Arkansas’ sixth ‘snobbiest’ city?

Arkansas’ sixth ‘snobbiest’ city?

Marion makes website’s tongue- in- cheek Top 10

news@theeveningtimes.com

Are residents of Marion a bunch of snobs?

According to a survey by the website RoadSnacks, Marion is the sixth snobbiest city in Arkansas.

But before you get your dander up and start to fire off those e-mails and letters of protest, you should know that it is all in good humor when you see how they arrived at their rankings.

RoadSnacks gathered data of 82 places in Arkansas with populations of 5,000 or more and looked at media home price, median household income, percent of population with a college degree, private schools per capita, theaters per capita, and art galleries per capita.

The website then ranked each of the 82 places in each category with score of one to 82, then averaged each place’s ranking into one score.

The higher the number, the snobbier the city is.

Marion, with a population 12,292, has a median household income of $63,283; median home price of $143,293; and 19 percent of residents hold a college degree.

Maumelle, which came in at No. 1. on this list, has a median household income of $82,233; median home price $214,293; while 32 percent of residents have a college degree.

Joining Marion the list of the Ten Snobbiest Cities in Arkansas were Maumelle,, Bentonville, Lowell, Little Rock, Fayetteville, Hot Springs Village, Centeron, Bella Vista, and Rogers.

“We’re not saying there’s anything wrong with these cities,” the authors of the survey write. “Actually, if we had their wealth and lifestyle, we’d probably be a little snobby too.”

RoadSnacks says its goal in ranking communities along these lines is to create bite-sized snacks of shareable information about places and cities across the county.

“We call it the ‘other’ side of regional infotainment,” the authors write. “We try to paint a picture of what’s happening in a region based on ‘Friday Night Science’ — how you would argue at a bar.”

Marion Mayor Frank Fogleman didn’t know how to react at first — until he realized it was all in good fun.

“Put tongue-in-cheek, I can follow that,” Fogleman said. “We do have a museum. If we’re going to quantify cities as snobs based on income, home values, and education, I guess I’m glad to know we are number six. Those are things that any community would strive to have.”

Marion was the only city in eastern Arkansas to make the list.

“Looks like they are more snobby in central and northwest Arkansas,” Fogleman said.

Marion Chamber of Commerce President Mike Demster also found the list amusing.

“To me it is flattering as a community,” Demster said.

“By and large those criteria are positive things for Marion, and we want to continue to build on them. It is somewhat of a stretch to work that into being a snob though. I will give the surveyors some slack on that though. I don’t think I would call Marion snobby.”

Having said that, would the authors of the survey live in one of those ten

places if they had a chance? “Of course we would,” the authors write.

By Mark Randall