How it works
Pick a random city in Arkansas from every city and town in the Census Bureau's 2025 estimates, 501 in all. The draw opens on the 256 with 500 people or more; Any size lets in the 245 smaller ones.
Read the full guide
A random Arkansas city, large or very small
Only Little Rock, with 206,427 people, and Fayetteville, with 106,623, pass 100,000, and just 39 places have 10,000 or more. Most of the state's towns are far smaller. Choose Under 500 people to draw from the smallest alone; 54 of them have under 100 people.
County by county, with fourteen traps
Every one of the 75 counties has a place on the list, from Benton County with 18 down to Scott County with one. Each has at least one of 500 people or more; in Newton County that is Jasper alone, with 516. Fourteen places are named like a county they are not in: Conway is in Faulkner County, Benton in Saline County and Searcy in White County.
- Highfill in Benton County more than doubled, from 1,590 people in 2020 to 3,676. Centerton, in the same county, went from 17,871 to 27,176.
Questions and answers
How many towns are in Arkansas?
The Census Bureau's 2025 estimates list 501 incorporated places in Arkansas, 315 of them called cities and 186 called towns.
What is the difference between a city and a town in Arkansas?
Size, under state law. A city of the first class has, or once had, more than 2,500 people; a city of the second class has 500 to 2,499; an incorporated town has 499 or fewer. The law also lets a place change its class.
What is the smallest town in Arkansas by population?
Victoria, in Mississippi County, with 17 people in the 2025 estimates. Gilbert in Searcy County has 25, and Birdsong and McNab have 28 each.
What are the biggest cities in Arkansas?
Little Rock, the capital, then Fayetteville, Fort Smith with 90,855 people, Springdale with 90,685 and Jonesboro with 83,296.