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Arkansas

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Overall Rank

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41

Ease of doing business

theboardiQ Economic Relevance Score, ranks States of USA based on 14 parameters and 4 Pillars

4 Pillars National Ranking

Economic Scale & Vitality
Innovation & Enterprise
Human Capital & Living
Structural & Policy
37
33
46
31

14 Core Economic Indicators National Ranking

Economic Scale & Vitality National Ranking

GDP Overall Rank
Trade Overall Rank
Employment Overall Rank
35
16
38

Innovation & Enterprise National Ranking

R&D Overall Rank
F500 Rank
VC Per Capita Rank
43
12
45

Human & Capital Living National Ranking

Education Rank
Disposable Income Rank
Cost of Living Rank
Labor Productivity Rank
49
46
8
34

Structural & Policy National Ranking

Tax Rank
Agri Rank
Manufacturing Rank
Infra & Energy Rank
34
16
18
45

STATE PERFORMANCE GAUGE CHARTS



US STATES ECONOMIC & INNOVATION COMPETITIVENESS

An executive-grade benchmarking index developed by theboardiQ LLC to evaluate and rank the macroeconomic strength, innovation capacity, and structural competitiveness of 50 States in the United States.

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Designed for corporate board directors, institutional investors, and policymakers, the index synthesizes raw macroeconomic and institutional data into a standardized 0–100 Composite Score across 4 Strategic Macro Pillars and 14 Underlying Sub-Metrics.

The Executive Dashboard incorporates a boardroom governance matrix mapping strategic mandates, benchmark metrics, director compensation, and critical oversight inquiries across 9 Board Roles/Industry Lens

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COMPETITIVENESS SWOT

Arkansas

Strengths

• Highly competitive low cost of living (#8) and affordable housing• Walmart HQ anchor driving retail/supply-chain dominance• Robust agricultural economy (#16) and central U.S. logistics position

Weaknesses

• Low educational attainment (#49) and low graduate degree holder percentage (10.0%)• Healthcare challenges and lower disposable income per capita (#46)• Low state R&D spend (#43) and venture capital activity per capita (#45)

Opportunities

• Supply chain management, logistics tech, and automated retail tech development• Healthcare sector expansion and value-added agricultural processing• Outdoor recreation and eco-tourism development

Threats

• Changing global agricultural commodity markets and trade tariff exposures• Over-reliance on a small number of enterprise employers• Brain drain of top talent to higher-wage neighboring states

METRICS DEEPDIVE

Economic Scale & Vitality

GDP

GDP Overall Rank
GDP 2025 Current-Dollar GDP ($ Billions)
GDP Share of U.S. Total
35
$196.0B
0.64%

Trade

Trade Overall Rank
Trade Surplus / Deficit
Exports in Millions USD
Total US Overall Exports 2026 YTD
Export %
16
-$1,176
$4,453
$1,639,475
0.27%
Imports in Millions USD
Total US Overall Imports 2026 YTD
Import %
$5,629
$2,415,187
0.23%

Employment

Emp Overall Rank
Unemp Rank
Unemp Rate (%)
Emp Rank
Total Emp (thousands)
38
26
3.9
34
1,350.80
12-Mo % Change
12-Mo Net Change (thousands)
Labor Force Participation Rate
0.9
11.7
59.30%

Innovation & Enterprise

R&D

R&D Overall Rank
R&D spend as a % of GDP
Patents Awarded per 1K S&E Occ
Bus Perf R&D (% Output)
43
0.71%
6.65
0.45%

F500 Representation

F500 Rank
F500 HQs
F500 Combined Revenue
12
4
$796.6B

VC Per Capita

VC Per Capita Rank
Patents issued per 100K residents
VC deal value (per capita)
R&D expenditure(per capita)
45
$10
$61
$411

Human & Capital Living

Education

Education Rank
State Overall Education Score
Educational Attainment Rank
Quality of Education
49
30
47th
34th
% of Pop with Grad Degree
% of Pop with Bach Degree
% of Pop with Assoc Degree
% of Pop with High Sch Diploma
10.00%
17.10%
8.80%
33.10%

Disposable Income

Disposable Income Rank
Disposable Income Per Capita ($)
10-Year Growth (%)
1-Year Growth (%)-1
46
$55,604
56.9%
3.1%

Cost of Living

Cost of Living Rank
State Index
Grocery
Housing
Utilities
Transport
Health
8
89
95
77
99
92
86

Labor Productivity

Lab Productivity Rank
2025 Value (Mill of Hrs)
Lab Productivity
GDP
Absolute Lab Productivity
34
2062.031
115.37
$196.0B
1.7

Structural & Policy

Tax

Tax Rank
Corporate Tax
Individual Income Tax
Sales Tax
Property Tax
Unemploy.Ins Tax
34
15
40
43
16
10

Agriculture

Agri Rank
Gross Receipts ($B)
Cumulative Share (%)
16
14
69.30%

Manufacturing

Mfg Rank
Total nonfarm Jobs
Mfg Jobs
% Share of Total Mfg GDP
Mfg GDP ($B)
18
1,350.80
159.2
0.86%
$25.1B
% of Nonfarm Jobs
% Share of Total Mfg Jobs
11.79%
1.27%

Infra & Energy

Infra & Energy Rank
Home Energy Efficiency Rank
Auto Energy Efficiency Rank
45
43
36

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smitashree@theboardiq.com

265 Garnet Dr 

Livermore, CA 94550

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