Start here
Moving to Bentonville? Here's your first 90 days.
The checklist below is adapted from our published relocation guides — the stuff people wish someone had told them before the truck was loaded. It's free, it's on this page, and the weekly Funk Dispatch adds new local context.
The first-90-days checklist
Deciding
- Treat NWA as a four-city metro — you may live in one city and work in another. full guide →
- If you have school-age kids, rank the school district above the house itself. full guide →
- Walmart HQ hire? Confirm your role's location requirement with the recruiter. full guide →
- Decide rent vs buy by stay length — staying under 3 years usually means rent. full guide →
60 days out
- Plan to rent 3–6 months before buying, so you learn the geography first. full guide →
- Negotiate the relocation package — moving costs and 30–60 days of temporary housing. full guide →
- Search rentals on Zumper, Apartments.com, and Zillow. full guide →
- Check local property managers too — listings often show there before the aggregators. full guide →
30 days out
- Never wire money for a deposit before you have seen the place. full guide →
- Match the landlord's name to county property records before signing. full guide →
- Negotiate — you can ask for concessions on price and terms. full guide →
- Book flights into XNA — the alternate airports are a serious drive. full guide →
Arrival week
- Rent centrally first — don't buy in your first 6 months. full guide →
- Get your bearings: drive all four cities. full guide →
- Sort renter's insurance — usually required, $15–25/month. full guide →
First 90 days
- Buy Crystal Bridges season passes if you'll use them. full guide →
- Get a resident trail pass if you bike ($20/year). full guide →
- Book a primary care doctor early — providers book up. full guide →
Every item above is adapted from a published guide and links back to its source for context, prices, and tradeoffs. Spot something wrong? Tell us.
Help people move here for a living? Put this checklist on your own site — free, no signup, keeps itself current.
When you're serious
This checklist gets you oriented. The Field Guide gets you decided.
The free checklist covers the what-and-when of arriving. The Bentonville Relocation Field Guide ($24) is the decision playbook — which neighborhood fits which life, the schools question answered like a parent (not a brochure), real cost comparisons against Austin, Denver, and Nashville, and the tradeoffs nobody puts in a listing.
See the Field Guide