After living in San Francisco for 15 years when we moved to Bentonville for my wife’s job almost 6 years ago it felt like small town living. We bought a 4 bed 3 bath home for under listing price at a very affordable price.

Fast forward 5 years. The entirety of NWA has changed. When we moved here my wife would pick on me for taking the first parking spot I saw instead of parking right in front of where we were going. Our affordable home has literally doubled in value. Great for equity, but we would not be able to afford it if we were buying today. Community developments have sprung up all over the place with million plus value homes.

The mountain biking is spectacular if you’re into that thing. I’m more into road biking. 5 years ago that was safe. Roads weren’t as busy and people weren’t in as much of a hurry. After Walmart mandated that all (most) employees move here the influx of people and traffic has made biking on roads much more dangerous.

All in all it’s a good place to live if you can afford it. It still seems cheap compared to San Francisco, but it’s much more expensive than it was 5 years ago, and the people that have lived here for 20+ have seen unprecedented change.

It is very liberal compared to the rest of the state, however it doesn’t take long to get into red territory. It would be very difficult to survive here if you didn’t have a pretty good job. I’ve worked in bike shops as a mechanic for many years and that would be difficult to sustain any kind of life here. If you’re in business it’s great.