LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Arkansas home foreclosures jumped 8.5 percent in August and 13.1 percent compared to August a year ago. Still, the state figures were better than national rates.

Foreclosures nationally were up 12 percent from July and 27 percent from August 2007, according to RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif., company that tracks foreclosures. The company said one home in every 416 households received a foreclosure filing last month.

Arkansas had 1,159 homes in some stage of foreclosure in August.

“While Arkansas’ foreclosures are up, they are not up nearly as badly as the nation. That is clearly a good thing, especially given that Arkansans tend not to earn as much money as the national average,” said Jeff Collins, an economist with Streetsmart Data Services in Northwest Arkansas.

Scott McElmurry, chief operating officer for Bank of Little Rock Mortgage, said that based on previous months, foreclosures in the state apparently are stabilizing. The Arkansas ratio was one foreclosure for every 1,099 households in August; one foreclosure for every 1,193 houses in July, and one for every 1,131 in June.

For the 20th straight month, Nevada had the highest ratio of foreclosures in August, with one home in every 91 receiving a foreclosure notice. California was second highest, with one foreclosure for every 130 houses. California accounted for one-third of all foreclosures in the country, with 101,724 in August.

Also in the top 10 were Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Georgia, Ohio, Colorado, Illinois and Indiana.

West Virginia had the lowest incidence of foreclosures, with one for every 20,414 in the state last month.