In the 2010 Census, the Eureka Springs population went down about nine percent from 2,278 in 2000 to 2,073. At the time, there was speculation there were more people with vacation homes who were not living in Eureka full time and that some homes had been converted to tourist lodging that previously had been available for long-term rentals.
According to CensusReporter.org, in 2019, the Eureka Springs population average for five years was 1,991. The 2020 Census estimates that Eureka Springs now has 2,172 residents.
Mayor Butch Berry said this is definitely good news, especially when you consider that the city’s turnback money from the state is based on population.
Real estate agents have reported a surge of people moving into the area, attracted in part by reasonable home and property tax prices compared to states like California and Colorado. But Berry said while there have been new people moving in, others have moved outside of town.
“Considering the census was taken last year, I doubt that we have increased our population by much since then,” Berry said.
Berry said there is a need for more housing, particularly small, affordable homes.
“We are already seeing more homebuilding than we have seen in the past including the small homes up on Wall Street, the new homes up on East Mountain, and the new subdivision that Jay Gustin has done – which is the first major subdivision that we have had in at least the past ten years,” he said.
Some sources have said that many of the new residents are Republicans. But Berry said since our city elections are non-partisan, a changing mix shouldn’t make much difference.
According to the census, the average household income in Eureka Springs is $55,367 with a poverty rate of 15.59 percent. The median rental costs in recent years comes to $646 per month, and the median house value is $158,600. The median age in Eureka Springs is 56.4 years, 55 years for males, and 57.1 years for females.
By race, the city is about 90 percent white, 4.62 percent Native American, 2.81 percent Asian, 1.81 percent reporting two or more races, and .55 percent Black. Across the U.S., those reported mixed races grew from 3 to 10 percent—the most significant demographic change seen in the past decade.
The population of Arkansas grew 3.5 percent in the past ten years, with the total population now at 3,017,804. That growth was slightly smaller than the national average of 7.4 percent since 2010.
The population of Carroll County increased about three percent, from 27,446 in 2010 to 28,260 in 2020. Washington and Benton counties had the highest growth rates in the state, adding 105,800 residents for a total of 284,333 in Benton County, an increase of 28.5 percent in the past decade, and to 245,871 in Washington County, an increase of 21.1 percent. Population declined in 53 of the states’ smaller counties, a trend that is being seen throughout the country as more people choose to live in urban areas where there may be more and better paying job opportunities and more recreational activities.
According to USAFact.org, the population of the U.S. grew by 1.2 million between 2019 and 2020 to a total of 331 million people. About 41 percent of the growth was from immigration. The population is getting older, and more people are living alone. According to preliminary data, the 2020 death rate was the highest since 1943, and life expectancy declined by 1.5 years, which has been attributed partly to Covid-19 deaths and partly to more deaths from drug overdoses, alcohol-related diseases and suicides. Life expectancy in the U.S. also declined the two previous years.