Find a Job You Really Want In
Some people actually enjoy sacrificing a bit of their personal life in pursuit of their career. And some would prefer to get out on the town on Friday nights.
Well, these places in Arkansas have an objectively strong work-life balance. They are places where people have jobs, can live comfortably, and then enjoy things like family and friends.
We took a look at data from the most recent American Community Survey from the Census Department to identify which of the 100 biggest places in Arkansas have mastered the art of not bringing work home with them and living a balanced lifestyle.
After getting home early to take the kids to a baseball game, we were left with this set of ten places in the Natural State that have the best work-life balance:
- Russellville
- Berryville
- Springdale
- Osceola
- Jonesboro
- Batesville
- Magnolia
- De Queen
- El Dorado
- Forrest City
Read on to see how we identified the towns that have prioritized their lives to maximize their happiness.
How we determined the places in Arkansas with the Best Work-Life Balance
There are certain characteristics that all people that have achieved work-life balance — happiness and satisfaction.
They get to spend an adequate amount of time on the job above and then spend the rest of the time doing things that make them happy.
With that in mind, we identified this set of criteria from the American Community Survey:
- Commute Time (Shorter is better)
- Hours worked per week (Shorter is better)
- Size of household (Higher is better)
- Things to do per capita (Higher is better)
Basically, if you don’t waste time getting to and from work, work less, and have a family, you’re on the road to work-life balance.
It’s also important that a place offers things to do and that people that want to work can actually work. For that reason, we included the raw count of things to do for a city based on Yelp data.
We then ranked each place from one to 66 for each criteria, with one being the best in any given category.
Finally, we took the average rank across all criteria, with the place posting the lowest overall score earning the title “Place with the Best Work-Life Balance in Arkansas”.
Read on to learn the specifics of the ten places in the Natural State that are at home relaxing right now.
1. Russellville
Population: 28,297
Average Hours Worked: 36.1
2. Berryville
Population: 5,380
Average Hours Worked: 37
3. Springdale
Population: 72,070
Average Hours Worked: 38.5
4. Osceola
Population: 7,636
Average Hours Worked: 37.5
5. Jonesboro
Population: 69,049
Average Hours Worked: 38
6. Batesville
Population: 10,346
Average Hours Worked: 37.4
7. Magnolia
Population: 11,702
Average Hours Worked: 34.6
8. De Queen
Population: 6,622
Average Hours Worked: 38.9
9. El Dorado
Population: 18,774
Average Hours Worked: 38.1
10. Forrest City
Population: 15,228
Average Hours Worked: 37.3
Author
Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.
