Carroll County’s GDP reached the $1 billion mark ($1.165 billion unadjusted for inflation) in 2022—the 26th highest out of 75 counties in the state. In fact, Carroll County’s GDP grew about 15% from 2018 to 2022, while the rest of Arkansas grew about 10%. When this milestone passed, should there have been a county celebration? I don’t recall there being any fanfare or public recognition of this achievement. I feel it isn’t too late to write about this as we start 2026.
As citizens of Carroll County, we can call ourselves billionaires!
We are billionaires in a collective sense. We usually think of billionaires who have acquired much personal wealth with a stash of cash to sit on. This is a kind of different billionairism, achieved from our hard work, smart work, and economic productivity. We have 11,546 people employed in the county, resulting in an average annual GDP value per worker of $85,470.
If your income is less than $85K, you might be thinking, “Well, why the difference? Where is my share?” The median average income in Carroll County is about $55K, well under the U.S. average of $84K (2024 figures). The difference suggests each of us creates an additional $30K for the businesses we work for, taxes we reinvest in schools, infrastructure, and savings.
Most of us will never know what it is like to be a billionaire of personal wealth. Speaking for myself, I’m OK with that. In fact, sharing billionairism with my community for the first time in its history, as determined by productivity, seems genuinely more meaningful, and the impact for all Carroll County residents, and for our future, is potentially longer lasting.
Jim Wallace