Arkansas Wants to Give You $10,000 and a Bike to Relocate There

[Celerity]

The state is hoping to lure new residents with the incentives.

https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/move-to-arkansas-new-residents-get-paid-10000-dollars



The pandemic has pushed a lot of people to consider giving up their dreams of big city life in favor of relatively open spaces. After all, being stuck inside isn’t half bad when you’ve got room to roam. Most people are likely considering suburbs near the places they currently live, but it looks like it may be worth thinking outside the box. Take Arkansas, for example. Unless you’re from there and you really love it, or you’ve been there and fell in love, you’ve probably never considered packing up to start a life there.

The Natural State, known for being the capital of things like quartz, spinach, folk music, and archery bow production apparently, has its perks. For one, space, but another major perk is the state is willing to shell out some serious cash if you make the move. Last year, Tulsa, Oklahoma offered major money for remote workers who considered moving there. Topeka, Kansas followed suit with a similar initiative earlier this year. Now, Arkansas is offering up $10,000 and a mountain bike to anyone who packs up their small apartment and heads for Northwest Arkansas, according to a report by Travel + Leisure. The recently announced Life Works Here initiative hopes to attract new residents to the area by offering a cash incentive.

As for the bike, it appears to be a ploy to get said new residents to check out the many paved and mountain biking trails Arkansas has to offer. If you’re not much of a biker, though, you can opt instead for an annual membership to one of several local cultural institutions, like the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Whatever floats your boat. The area is ranked one of the best places to live in the United States. The cost of living is low, there’s lots to do outside, there are tons of art-related activities and institutions, and it’s got a per-capita income 14% higher than the national average. Consider it a well-kept secret.

“Northwest Arkansas has one of the fastest growing economies in the country, but we must increase our STEAM and entrepreneurial talent to ensure economic growth in the future,” said Nelson Peacock, president and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council, per the report. There are currently more than 10,000 job openings in Northwest Arkansas and not enough people to fill the available STEAM jobs, Peacock noted. Hence the effort to draw new people to the area. If you’re interested in more information or submitting an application, head over to this site.

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[DFW]

1. Nice, but it's a 4750 mile move, and $10,000 wouldn't come close to covering the expenses

I think we'll stay put right here for now. We have bikes here, too.

[frazzled]

2. Tough sell

I’m sure it’s beautiful and charming, but I think we all harbor some difficult-to-abandon preconceptions about this part of deep red America.

That said, I hope a bunch of young people—artists, techies, scientists—go for it. Given the current system under which we operate, an exodus of people from the overcrowded cluster of blue enclaves around the country to these more remote places could truly bring more blue to the national map, without depleting the already reliably blue states.

[DBoon]

3. My opinion too

They may be importing Democrats or at least people with more cosmopolitan views.

[Celerity]

4. The purplish/pink states that Dems should flood into (from deep blue states) are TX, GA, NC, and AZ

Not Florida, it is going to just get more and more Rethug ageing out MAGAt boomers flooding in.

Turn TX (the true kill shot) and 2 of these 3(GA, NC, and AZ) perma Blue and its over

we could lose the other one of three, lose the ENTIRE Midwest (except IL) and lose PA, lose NV, lose NH, lose NE-2, lose ME-2

and the LEAST EV's we end up with 277 (may change a couple either way with the new post 2020 Census reapportionment)



win TX hold MN and we only need one of the 3 (out of AZ, NC, GA), not two, and can lose all the rest listed above and still win with 271 or 275, or 276




hold NV, MN, NH and we (as of now) do not need any of the 3 (GA, AZ, NC) as long as we turn TX blue

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. It would take a whole lot more than $10K and a bicycle to get me to move there.

Move the decimal point a couple of spaces to the right, throw in a BMW instead of the bike and maybe I'd think about it.

[Aristus]

6. The trade-off is, you have to live in Arkansas.

Hard pass...

[gratuitous]

7. My friend moved to Indiana for a job many years ago

He and his wife bought a very nice three story house just blocks from campus. Where I come from, it would have cost upwards of $200,000 (at the time, now it would be more like $500,000). They paid $40,000 for it. But you hadda live in Indiana.

They soon rectified their error, and moved to Michigan. But they left behind an indisputably nice house.

[bluecollar2]

8. What's Georgia paying?

[sinkingfeeling]

9. Interesting. Tomorrow I close on the sale of my renovated 1858

house in NWA. I moved here in 1991 and the love I had for both Fayetteville and Arkansas disappeared last year.
The laid back town is now crowded and developers rule. Whole quaint little neighborhoods have been razed to build more apartment complexes or to expand the university. Historical properties included.
There are hundreds of miles of bike trails and the Walton (Walmart) family gets to decide what happens.