2023 State Report for County-Level Data: Prevalence

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the following individuals who have contributed to the success of this effort: Deb Brucker, Erin Dame, Kate Filanoski, Kim Phillips, Karen Volle, Romy Eberle, and Toni Sumner-Beebe.

Funding for this publication is made possible by:

The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics and Demographics (StatsRRTC), funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Community Living National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), grant number 90RTGE0001. The information developed by the StatsRRTC  does not necessarily represent the policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government (Edgar, 75.620 (b)).

The StatsRRTC is a part of the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire. The Institute on Disability/UCED (IOD) was established in 1987 to provide a university-based focus for the improvement of knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of people with disabilities and their families and is New Hampshire’s University Center for Excellence in Disability (UCED). Located within the University of New Hampshire, the IOD is a federally designated center authorized by the Developmental Disabilities Act. Through innovative and interdisciplinary research, academic, service, and dissemination initiatives, the IOD builds local, state, and national capacities to respond to the needs of individuals with disabilities and their families.

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2023 Arkansas Report for County-Level Data: Prevalence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on

Disability Statistics and Demographics

A NIDILRR-Funded Center

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Introduction

Overview. Statistics are a powerful tool in research, policymaking, program evaluation, and advocacy. They are used to frame issues, monitor current circumstances and progress, judge the effectiveness of policies and programs, make projections about the future, and predict the costs of potential policy changes.

In the United States, disability statistics – information about the population with disabilities and about the government programs that serve people with disabilities - are often difficult to find. Numerous government agencies generate and publish disability statistics, and as a result, the data are scattered across various federal government documents and websites.

The Annual Disability Statistics State Reports for County-Level Data, one of the five publications included in the Institute on Disability’s Annual Disability Statistics Collection – referred to as “the Collection” – is a summary of statistics about people with disabilities and about the government programs which serve them. The State Reports for County-Level Data provides county-level prevalence, employment, and poverty statistics for each state. 

Additional publications included in the Collection are: 

  • The Annual Disability Statistics Compendium, available both in hard copy and online (at www.disabilitycompendium.org), presents key overall statistics on topics including the prevalence of disability, employment among persons with disabilities, rates of participation in disability income and social insurance programs, and other statistics. 
  • The Annual Disability Statistics Supplement covers 150 additional tables that analyze the content found in the Compendium by age, gender, and race/ethnicity. 
  • The Annual Report on People with Disabilities in America, which graphically represents trends of key statistics from the Compendium.  
  • Infographics in the Collection are curated through partnerships with organizations that specialize in the intersectionality of disability with other identities.  
  • The Annual Disability Statistics Standard Errors Companion, new to the Collection this year, details the standard errors of percent and standard errors of frequency for applicable tables in the Compendium. 

All publications are available online at https://disabilitycompendium.org. The Annual Report on People with Disabilities in America and the infographics are also available in print format. 

The State Reports for County-Level Data on Prevalence is intended to be an online complement to Section 1: Population and Prevalence of the Annual Disability Statistics Compendium and Annual Disability Statistics Supplement, providing greater detail within each state. This report can be used to compare county-level statistics between counties in any given state or states.

The following report provides county-level statistics for Arkansas. In this report, the prevalence of people with disabilities is presented as the number of people with disabilities in a given state and county per total state and county populations, respectively. Counts and percentages are provided in tables and maps.

Specific to Arkansas, the state chosen for this report, sentences providing interpretation and context for prevalence statistics are included in the Interpretation section. A short glossary of terms is also provided at the end of the report explaining the statistics that are illustrated in each sentence.

Notes on the data. The State Reports for County-Level Data on Employment is composed of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year data. We used the most recent data wherever available.

ACS 5-year includes data from 2021 and data from the four previous years. 5-year data is collected over a longer period of time than 1-year data, providing larger sample sizes and increased reliability for less populated areas and small population subgroups.

In the ACS, people are identified as having a disability based on responses to a series of six questions asking about having difficulties with vision, hearing, ambulation, cognition, self-care, and independent living (see glossary for further details).

Exploring other topics. The UNH Institute on Disability is dedicated to thorough research and has explored topics such as understanding the factors associated with the health disparities experienced by people with intellectual disabilities through the Health Disparities Project (https://iod.unh.edu/health-disparities-project) and career self-management through job crafting for people with physical and mild cognitive disabilities (https://iod.unh.edu/career-self-management-through-job-crafting-people-physical-mild-cognitive-disabilities). 

Additional Resources. A companion Annual Report is available, providing graphical representations of key findings. The Annual Report highlights trend data related to specific tables in the Compendium and Supplement. The statistics presented here, as well as those in the Compendium, Supplement, and Annual Report, can be viewed and downloaded at https://disabilitycompendium.org/.

Help navigating any of the resources described here can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions section at https://disabilitycompendium.org/faq. Assistance interpreting and locating additional statistics is available via our toll-free number, 866-538-9521, or by email at disability.statistics@unh.edu. For more information about our research projects, please visit https://www.researchondisability.org.

Suggested Citation. Paul, S., Rogers, S., Bach, S., & Houtenville, A. (2023). 2023 State Report for Arkansas County-Level Data: Prevalence. Durham, NH: University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability.

Interpretation

The following statements are designed to help understand the 2021 county-level statistics from Arkansas that are presented:

 

  • For the number of people with and without disabilities:
    • The range of total people across Arkansas counties, also known as the difference between the largest and smallest counts of people across Arkansas counties, was 2,950,994.
      • The county with the greatest number of total people was Pulaski (391,648 people).
      • The county with the least number of total people was Calhoun (4,776 people).
    • The average number of total people across all counties was 77,783.
    • The median, also known as the middle-most number, of total people across Arkansas counties was 17,955

 

  • For the number of people with disabilities:
    • The range of people with disabilities across Arkansas counties, also known as the difference between the largest and smallest counts of people with disabilities across Arkansas counties, was 519,887.
      • The county with the greatest number of people with disabilities was Pulaski (60,910 people).
      • The county with the least number of people with disabilities was Calhoun (1,184 people).
    • The average number of people with disabilities across all counties was 13,712.
    • The median, also known as the middle-most number, of people with disabilities across Arkansas counties was 4,052.
  • For the percentage of people with disabilities:
    • For the entire state of Arkansas, the overall percentage of people with disabilities is 17.6%.
      • The county with the highest percentage of people with disabilities was Montgomery (28.4%).
      • The county with the lowest percentage of people with disabilities was Benton (10.0%).

 

  • For the number of people without disabilities:
    • The range of people without disabilities across Arkansas counties, also known as the difference between the largest and smallest counts of people without disabilities across Arkansas counties, was 2,431,107.
      • The county with the greatest number of people without disabilities was Pulaski (330,738 people).
      • The county with the least number of people without disabilities was Calhoun (3,592 people).
    • The average number of people without disabilities across all counties was 64,071.
    • The median, also known as the middle-most number, of people without disabilities across Arkansas counties was 14,324.
  • For the percentage of people without disabilities:
    • For the entire state of Arkansas, the overall percentage of people without disabilities is 82.4%.
      • The county with the highest percentage of people without disabilities was Benton (90.0%).
      • The county with the lowest percentage of people without disabilities was Montgomery (71.6%).

 

Prevalence of People with and without Disabilities for Arkansas, by County: 2021
County Total Disability No Disability   County Total Disability No Disability
Count % Count % Count % Count %
  Arkansas   2,955,770 521,071 17.6 2,434,699 82.4   Garland       98,592  21,327 21.6    77,265 78.4
  Arkansas      17,060   3,386 19.8    13,674 80.2    Grant        17,730   3,299 18.6    14,431 81.4
   Ashley       19,239   4,160 21.6    15,079 78.4    Greene       45,209   9,614 21.3    35,595 78.7
   Baxter       41,196  10,153 24.6    31,043 75.4  Hempstead      20,129   3,927 19.5    16,202 80.5
   Benton      277,270  27,753 10.0   249,517 90.0  Hot Spring     30,961   7,287 23.5    23,674 76.5
   Boone        37,055   7,325 19.8    29,730 80.2    Howard       12,750   2,304 18.1    10,446 81.9
  Bradley       10,518   2,091 19.9     8,427 80.1 Independence    37,309   7,315 19.6    29,994 80.4
  Calhoun        4,776   1,184 24.8     3,592 75.2    Izard        12,649   3,450 27.3     9,199 72.7
  Carroll       27,916   3,902 14.0    24,014 86.0   Jackson       14,759   3,276 22.2    11,483 77.8
   Chicot        9,786   2,541 26.0     7,245 74.0  Jefferson      63,765  11,627 18.2    52,138 81.8
   Clark        21,319   4,743 22.2    16,576 77.8   Johnson       25,669   5,094 19.8    20,575 80.2
    Clay        14,583   3,117 21.4    11,466 78.6  Lafayette       6,263   1,345 21.5     4,918 78.5
  Cleburne      24,578   5,370 21.8    19,208 78.2   Lawrence      16,043   3,518 21.9    12,525 78.1
 Cleveland       7,560   1,636 21.6     5,924 78.4     Lee          7,363   1,787 24.3     5,576 75.7
  Columbia      22,599   4,247 18.8    18,352 81.2   Lincoln        8,362   1,572 18.8     6,790 81.2
   Conway       20,615   5,339 25.9    15,276 74.1 Little River    11,969   2,238 18.7     9,731 81.3
 Craighead     108,973  20,157 18.5    88,816 81.5    Logan        21,097   4,963 23.5    16,134 76.5
  Crawford      59,753  11,543 19.3    48,210 80.7    Lonoke       72,090  11,234 15.6    60,856 84.4
 Crittenden     47,935   7,570 15.8    40,365 84.2   Madison       16,446   3,360 20.4    13,086 79.6
   Cross        16,748   3,208 19.2    13,540 80.8    Marion       16,640   4,561 27.4    12,079 72.6
   Dallas        6,025   1,674 27.8     4,351 72.2    Miller       41,670   8,048 19.3    33,622 80.7
   Desha        11,478   2,199 19.2     9,279 80.8 Mississippi     40,356   7,839 19.4    32,517 80.6
    Drew        17,125   3,064 17.9    14,061 82.1    Monroe        6,822   1,754 25.7     5,068 74.3
  Faulkner     121,716  18,063 14.8   103,653 85.2  Montgomery      8,409   2,391 28.4     6,018 71.6
  Franklin      16,937   4,093 24.2    12,844 75.8    Nevada        8,204   1,959 23.9     6,245 76.1
   Fulton       11,921   3,090 25.9     8,831 74.1    Newton        7,283   1,541 21.2     5,742 78.8
Prevalence of People with and without Disabilities for Arkansas, by County: 2021
County Total Disability No Disability   County Total Disability No Disability
Count % Count % Count % Count %
  Ouachita      22,558   6,332 28.1    16,226 71.9                                                   
   Perry         9,957   2,202 22.1     7,755 77.9                                                   
  Phillips      16,762   4,010 23.9    12,752 76.1                                                   
    Pike        10,095   2,537 25.1     7,558 74.9                                                   
  Poinsett      22,929   5,151 22.5    17,778 77.5                                                   
    Polk        19,368   4,195 21.7    15,173 78.3                                                   
    Pope        62,686  11,712 18.7    50,974 81.3                                                   
  Prairie        8,179   1,874 22.9     6,305 77.1                                                   
  Pulaski      391,648  60,910 15.6   330,738 84.4                                                   
  Randolph      18,180   3,963 21.8    14,217 78.2                                                   
   Saline      121,083  19,082 15.8   102,001 84.2                                                   
   Scott         9,872   2,219 22.5     7,653 77.5                                                   
   Searcy        7,805   1,985 25.4     5,820 74.6                                                   
 Sebastian     126,734  25,871 20.4   100,863 79.6                                                   
   Sevier       15,979   2,340 14.6    13,639 85.4                                                   
   Sharp        17,074   4,800 28.1    12,274 71.9                                                   
St. Francis     20,632   4,201 20.4    16,431 79.6                                                   
   Stone        12,269   3,245 26.4     9,024 73.6                                                   
   Union        38,929   6,844 17.6    32,085 82.4                                                   
 Van Buren      15,695   4,142 26.4    11,553 73.6                                                   
 Washington    241,026  26,336 10.9   214,690 89.1                                                   
   White        76,667  14,001 18.3    62,666 81.7                                                   
  Woodruff       6,235   1,185 19.0     5,050 81.0                                                   
    Yell        20,188   3,696 18.3    16,492 81.7                                                   
                                                                                                     
                                                                                                     
Count of People with Disabilities for Arkansas, by County: 2021

Percentage of People with Disabilities for Arkansas, by County: 2021

Discussion

There are a number of concepts and factors which complicate the interpretation of the estimates presented in this report. These concerns affect all statistics from population-based surveys. The estimates included in this document should be interpreted the following limitations in mind and generalized with caution. In each point, a link to the U.S. Census Bureau website describing the limitation or concept in greater detail in the ACS has been provided.

Additional links to resources for the ACS:

Glossary

American Community Survey (ACS) — The American Community Survey is a large, continuous demographic survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau that will provide accurate and up-to-date profiles of America’s communities every year. Annual and multiyear estimates of population and housing data are generated for small areas, including tracts and population subgroups. This information is collected by mailing questionnaires to a sample of addresses. See the U.S. Census Bureau website for additional details.

The Six Disability Questions in the American Community Survey:

  1. Is this person deaf or does he/she have serious difficulty hearing? (yes or no)
  2. Is this person blind or does he/she have serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses? (yes or no)
  3. (If person 5 years old or over) Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does this person have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions? (yes or no)
  4. (If person 5 years or old over) Does this person have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs? (yes or no)
  5. (If person 5 years old or over) Does this person have difficulty dressing or bathing? (yes or no)
  6. (If person 15 years old or over) Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does this person have difficulty doing errands alone such as visiting a doctor’s office or shopping? (yes or no)

Average — The sum of all of the values in a sample divided by the number of values in the sample.

Civilian — A person not in active-duty military.

Median — The middlemost value of a sample that separates the upper half of the values from the lower half of the values. 

Non-Institutionalized Population — Describes individuals who are residing in the community and who are not living in institutions such as jails, prisons, nursing homes, hospitals, etc.

Population — The total number of inhabitants in a defined geographic area including all races, classes, and groups.

Prevalence — The proportion of the population with a particular status or condition. Prevalence is usually expressed as a percentage or a number of people per unit of the population.

Prevalence Rate — The prevalence of a particular status or condition estimated over a specific period of time.

Range — The difference between the largest and smallest values in a sample. In a sample, when the smallest value is subtracted from the largest value the resulting value is called the range. 

Sampling Variability — The variation of a statistic when estimated from repeated samples.

United States Census Bureau — An agency within the United States Federal Statistical System tasked with producing data about the American people and economy. Their primary task is to conduct the United States Census every ten years.

About the Center

Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics and Demographics (StatsRRTC)

Led by the University of New Hampshire, the StatsRRTC is a collaborative effort involving the following partners: American Association of People with Disabilities, Center for Essential Management Services, Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation, Kessler Foundation, Mathematica Policy Research, and Public Health Institute.

The StatsRRTC is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living, National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research under grant number 90RTGE0001, from 2018–2023.

Contact Information
University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability
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Durham, NH 03824
Toll-Free Telephone/TTY: 866-538-9521
E-mail: Disability.Statistics@unh.edu
https://www.researchondisability.org