Are you tired of staying in a crowded urban jungle? If you’re looking for a place that’s great for families, you’ll definitely want to look at the school systems, the traffic situation, and the economy. And one place that ticks all those boxes is Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Fayetteville is a great place to move to because it’s a dynamic college town, loves mobility, is a relaxing mountain town with a fast-growing economy, and has a warm and welcoming community. It’s the ideal place to live for families and young couples who want to start a family of their own.
Fayetteville is quickly becoming the choice for people who want to leave crowded cities, and I’m not surprised. It’s a great place! So if you’ve made up your mind that this is where you want to settle, here are some things to know about this place before your move.
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What You Should Know About Fayetteville
It’s a College Town
The first thing we need to talk about Fayetteville, Arkansas, is that it’s a college town. There are some extreme differences between a normal college town and Fayetteville, Arkansas.
And one of the differences is that there are a lot of mixed ages in Fayetteville, Arkansas, so there aren’t only young people around Fayetteville.
There’s a big mix of everyone. And the reason for this is a lot of people come here to college and get jobs here as well. They don’t move because the area is so awesome. I mean, who can blame them?
This goes hand in hand with Dixon Street, which is the main hub for hangout places in Fayetteville. If you go to Dixon Street on a Friday or Saturday night, you’re going to see a plethora of different ages there, all the way from 20-somethings up to even 60 to 70-somethings. Also, a lot of establishments lean towards the college population for business.
And the really cool thing is that it’s not just a typical college town. When I say college town, it’s not like a crazy college town at all. There are a lot of people that live here.
I have a funny story about this: The population census for Fayetteville was done a year ago during the height of COVID, and the population analysis was at about a hundred thousand people. And that did not include many college people here because many of them weren’t here in 2020 because of COVID.
It was really interesting that a hundred thousand people live in Fayetteville, Arkansas, that are not college people. So, it is a college town, but there are a lot of people who are not students that live here too – and I mean a lot.
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Fayetteville Loves Mobility
Number two (and this goes for all of Northwest Arkansas, but specifically Fayetteville) is the many trails around Fayetteville, Arkansas. Specifically, there are a lot of paved trails and easy ways to move around the whole city.
Just recently, the actual university opened up and they’re continuing to build out their trail system around the university because they want people to move around the city, whether you’re a student, someone living here, or someone who wants to move around the city using a bike or a scooter versus using a car.
One of the big Fayetteville plans is the fact that they want to bring the car population down because they know that it’s just more expensive to build infrastructure for more cars. It’s also more affordable and eco-friendly to build pathways so people can travel the whole area walking, hiking, running, biking, or using a little scooter versus making bigger roads for cars.
So, a big push in Fayetteville is the trail systems, not only for mountain biking (because we have Mount Tesla, Mount Sequoia, and Centennial Mountain). We have a whole bunch of different trail systems around Fayetteville in general that are geared towards mountain biking.
But there are a lot of miles dedicated to paved pathways, including the Razorback Greenway and all the tributary pathways that travel off everywhere around the area that are geared towards being able to bring everyone to grocery stores, coffee shops, and work.
And so Fayetteville is heavily geared towards using a different method of transportation versus always using a car, and that’s where they leverage the trail system.
Also, I have a 3-day itinerary that can help you decide what activities to do if you’re overwhelmed by everything Northwest Arkansas has to offer.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a foodie, a sports person, a sightseer, or want to spend quality time with your kids; I have something for you. Check out the link below to learn more:
https://www.allthingsnwa.com/3-day-itinerary-northwest-arkansas
Planning to move to Fayetteville? Hear what it’s like from someone who did it recently!
It’s a Mountain Town
Number three is that Fayetteville truly is a mountain town. If you go to Mount Sequoia, a really awesome view is seeing all the mountains. Technically, Fayetteville is the start of the Boston-Wichita Mountain area. So it is a very mountainous town.
But the thing that I love about Fayetteville is that, in comparison to Colorado and other places, it’s going to take maybe an hour or more to get to the mountains. It’s a journey.
But here, you literally live in the mountains. Literally. And there are pathways everywhere. You can just hike over.
And even if you wanted to travel a little bit South, I believe the highest peak is 3,000 feet (914.4 m). So there’s a 2,000-feet (609.6-m) gain and 2,000 feet (609.6-m) down. That’s an hour and a half away, tops.
There are so many mountains just down 49–Devil’s Den and there’s White mountain. So if you wanted elevation, back roads, gravel roads, or trail systems, you are within 45 minutes from much bigger mountains.
Fayetteville is just at the base of a mountain. So it’s really cool to be here.
It’s Fast-Growing
Number four is the fact that Fayetteville is a very fast-growing area. Now the interesting thing about this place is that it’s fast-growing but at a controlled pace. And Fayetteville is a very specific city. The city council is very specific about how they handle things.
They’re not doing growth for the sake of growth. They like to maintain the ambiance of Fayetteville. If you’ve been here, you’ll know that when you go to the downtown section for the first time, you’ll see a very interesting ‘old theme’ around Fayetteville. They like to keep things as they are.
They’re not going to rip down old brick buildings. They want to rebuild them or fix them up and make them better.
For instance, a really interesting pathway was developed right along the Fayetteville Library. And there’s this really amazing brick wall that needed to be torn down. But instead of tearing it down, they actually literally un-bricked it, moved the dirt, and re-bricked it back up. They don’t want to have growth for the sake of growth.
You will especially see the growth on the west side. There is a lot of newer development housing out there, especially on the northwest side that’s up and coming according to the 2040 plan.
The west side is going to be a very heavy area when it comes to housing, but at the same time, you have Kessler over there, you have Centennial, and you have a bunch of pathways. There are a bunch of parks over there too. So they are providing many exciting things around the area, plus pathways connecting to the downtown section.
So it’s fast-growing, but at Fayetteville pace, if that makes sense.
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People Are Very Nice
And last but certainly not least, Fayetteville is a very nice city, which means there are nice people. I can say that in Northwest Arkansas, in general, people are just nicer. At first, when I moved down here, I thought it was just a me-thing.
But then, after talking to people moving down here, they’ve all said the same thing. People are so nice and friendly around here.
I think part of the reason is that Southern hospitality is a bit different from when you go to Chicago and New York. People here have different goals in life. For instance, the goal in New York might be money, money, money. Here, it’s a different story.
In Northwest Arkansas, there’s a healthy balance of work, life, and play. Between the trail systems and everything else, many businesses and people that are upper management like to live, work, and play all in NWA.
People here are also more into nature, the outdoors, and doing things on the weekends, like going into the Buffalo River, going fishing, going hiking, or going biking, than a typical New Yorker because if you’re in New York downtown, what are you going to do? You’re just going to work. There’s nothing else to do except to go out into clubs and bars.
But around Northwest Arkansas, it’s a different, slower pace of life.