Bentonville Tops February ATBI Ratings

Bentonville led February ratings on the Arkansas Tech Business Index.

The city had an ATBI rating of 105.67, placing it ahead of Rogers (105.05), Fayetteville (104.09) and Springdale (103.60).

This is the ninth time in the 26-month history of the ATBI that Bentonville has completed a month at No. 1.

The ATBI, an Arkansas Tech University College of Business project sponsored by Arvest Bank, is a comprehensive measure that provides a snapshot of economic activity around the state.

It  has a labor index, housing market index, construction index and retail sales index. The ATBI is based around 100, with a rating of over 100 indicating better performance than the state average from 2009 to now.

Also finishing at ratings above the 100 mark were Benton (103.09), Fort Smith (102.24), Hot Springs (100.62) and Conway (100.34).

Others on the ATBI were Mountain Home (99.48), Russellville (98.67), Texarkana (98.60), Van Buren (98.17), North Little Rock (98.15), Searcy (97.81), West Memphis (97.69), El Dorado (97.61), Jonesboro (97.61), Little Rock (95.08) and Pine Bluff (95.04).

Fayetteville, with an additional 1.24 points, and Texarkana, with an additional 1.11 points, were the most improved from January.

Eleven of the 19 cities on the index saw their ratings drop in February from the the previous month.