Ozarks Data
People of the Ozarks
The Ozarks is not changing evenly. This view uses Census population estimates, decennial counts and ACS housing data to show where the region is growing, where migration matters and how household conditions are changing.
For this story, OzarksKey uses a reproducible 69-county statistical area: counties with at least half of their land area inside the EPA Boston Mountains or Ozark Highlands ecoregions.
County lines are a statistical convenience here, not a claim that the Ozarks ends exactly at a county border.
Percent population change, 2020 Census to 2025 estimate
Growth is concentrated in some parts of the Ozarks while other counties are nearly flat or shrinking. The pattern should be read as regional variation, not a ranking of which places are doing “better.”
This page highlights selected county examples from the 69-county study area (counties with at least half of their land inside EPA Boston Mountains or Ozark Highlands ecoregions).
County population percent change examples| County | Percent change, 2020→2025 |
|---|
| Benton County, Arkansas | +16.96% |
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| Washington County, Arkansas | +10.32% |
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| Christian County, Missouri | +8.87% |
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| Hickory County, Missouri | +9.24% |
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| Newton County, Arkansas | -2.74% |
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| Iron County, Missouri | -2.27% |
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Components of change (per 1,000), 2020–2025
Census PEP components per 1,000: natural change, domestic migration, and international migration. OzarksKey does not infer why people moved.
County migration component examples| County | Domestic migration (per 1,000) | International migration (per 1,000) |
|---|
| Benton County, Arkansas | about 23.7 | — |
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| Washington County, Arkansas | — | about 5.3 |
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Some rural counties show negative natural change even where migration offsets part of the loss.
Age structure
Age structure is part of the underlying Census analysis; county-level age comparisons are not shown in this version.
Housing and economic change (ACS 5-year)
The two ACS periods do not overlap: 2015–2019 ACS 5-Year compared with2020–2024 ACS 5-Year for:
- median household income
- median owner-occupied home value
- median gross rent
OzarksKey keeps Census margins of error with the estimates and only labels a change as measured when it passes the 90% significance test used in this project.
This summary reports how many counties showed a measured difference across the two non-overlapping ACS periods.
ACS significance counts across 69 counties| Measure | Counties with measured change (of 69) |
|---|
| Median household income | 66 |
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| Median owner-occupied home value | 68 |
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| Median gross rent | 48 |
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Homeownership rate may be shown descriptively only without a significance or directional-change claim.