Arkansas is America’s Most Improved State for Business in 2026
Kevin and Janeen Seguin decided it was time for a change of scenery. As fully remote employees for Utah-based Intermountain Health, they had every option in the world.
“We have both lived in Utah our whole lives,” Kevin said. “I’m approaching retirement, and so we started exploring different states to see what they had to offer.”
“We wanted a warm place,” Janeen said. “We still wanted all seasons. We just wanted a place that didn’t have harsh winters like in Utah.”
Of course, there were other thoughts. The Seguins have a teenage daughter, so schooling was important. And there were financial concerns.
“I knew there were better states to retire in financially, better in terms of taxes, Social Security tax, income tax, I knew it would be a little bit more possible to retire,” Kevin said. “So that was at the top of our list.”
“The cost of living in Utah continues to rise,” Janeen said.
The Seguins said they briefly considered Texas but wanted somewhere greener. They finally landed at Pea Ridge near Bentonville, Arkansas, in March after nearly a year of searching.
“We kind of went through an analytical list and decided to call this Northwest Arkansas home,” Kevin said.
As fully remote workers in Utah, Kevin and Janeen Seguin had every option in the world when they felt it was time to move. They chose Arkansas, attracted by the low costs and high quality of life.
Courtesy: Kevin and Janeen Seguin
They are not alone. Arkansas is among America’s Most Improved States in CNBC’s annual America’s Best States for Business survey, jumping 13 spots to No. 28 in 2026. And that has a lot to do with couples like the Seguins.
“I have people coming from all over the United States, Canada, Mexico; I have people coming from Europe,” said real estate agent Anthony Mosley of Real Broker NWA, who is assisting the Seguins in their search.
Many were transferred to the area by major employers such as Walmart, Tyson Foods and J.B. Hunt Transportation Services, all of which are based in Northwest Arkansas, he said. Others, like the Seguins, have the option of living anywhere and choose Arkansas.
“A lot of my customers tell me they come here because it’s centrally located,” Mosley said.
Why does Arkansas attract working families?
If the Seguins stay in Arkansas and retire there, they will actually be slightly better off financially than they were in Utah. Utah’s individual income tax rate is 4.45%, while Arkansas’s is 3.7%. Pension benefits are taxed in both states, but the first $6,000 is exempt in Arkansas. Utah taxes Social Security benefits as regular income and offers a partial credit to offset them. Social Security payments are tax-free in Arkansas.
They also buy cost of living assistance They called even though the boom in Northwest Arkansas caused prices to rise slightly. Arkansas is ranked 12th in the Best States Cost of Living category in 2025 and 19th in 2026, while Utah is ranked 26th.
Finances aside, Seguins says Arkansas’ biggest advantage comes down to one thing.
“It kind of boils down to quality of life,” Kevin said.
“We wake up to the sound of birds and deer, and we go to bed listening to the sound of birds and deer. But if we have to go somewhere, it’s only a matter of 20 minutes,” Janeen said. “We’re in the middle of nowhere, we’re in the middle of everything.”
Walmart has signed on for a museum building in downtown Bentonville, Arkansas.
Peter Blottman Photography | Istock Unpublished | Getty Images
The influx of working-age adults like the Seguins helped Arkansas climb 23 spots to No. 13 in the critical Workforce category of this year’s Best States survey; this is the third-most severe category under this year’s methodology, accounting for 13.8% of the state’s total score. Arkansas is the fourth-best state for attracting workers, according to Lightcast, a workforce analysis firm that provided data for the CNBC survey.
This also helps Arkansas improve in the critical Economy category, with the state ranking top for job growth. While Arkansas will add nearly 16,000 new jobs in 2025, U.S. job growth has largely stagnated. Arkansas rose to No. 20 in the Economy rankings, compared to No. 30 last year.
“I have led economic trade missions around the world to secure agreements that have helped establish our state as a leader in aerospace, defense, steel, energy and advanced manufacturing, creating thousands of high-paying jobs for Arkansans,” Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in her State of the State address in April.
Arkansas is still far from the best state
But for all its improvement, Arkansas still sits in the bottom half of our rankings, ranked 28th overall.
The state ranked 36th for Technology and Innovation and was in the bottom ten for science research grants and patents. Although the state has one of the nation’s most robust public university systems, it also ranks 36th in Education, ranking in the bottom ten for K-12 test scores and spending per student.
Arkansas’ educational deficiencies also hinder even greater improvement in the Workforce. The state has the fourth least educated workforce in the country; Only 16.3% of working-age adults have a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the Census Bureau. Just over 4% of the workforce in Arkansas works in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the fourth-lowest concentration of valuable workers among the states.
A worker works on a container at the Port of Little Rock in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, on Thursday, April 3, 2025.
Take Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images
But despite Seguins’ positive reviews, Arkansas’ worst category is Quality of Life.
The state has one of the highest rates of violent crime in the country, according to FBI statistics.
Arkansas also performs poorly on inclusion because it has some of the weakest anti-discrimination protections in the country, according to data compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Governor Sanders celebrates the state’s near-total abortion ban, which has repeatedly placed Arkansas at the top of Americans United for Life annual ranking One of America’s pro-life states.
“I’m proud that for the last six years, Arkansas has been number one in the nation not only in protecting the unborn, but in protecting life from birth to natural outcome,” Sanders said in October.
but with studies Measures that show abortion bans are increasingly causing workers to leave states that enforce them count against states in CNBC’s rankings.
Arkansas among America’s least healthy states
(L) Pediatric critical care nurse Shonda Grappe delivers supplies to Brittany Rowell, CCRN, in the pediatric intensive care unit at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Michael S. Williamson | Washington Post | Getty Images
A bigger factor in Arkansas Low Quality of Life The show is health; It is among the worst of any state. According to the United Health Foundation, more people in Arkansas experience frequent physical and mental stress than in any other state. And almost 19 percent of Arkansans experience food shortages. This is the highest rate in the country.
Arkansas also ranks in the bottom ten among primary care providers and bottom among dentists.
The Seguins agree that one of the few disadvantages they face in Arkansas is poor health care.
Kevin, who said that he had been trying to consult a specialist for four weeks but could not receive a referral, said, “Health systems need to change.”
“We eliminated referrals in Utah decades ago,” he said.
“Besides,” said Janeen, “even if we went to a specialist doctor, we still have vacancies until almost next year.”
Mosley, their realtor, says Arkansas’ infrastructure also needs work. The state ranked 23rd in the important CNBC category this year.
“Our roads, our sewers and a lot of our infrastructure really need to catch up with the growth that’s happening here,” he said. “In my opinion, we are way behind.”
In this regard, Arkansas’s success story still leaves much room for improvement.
