Bella Vista

Nestled into the Ozark Mountains, Bella Vista provides scenic, affordable living catered to active lifestyles at any pace. U.S. News & World Report ranked Bella Vista one of America’s “Top 10 Best Healthy Places to Retire,” and it’s easy to see why.

The community boasts seven golf courses, seven stocked lakes, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, walking, nature and biking trails, a gun range, recreation centers, an RV park, playgrounds, miniature golf, racquetball, basketball and boating, as well as several parks, pavilions and clubhouses. Two legged members and guests aren’t the only ones enjoying the amenities, thanks to the Bella Vista Highlands Dog Park, opened in 2010, and a general pet-friendliness throughout the community.

The social calendar is equally robust: The Bella Vista Property Owners Association hosts several community-wide celebrations throughout the year. Many events feature live entertainment and food trucks, lending a festive and tasty accompaniment to the goings-on. Add to these the many opportunities to get involved in civic and volunteer activities in Bella Vista, and there’s always something to see and do. There are a variety of churches, an outstanding public library and close proximity to renowned institutions of higher education.

Offering such wide-ranging amenities has earned Bella Vista the misnomer of being prohibitively expensive, but nothing could be further from fact. CNNMoney.com and Money Magazine have ranked the city one of the “Top 25 Best Places for Affordable Homes.” Property owners dues are less than $300 annually, and the overall cost of living is 5 percent under the national average.

Those who think of Bella Vista as strictly a retirement community are also in for a big surprise. The median age of the city has been dropping steadily and today is just over 50, while the fastest growing category of residents is young professionals. Many of these residents work nearby in the bustling commercial corridors of Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale—all within a 20-minute radius—home to several of the world’s largest companies like Walmart and Tyson Foods.

Another major area employer, Mercy Health, also provides caring, top-quality medical services to Bella Vista residents. Mercy Clinic Primary Care–Lancashire is a fixture in town, and Mercy opened the first freestanding emergency department in the region, Mercy Bella Vista at One Mercy Way. The $2.6 million investment is just the beginning of Mercy’s strategic plan to increase access to health care across the community.