Discover Arkansas Your Labor Market Information Source

Local Area Definitions

Metropolitan Statistical Area is a term applied by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to counties or aggregations of counties that have one or more central cities and that meet specified criteria of population, population density, commuting patterns, and social and economic integration.

Listed below are the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) used to group some data reported on this web site and the counties that comprise them. The listed MSAs are current as of January 1st, 2015. Due to the implementation of the 2010 Census data, some of the back data on this website have been revised using these new MSA definitions.

Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers MSA
Benton County, AR
Madison County, AR
McDonald County, MO
Washington County, AR

Fort Smith MSA
Crawford County, AR
LaFlore County, OK
Sebastian County, AR
Sequoyah County, OK

Hot Springs MSA
Garland County, AR

Jonesboro MSA
Craighead County, AR
Poinsett County, AR

Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway MSA
Faulkner County, AR
Grant County, AR
Lonoke County, AR
Perry County, AR
Pulaski County, AR
Saline County, AR

Memphis MSA
Benton County, MS
Crittenden County, AR
DeSoto County, MS
Fayette County, TN
Marshall County, MS
Shelby County, TN
Tate County, MS
Tipton County, TN
Tunica County, MS

Pine Bluff MSA
Cleveland County, AR
Jefferson County, AR
Lincoln County, AR

Texarkana MSA
Bowie County, TX
Little River County, AR

A Workforce Development Area is a labor market area that is usually a group of contiguous counties where employment, training, and educational services are provided. These areas were established through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to provide services for dislocated workers and other eligible individuals. The State of Arkansas is divided into ten local workforce development areas based on common geographic and economic factors.

Workforce Development Areas were formerly named Workforce Investment Areas (WIAs). These Arkansas Workforce Development Areas contain the same counties as the predecessor Workforce Investment Areas contained.

Click here to go to an Arkansas map to locate the areas.

Note: For OES Wage Rates and QCEW Data - City of Little Rock Workforce Development Area includes all of Pulaski County and Central Arkansas Workforce Development Area does not include Pulaski County.

Central Arkansas
Faulkner
Lonoke
Monroe
Prairie
Pulaski (Except City
of Little Rock)
Saline
Eastern Arkansas
Crittenden
Cross
Lee
Phillips
St. Francis
Little Rock Arkansas
Pulaski (Includes only
the area within the City
of Little Rock)
North Central Arkansas
Cleburne
Fulton
Independence
Izard
Jackson
Sharp
Stone
Van Buren
White
Woodruff
Northeast Arkansas
Clay
Craighead
Greene
Lawrence
Mississippi
Poinsett
Randolph
Northwest Arkansas
Baxter
Benton
Boone
Carroll
Madison
Marion
Newton
Searcy
Washington
Southeast Arkansas
Arkansas
Ashley
Bradley
Chicot
Cleveland
Desha
Drew
Grant
Jefferson
Lincoln
Southwest Arkansas
Calhoun
Columbia
Dallas
Hempstead
Howard
Lafayette
Little River
Miller
Nevada
Ouachita
Sevier
Union
West Central Arkansas
Clark
Conway
Garland
Hot Spring
Johnson
Montgomery
Perry
Pike
Pope
Yell
Western Arkansas
Crawford
Franklin
Logan
Polk
Scott
Sebastian