By Courtney Spradlin thecabin.net Copyright 2011 The Cabin. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Recently released U.S. Census Bureau data placed Faulkner County at number two, behind Benton County, in population growth between the years 2000 and 2010.

Residents claiming Faulkner County increased by just over 31 percent, according to 2010 figures, with a population of 113,237 out of Arkansas’ 2.9 million.

The City of Conway did not reach 60,000 residents, as was originally expected by both Metroplan and U.S. Census Bureau predictions in 2009.

Conway’s population was recorded at 58,908, placing it as the seventh most populated city, behind North Little Rock, Jonesboro, Springdale, Fayetteville, Fort Smith and the most populated city, Little Rock. 

The City of Rogers follows Conway at 55,964, and Little Rock’s population is 193,524, with a growth of 5.7 percent.

The City of Conway grew 36.5 percent in the last decade, according to census data.

Conway Mayor Tab Townsell said he has not yet made the decision to challenge Conway’s population data, but he will “take steps to look into it.”

Townsell said he expected at least 60,000 in the count.

“We haven’t made the decision to challenge it. We want to look again at the numbers with Metroplan. We’re going to see if we can find an area where we missed our estimate or they missed our count,” Townsell said. “While we’re happy that Conway is growing, and that is evidence that we are a good place to live, we are a little concerned that we may have been undercounted.”

Townsell said that new census numbers mean more money for the City of Conway.

“We receive $60 per person, per year in state turnback moneys. Three quarters of that goes to the street department and a quarter goes back to the general fund,” said Townsell.

Roger Lewis, local economist and former director of institutional research for the University of Central Arkansas, also expected Conway numbers to be larger.

“I was disappointed. I thought we would be larger than North Little Rock, but it didn’t come out that way,” Lewis said. “But we are now certified above 50,000 and recognized as a metropolitan area.”

Lewis said that the decennial census is recognized by government grant standards, and he believes that more grant opportunities may now be available.

Lewis said that he expected that Faulkner County would reach 120,000.

“Traditionally, if you look at the Faulkner County population, it’s double that of the city’s. There’s been so much development in the Greenbrier, Wooster and Vilonia areas.”

He credits Greenbrier and surrounding areas’ “tapping on” to a water main system from Greers Ferry in the mid 80s for a population surge.

“It really started to boom out there. I’m surprised it would not be a little bit bigger. There are a lot of subdivisions out there,” Lewis said.

Other, recent growth was attributed by Lewis to work associated with the Fayetteville Shale Play and gas and oil industry employment opportunities.

“It’s also a good place to live. Colleges have contributed a lot. Hewlett-Pakcard, gas companies, a lot of things are going on here and a lot of people live here because it’s a good place for education, it’s close to Little Rock, it’s along the interstate. There are just a lot of factors.” Arkansas was one of the first nine states whose numbers were released by the Census Bureau, as data is set to be released on a rolling basis through the month of March.

Lewis said he is interested in yet-to-be-released demographic information.

“I’ll be interested in the breakdown of Faulkner County, in terms of race, income and education level.”

According to Lewis, the area has been a leader in the state among individuals with bachelor’s degrees. 

“I expect to find that our education level is higher than the state’s average, as it has been. I’d also be interested to see how the income level is compared to other counties. It has traditionally been higher in this area.”

(Staff writer Courtney Spradlin can be reached by e-mail at courtney.spradlin@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1236. To comment on this and other stories in the Log Cabin, log on to www.thecabin.net. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)