December, 7th 2013

The last official census in the United States of America was carried out in 2010 and as such, any figures relating to the population of Arkansas in later years have to be estimated by extrapolating the 2010 data.

Arkansas Population 2013

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Famous natives of Arkansas: William Jefferson Clinton, Johnny Cash, Maya Angelou and Billy Bob Thornton. Tweet

Based on the rate of growth calculated at that time, the 2013 population of Arkansas is around 2,965,879. It's growth rate at 0.57% makes it the 32nd fastest growing state in the USA.

The population of Arkansas in 2012 is likely to be breaching the 2.95 million mark if it has continued to grow at a similar rate, and is likely to top 3 million in either 2014 or 2015.

The census revealed that in 2010 2,915,918 people were living in Arkasna and a further estimate in 2011 suggested that the number had grown fractionally to 2,937,979, making Arkansas the 32^nd largest state in the US in terms of pure numbers.

Arkansas Population History

The census history of the United States as a whole reflects the huge rise in population since the beginning of the 19^th century. Arkansas is certainly no exception to this rule.

Back in 1810, the population in the state was a mere 1,062 but, by the time of the next census in 1820, things were starting to move considerably and the final numbers were declared at 14,273 – an incredible rise of 1,244% in just ten years. From this point onwards, rises of over 100% between censuses were common as net immigration played a huge part in the growth of the state.

The population of Arkansas started to settle down at the start of the 1900’s and ever since growth has been steady but not spectacular.

Arkansas Density and Demographics

Arkansas’ population provides some fairly unremarkable figures in terms of population density, in keeping with its status as one of the middle ranked states in terms of population numbers

The surface area of the state is 53,179 square miles (137,733 square kilometres) and based on the 2011 population estimate of 2,937,979, that equated to 56.4 people in every square mile (21.8 per square kilometre) of Arkansas land. Overall, this would mean that the state is the 34^th largest in terms of population density alone.

At the 2010 Census, figures were collated in relation to the demographic split within Arkansas and from the confirmed population of 2,915,918, 79.5% declared themselves to be White (77.5% non-Hispanic White), 14.3% were Black or African American and the remaining minority groups were made up of native Americans, Alaskans, Asians, Hawaiians and others.

A population estimate in 2006 showed that there had been a net gain in numbers of 52,214 from the 2000 Census due to natural growth. This took into account the birth rate against the death rate and a further rise in numbers due to net migration.