non-defensive, non-argumentive information about metropolitan areas. I believe there also was one for smaller towns, but I don't know if it is still published. Better to get that kind of information rather than from people who are promoting their area, city or town.