Skip to content
Earthquakes Near Me / Arkansas

Arkansas Earthquakes: Recent Quakes and the Largest on Record

Arkansas averages 5.4 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more a year (2016 to 2025), and the largest in the USGS catalog since 1900 is the M4.8 of October 28, 1923, 3 km WNW of Tyronza, Arkansas.

Live from the USGS

Earthquakes near Little Rock in the last 30 days

Every quake within 155 miles of Little Rock, Arkansas’s largest city, newest first. For your own address, enter a ZIP code.

Within
Magnitude
Reading the USGS earthquake catalog for magnitude 2.5 and up within 155 miles of Little Rock.

Live from the USGS earthquake catalog. Times are Central time; felt reports and the shaking level come from Did You Feel It? A new quake can take a few minutes to appear and its magnitude can be revised.

Arkansas by the numbers

USGS catalog, read October 10, 2026
5.4
Quakes of M2.5+ a year
the average, 2016 to 2025
19th
Rank of 50 states
by quakes of M2.5+ a year
M4.8
Largest since 1900
October 28, 1923
0
M3+ in 2026
through October 10, 2026

Arkansas averages 5.4 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more a year, counting 54 from 2016 to 2025, which ranks it 19th of the fifty states.

Since 1990

Arkansas earthquakes by year

The USGS catalog lists 88 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more in Arkansas from 1990 to 2025, the most in 2011 (37). 2016 to 2025: 7; 2006 to 2015: 60.

Magnitude 3 and up in Arkansas, 1990 to 2025; the tallest bar is 37. From the USGS catalog, read October 10, 2026.
Advertisement
Since 1900

The 10 largest earthquakes in Arkansas

The largest earthquake in Arkansas in the USGS catalog since 1900 is the M4.8 of October 28, 1923, 3 km WNW of Tyronza, Arkansas. The most recent of magnitude 4 or more was the M4.7 of February 28, 2011, 4 km NE of Greenbrier, Arkansas.

  1. 1M4.8
    3 km WNW of Tyronza, ArkansasOctober 28, 1923
  2. 2M4.8
    3 km ESE of Lake City, ArkansasMay 7, 1927
  3. 3M4.8
    2 km E of Gilmore, ArkansasSeptember 17, 1938, 0.6 mi (1 km) deep
  4. 4M4.7
    4 km NE of Greenbrier, ArkansasFebruary 28, 2011, 2.0 mi (3 km) deep
  5. 5M4.6
    8 km NW of Marked Tree, ArkansasMarch 25, 1976, 9.3 mi (15 km) deep
  6. 6M4.3
    4 km S of Houston, ArkansasJanuary 1, 1969, 4.3 mi (7 km) deep
  7. 7M4.3
    South of Rison, ArkansasMarch 31, 1911
  8. 8M4.3
    5 km ENE of Mena, ArkansasJune 2, 1977, 6.2 mi (10 km) deep
  9. 9M4.3
    8 km NNW of Holland, ArkansasMay 4, 2001, 4.8 mi (8 km) deep
  10. 10M4.2
    7 km SSE of Trumann, ArkansasMarch 25, 1976, 9.3 mi (15 km) deep

From the USGS ComCat catalog, every magnitude since 1900, read October 10, 2026. Each place links to the quake’s USGS page.

The faults

Fault zones in Arkansas

  • New Madrid seismic zone
  • Reelfoot Rift
  • Enola swarm area
“These earthquakes happened in the New Madrid seismic zone (NMSZ), an active fault system that extends from Cairo, Illinois to Marked Tree, Arkansas.”

Named by the Arkansas Geological Survey, read October 9, 2026.

When it shakes

What to do in an earthquake

  1. 1

    Drop

    Drop where you are onto hands and knees.

  2. 2

    Cover

    Cover your head and neck with one arm and hand. If a sturdy table or desk is nearby, crawl underneath it for shelter. If no shelter is nearby, crawl next to an interior wall (away from windows). Stay on your knees; bend over to protect vital organs.

  3. 3

    Hold On

    Hold until the shaking stops. If under shelter, hold on with one hand and be ready to move with it when the shelter moves. If not under shelter, hold on to your head and neck with both arms and hands.

Ready.gov’s words, from Ready.gov: Earthquakes (updated Sep 9, 2026, read October 9, 2026). Practice it with The Great ShakeOut: Earthquake Drills.

A seismograph drum wrapped in paper with rows of ink traces, the pen drawing a new line as the drum turns
A seismogram being recorded by a seismograph at the Weston Observatory in Massachusetts. “Seismogram at Weston Observatory” by Z22, CC BY-SA 3.0
Questions

Arkansas earthquake questions

Advertisement
Other states

Earthquakes in every state

Earthquakes near any ZIP code

More for Arkansas

More from MyWild

Earthquakes near any ZIP codeEvery quake around your own address in the last 30 days.Arkansas tornado seasonWhen tornadoes peak in the state.Arkansas radonRadon levels across the state and how to test.Arkansas well waterWhat to test a private well for.Arkansas river levelsLive gauges and flood stages.Arkansas fire dangerToday’s fire danger across the state.

Sources. The live list: the USGS FDSN event service. Arkansas’s counts and largest quakes: the USGS ComCat catalog, read October 10, 2026, counted inside the state’s Census boundary and within 150 km of its coast where USGS names the state. Little Rock: the state’s most populous city in the Census Vintage 2024 estimates. Older years hold fewer small quakes because fewer instruments were listening.

Hero photograph: the San Andreas Fault across the Carrizo Plain. “Kluft-photo-Carrizo-Plain-Nov-2007-Img 0327” by Ikluft, CC BY-SA 4.0