Arkansas Free Public Records Directory

Arkansas, the 29th largest state at 53,180 sq. miles, is located in the southeastern U.S. It is considered a southern state and is bordered by Louisiana on the south, Texas on the southwest, Oklahoma on the west, Missouri on the north, and Tennessee and Mississippi on the east. Most of Arkansas’s eastern border is formed by the Mississippi River.

Generally, the terrain of Arkansas can be split into the highlands in the northwest half and the lowlands in the southeast half. The highlands include The Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains. The lowlands include the part of Arkansas along the Mississippi River sometimes called the Arkansas Delta. There are many rivers, lakes and reservoirs within the state including the Mississippi River and its tributaries; the Arkansas River, the White River, and the St. Francis River.

The climate in Arkansas is generally hot and humid in the summer and slightly drier, and mild to cool, in the winter. The state averages between 40 and 60 inches of annual precipitation with it being wetter in the south and drier in the north. The Gulf of Mexico’s large warm body of water is close enough to Arkansas to influence the weather in the state. The state is known for its extreme weather and frequent storms. It is also located in an area of the U.S. known as “Tornado Alley,” where three conflicting weather systems converge causing thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, snow and ice storms.

Arkansas was purchased by the U.S in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The U.S. Congress admitted Arkansas to the United States as the 25th state on June 15, 1836. Arkansas withdrew from the U.S. in 1861 to join the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. The state returned to the Union in 1868 but struggled economically and socially. During the early 20th century, immigration included people from Eastern Europe. These immigrants made the Delta area more diverse than the rest of the state. With opportunities to develop the bottomlands and to own their own property, black migrants moved into the area. New railroad construction enabled farmers to get their products to market and brought development into different parts of the state.

The city of Little Rock, is the largest city and the state capital of Arkansas. The Little Rock metropolitan area has an estimated population of 724,385. There are 8 cities in the state with a population above 50,000. Arkansas’s 75 counties, having a combined population of 2,988,248, gives it a ranking of 33rd in population for U.S. states.

The earliest industries in Arkansas were agriculture and fur trading. Currently, the state is the largest producer of rice, broilers and turkeys. It ranks in the top three for cotton, pullets and catfish. Arkansas ranks 4th nationally and 1st in the south in softwood lumber production. There are automobile parts factories in eastern Arkansas to support auto plants in other states. Six of the Fortune 500 companies are based in Arkansas including Walmart, the world’s #1 retailer. ^[1]

The Arkansas pubic records listed below can be accessed by record type. There are over 25 types of records including land records, environmental records, sex offender records, business records, and a variety of others.

Abbreviation	AR, Ark.
Capital	Little Rock
Population	2,988,248 (2016 est.)
Area size	53,180 sq. mi.
Demonym	Arkansan
Primary languages spoken	English
Governor	Asa Hutchinson
Lieutenant Governor	Tim Griffin
U.S. Senators	John Boozman, Tom Cotton
U.S. House Delegation	4 Republicans
Time Zone	Central: UTC -6/-5

*The map and data in the table are from Wikipedia.

Browse by Public Record Category

There are two types of public records; 1) personal public records that document major life milestones such as birth certificates, death certificates, divorce records, and marriage records, etc.; and 2) government records that are made public such as property tax records, recorded land records, voter records, crime data, jail inmate records, and court records. The Freedom of Information Act is a national law that releases government agency public records and makes it possible to view most public records. ^[2] The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is one of the most comprehensive and strongest open-records and open-meetings laws in the country. The law gives Arkansans access to public records and public meetings, with some exceptions outlined in the law. ^[3]

Since there are a multitude of records available, it can be difficult to know how or where to access them. When you are ready to start your search, you’ll find our Public Records Directory website easy to use since all of the records can be searched by federal, state, county, city, town or type of record. The links provided will connect you to the best website for the record search, provide details about the record, or provide contact information for those records without search capabilities.