Benton was the economy that showed the greatest upward mobility during August 2016 among the 20 municipalities tracked by the Arkansas Tech Business Index, a project created by the Arkansas Tech University College of Business and sponsored by Arvest Bank.
The county seat of Saline County increased its ATBI rating by 2.19 points following the compilation of data for August 2016. As a result, Benton moved into the top four on the ATBI with a monthly rating of 102.11.
The Arkansas Tech Business Index is a comprehensive measure that provides a snapshot of economic activity around the Natural State. It encompasses a labor index, housing market index, construction index and retail sales index. The index is based around 100. A city rating above 100 indicates that the city is currently doing better than the state average from 2009 to the present.
Joining Benton with an ATBI rating above 100 for August 2016 were Bentonville (1st, 110.55), Rogers (2nd, 103.88), Fayetteville (3rd, 102.99), Springdale (5th, 101.96), North Little Rock (6th, 100.94) and Mountain Home (7th, 100.06).
Bentonville has led the ATBI for five consecutive months and for six of the eight monthly reports in 2016.
Fort Smith (8th, 99.71), Hot Springs (9th, 99.68), Searcy (10th, 99.09), Conway (11th, 98.15), Jonesboro (12th, 97.64), Russellville (13th, 97.46), El Dorado (14th, 96.81), Paragould (15th, 96.56), Van Buren (16th, 96.32), West Memphis (17th, 95.19), Texarkana (18th, 94.35), Pine Bluff (19th, 92.44) and Little Rock (20th, 89.77) completed the August 2016 ATBI.
In addition to Benton, other cities experiencing a rating increase of one point or greater in August 2016 were Little Rock (+1.60 points), Fayetteville (+1.33 points) and Fort Smith (+1.31 points).
Visit www.atu.edu/atbi to access the data used to develop the ATBI.
