The Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC) has ranked Independence County in the top tier of the most prosperous counties in the state.
AEDC is required to annually rank each of the state’s 75 counties according to four economic variables: poverty rate, population growth, per capita personal income, and the unemployment rate, according to Michael Preston, executive director of the AEDC.
The state ranks the top 15 most prosperous counties as Tier 1 and the remaining fall into Tiers 2, 3, and 4 based on their scores with 20 counties in each tier.
White River Now’s Gary B spoke with Independence County Judge Robert Griffin about the ranking. The judge told Gary that it’s due to the job creators in the county. Listen below to some of Judge Griffin’s comments:
Regional counties in the ranking also include Cleburne County in Tier 2; Stone and Sharp Counties in Tier 3; and Jackson, Izard, Fulton, and Searcy counties in Tier 4, according to Hunter Hawk with the AEDC.
The new rankings take effect on July 1 of this year, Hawk says.
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