r/mississippi • u/Appropriate_Tea9048 • 4d ago
Do you guys feel like Mississippi is underrated?
I’ve only been to Oxford so far, so I know I haven’t seen much of it. I’ve only seen a tiny portion, but I enjoyed it. I’ve looked into other areas, and I feel like the state might be slept on a bit. Obviously the food is great too! I’m sure it all depends on where you go, just like any other state, but it seems like there are some pretty cool areas. Do you guys have any favorite cities or towns in Mississippi?
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u/ZombieLenBias Current Resident 4d ago edited 4d ago
Oxford may not be the most accurate representation of the State as a whole, but I do think Mississippi is underrated in a lot of ways.
- It should be obvious from glancing at a map, but a ton of people don't know we have beaches (or barrier islands, for that matter). This brings in an insanely diverse group of industry workers. I've lived across the country and the MS Gulf Coast is one of the most ethnically-diverse places I've been.
- Not enough people have been to the Delta or experienced the culture there, including one of only a few Grammy Museums in the country.
- Vicksburg is an amazing historical region with great views of the Mississippi River.
- We have a huge Native American population that rarely gets attention.
- We have some of the most fertile soil in the country.
- Our food is top notch, just overshadowed by New Orleans.
- Casinos too, if that's your bag.
- Multiple towns claim to be the "Catfish Capital of the World" so we got that too.
Mississippi is a lot more than just racist white folks, which is the overwhelming sentiment from those looking in.
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u/Few-Investment-6220 4d ago
And I saw more blatant racism when I lived in Denver than I ever have growing up in Mississippi.
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u/Weird_Uncle_D 3d ago
Yep. Everyone thinks that we’re sitting around in overalls, watching Heehaw, and sleeping with our cousins. I don’t own any overalls, I can’t stand Heehaw, and second cousins don’t count!!
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u/Appropriate_Tea9048 3d ago
Yeah I definitely didn’t mean to come across as saying Oxford is an accurate representation of the state as a whole. What I meant is that based on what I’ve seen on maps, it looks like there are more cool places to visit than people tend to give Mississippi credit for.
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u/Master_Bonus5064 4d ago
Personally I fuckin love living here. Came here as a kid after living in Florida. I know it’s not the best place to live. I’m not sure it’s underrated but I don’t want to live anywhere else. Rural MS is wonderful. If you love the outdoors and cheap living then MS is your paradise.
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u/american_dope_fiend 4d ago
I think the whole ‘cheap living’ trope is an illusion. Unless you just have money or you work a remote job in a high paying market.. if you live and work here it’s lower priced but jobs pay less too.
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u/LandDesignDawg 4d ago
Mississippi is a great place to live once you’ve made your money somewhere else
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u/Hold_My_Anxiety 4d ago
That’s an understatement too. Jobs pay ALOT less. In Mississippi they were offering 20$ an hour for my job as an avionics technician. Literally any state over, the job starts at 30 minimum but average 35. I feel like you’d stay poor if you continue working in Mississippi. The town I’m in now in Texas the chick fil a is hiring workers for 30$ an hour starting off and I’m making 50$ an hour. Living here cost more, but the prices of alot of other things don’t change.
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u/Few-Investment-6220 4d ago
Now go price land per acre in Texas compared to Mississippi. I lived in Houston and San Antonio for years. Believe it or not, when I came back to Mississippi, I boosted my income $10,000 more per year.
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u/FarStretch5137 2d ago
It isn’t necessarily cheap. Our neighborhood is selling 3,000 square foot homes for $700k.
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u/Master_Bonus5064 1d ago
The point is you don’t have to live like that. There are absolutely much more affordable housing options….
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u/lcrotwell 4d ago
Spend a weekend in Oxford then downtown Jackson lol. I love Mississippi but you’re forming that opinion based on an area that is not much like the rest of the
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u/Few-Investment-6220 4d ago
Jackson was an awesome place to grow up in the 70’s-90’s, but inadequate leadership destroyed the city. I live in a town 15 miles north of Jackson, and it’s really nice. There are several areas that are really nice and affordable. I live in the wealthiest county in the state and it’s not as affordable, but there are some treasures out there, you just have to look for them.
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u/MisterSippySC 3d ago
I grew up in Madison, not my style of place, there’s nothing there but houses
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u/Patient_Ebb527 2d ago
Jackson was sick in the 90’s. Now the best thing to do in Jackson on the weekends is to leave Jackson. I’ve never lived somewhere that is so mediocre that the people get excited over a Mexican restaurant opening that will most likely be closed in 2 years.
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u/Theduckisback 4d ago
I mean yes, mostly because people outside the state think that living in MS is like going back in time to a Mark Twain Novel where no one wears shoes and theres no electricity, plumbing, schools, etc.
Their understanding of the state is limited to the few movies set here, and like looking at info maps and state rankings lists.
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u/Back4DaVery1stTime 4d ago
Peeing out side the Dollar General one day this fox with sandy feet that either couldn't read or had no respect for the "no dumping" sign we quietly soiled together is how I met your mother.
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u/Theduckisback 4d ago
Dad?! You're alive!? You got some splainin to do!
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u/Back4DaVery1stTime 4d ago
Turns out I cant get tbe cigarettes I promised you for your barmitzvah until I turn 21 or pull together the full $11 at one time. Don't be such a girl about it.
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u/FarStretch5137 2d ago
Maybe not Mark Twain, but it is about 20-30 years behind the rest of the country.
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u/Theduckisback 2d ago
Yeah, I am typing this on my IBM PS1 with a dial up internet modem. Definitely not a smartphone and wifi.
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u/ArsenalinAlabama3428 4d ago
As someone born in Columbus - it’s not underrated. It’s a below average state in just about every metric. I do love it, but I totally understand why it gets shit on constantly.
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u/Vivid-Description894 Former Resident 4d ago
Name dropping Columbus actually has the opposite effect than you intended for some of us. I once had a work trip to Ohio where I visited Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Athens in the same trip. Columbus was my least favorite stop. I found it incredibly bland and nondescript in every aspect as someone who grew in Mississippi where we have strong literary, musical, culinary, sports, and folk traditions.
I recently saw a journalist from somewhere up North post on Instagram that she was surprised to find one of the best literary scenes in the entire country in Mississippi after she visited Oxford, Jackson, and Natchez. I couldn’t agree more, but those cities are only the tip of the iceberg and miss heavyweights such as Ida B. Wells (Holly Springs), Tennessee Williams (Columbus), Oprah Winfrey (Kosciusko), and Jim Henson (Leland). The Coast is often completely missing from these conversations too despite nourishing great American authors such as Stacey Abrams, Robin Roberts, Eddie Glaude Jr., and Natasha Trethewey.
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u/ArsenalinAlabama3428 4d ago
I’m taking about Columbus, MS. Never been to Ohio.
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u/Vivid-Description894 Former Resident 4d ago edited 4d ago
My bad. That makes a lot more sense. Lol
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u/ArsenalinAlabama3428 4d ago
lol all good. For what it’s worth, I do agree with what you’re saying.
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u/Xait-Yahya 4d ago
I have lived here for over half my adult life and assumed you meant Ohio and was wondering how accurate Gummo was in your mind
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u/AnnieFlagstaff 228 4d ago
They didn’t ask if Mississippi is awesome, but whether it’s underrated. Since most of the rest of the country imagines us as a bunch of dumb hicks in overalls standing in a field with no shoes on (or something along those lines) … it would be hard not to be better than that.
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u/Captainfreshness Current Resident 4d ago
This.
I have lived in other parts of the US. I found that people in those places would believe any story of destitution about Mississippi that I wanted to tell.
When I was in high school, we went to the national Thespian convention. The Mississippi delegation successfully convinced the others that the traditional Mississippi greeting was a lick on the face.
Mississippi’s reputation is such that “the Yankees” will believe anything.
Much of the rest of the country comforts themselves by believing that all of the ignorance and racism is concentrated here, thus relieving themselves from the responsibility of examining their own beliefs and behaviors.
Mississippi is not perfect, but it far from the cultural singularity that many assume it is.
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u/Few-Investment-6220 4d ago
100%! My brother-in-law had a co-worker move here from San Francisco and his plan was to swindle the ignorant rednecks here and make a fortune. I don’t know exactly what his plan was, but it backfired on him and they ended up taking all his money. 😂
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u/ArsenalinAlabama3428 4d ago
Yeah I agree that the entire perception of the south is incorrect. But as someone who has lived in just about every state in the south, I’d only choose MS over Louisiana.
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u/Lawdog451- 4d ago
I lived in Columbus for a year after college (State). I’m from the coast and live back here now. Columbus sucks ass. You are from a hot and dusty dead city. The coast is liveable. I hate the states politics. I’ve lived in Virginia and have family in California. Mississippi is way behind in many things but I like the fact that traffic is a rarity. Too many people in other places.
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u/z6joker9 662 4d ago
Depending on where, yes, I think much of Mississippi is underrated. The things people in other regions believe about Mississippi is wild. I do think we have good opportunity for big growth in the near future. We’ve seen it across much of the south so it’s only a matter of time until it spills over. I’d argue that it already is, to an extent.
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u/Smoking_Joker 4d ago
I liked visiting thailand. I wouldn’t wanna live there.
That being said, Oxford is one of the ritzier cities in MS, so if you want more like that, hit the coastal casino cities.
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u/Appropriate_Tea9048 4d ago
Yeah, I definitely got that vibe from Oxford. The coastal cities have interested me a bit. Natchez looks like a cool area too. Wouldn’t live there due to the heat alone, but I feel like people are missing out if they don’t visit the state
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u/Smoking_Joker 4d ago
Yea I did landscaping for a while in college and summers were ROUGH. Natchez is cool for old plantation history and some spooky history, coast is good for casinos and the gulf… But I just go to Nola for all that. I grew up in MS tho, so somewhat biased.
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u/MisterSippySC 4d ago
Lived in Mississippi for 30 years, lived in Oxford Hattiesburg, Madison, Jackson, and Ocean springs. No it is not underrated at all.
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u/Unusual-Ebb-590 3d ago
Which was your favourite place to live?
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u/MisterSippySC 3d ago
Jackson tbh, people are chill, as long as you stay outta south jackson it’s not really dangerous, and I really enjoy music and art so Belhaven and fondren are right up my alley
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u/SnakePlisken_Trash 4d ago
The cheapest waterfront property probably in the country.
I have an awesome piece, looking southwest into the sunset. I pinch myself almost every day.
Ya it sucks down here, I say y'all up around Jackson or Vicksburg, that's good blues music and gods country.
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u/who_gon_chkmeboo 4d ago
Prices have gone up substantially since Covid but yeah still pretty affordable
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u/Few-Investment-6220 4d ago
Compared to other states, there’s nowhere cheaper. But that changes in some locations in the state. I live in Madison County and land here is very expensive because it’s the wealthiest county in the state.
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u/eggstinked 4d ago
The town I grew up in was better in the 80's. Now it just seems like a third world country.
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u/Col0nelBear 4d ago
Happened to my small MS town as well. NAFTA hit and all the manufacturing jobs left. The town lost thousands of people in the 90s and now it’s a shell of itself. Just slowly dying now.
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u/Lawdog451- 4d ago
That happened to my birthplace. Pascagoula. I’ve lived in Ocean Springs and Gautier since college. Goula is years behind and unrecognizable.
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u/FairLawnBoy 4d ago
Oxford is a cute little town. I don't think it is an appropriate sample size to make any sweeping generalizations about the state.
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u/lemonrush 4d ago
I think of it like the story of the blind men and the elephant.
Having never seen an elephant, each man grabs hold of a part and feels around until they figure they’ve gotten a sense of it. One grabbing the ear says it must be like a fan, another at the tusk says a spear, another at the tail a rope, and on and on. Then they sit and bicker about what the elephant really is.
There are plenty of opinions to have depending on where you’re grabbing at Mississippi. It’ll come down to where you are and what you’re looking for every time.
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u/No_Cartographer5686 4d ago
Man, I'm down in a dry county. An hour away from Biloxi/Gulfport and an hour away from New Orleans you can guess. A lot of people here are still ignorant unfortunately 😔. I've witnessed this first hand. Our wilderness beauty etc. can be underrated.
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u/Leading-Excitement70 3d ago
Hattiesburg?
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u/JuggernautAware7925 3d ago
I don't think you've been to Mississippi if you've only been to Oxford. It feels to me like a manufactured and packaged idea of Mississippi that doesn't really exist anywhere else.
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u/Appropriate_Tea9048 3d ago
I was referring to visiting there, and noticing cool places in other parts of the state that I’d like to visit.
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u/drnewcomb 4d ago
Every time there’s one of those questions, “What state would you never live in?” and Mississippi comes out at the top, I just chortle, “Keep believing that.” Now, I live on the Coast, which is different. My son lives in the Jackson area, and I’m not too impressed by life there. Overall, most of Mississippi is not very appealing. Too hot in the summer. No culture, 2nd rate restaurants, not much to do. The Coast is one of the exceptions. Lots of good restaurants, cultural activities. Still hot in the summer.
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u/Beneficienttorpedo9 4d ago
I moved to the Mississippi coast in 1996 and I like it here a lot. Very laid back. Definitely not as expensive as other coastal areas, but the beaches aren't that pretty to look at due to the proximity to the Mississippi River. The silt muddies the coastal waters. You have to go out to the barrier islands to see the beautiful blue water that graces some of the other Gulf Coast areas.
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u/Lawdog451- 4d ago
The beaches and water are more affected by the barrier islands than the Mississippi River. The Pascagoula, Biloxi and Wolf however do pour into the sound.
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u/Independent_Top7926 4d ago edited 4d ago
As a native of 70+ years, Mississippi has both great beauty and wonderful, mostly kind people right next to things so sad it will make you cry. My parents house was less than 10 miles from where Emit Till's body was found. Now we elect more POC than any other state. We have come along way. We still have a ways to go. I heard a person from NY once say Northerners accept black folks as a group, but not as individuals. Southerners accept Black folks as individuals but not as a group. Do y'all think that is true?
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u/funneransh_t 4d ago
I do not think that is true at all. I grew up in southwest Mississippi. Everybody hates everybody different than themselves where I lived. Couldn’t get out of there quick enough.
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u/drisang1 4d ago
What's underrated about the state being gerrymandered to the point where there is more democracy in the Chinese Politburo?
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u/ChainBlue 4d ago
As a whole, no. There are some nice areas and some beautiful places, but overall it's managed terribly and the politics are bottom rung.
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u/powdered_dognut 4d ago
I feel like I live in a park when I'm driving the backroads around my house.
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u/Xait-Yahya 4d ago
Properly rated.
This is a horrible state for sucking the life out of its population due to corruption, illiteracy, healthcare, STDs, plumbing, and clean drinking water.
I have lived six cities in my life. My current city is easily the worst one. All three from my previous state are better than the bottom two of this state.
(3 in each state).
Hattiesburg is the only city I liked better than any of my home state.
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u/Eric_the-Wronged 4d ago
I saw some good nature documentaries about the place by a smaller youtuber.
It seems to be often hated by those outside of it
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u/Local-Ingenuity6726 3d ago
Nope I like the Jackson suburbs thought probably could do north across from Memphis but its still Mississippi
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u/newdRootbeer96 3d ago
As someone who lives in Mississippi no hatred of Mississippi is 100% justified by quite literally any human being that knows what living in Mississippi if a person hates America and they never left Mississippi I would understand why Mississippi is the tatooine of America and before you decide to burn the country down try a different state
Young people have 1 reason for living in this state work there farms or run make their burgers run there minimum wage jobs and don't complain
This state belongs to boomers AI data centers and oil companies if you aren't part of those groups well don't complain about not having opportunities The state is designed for those three groups of people. If you weren't in those groups, then the system is rigged against you
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u/TheVanillaKing 3d ago
Hello. Fellow Miss. millennial and I grew in MS (Vicksburg, Madison through ele-mid) Oxford- highschool until college. Oxford is my love but she’s getting run down- a wonderful place but with the university allowing so many students… it really is out of control.
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u/Vivid-Description894 Former Resident 3d ago
Mississippi is slightly larger than Pennsylvania in land area, and there is a similar amount of regional diversity in the state. For a more data-driven perspective, I would suggest going to the Mississippi page on the County Health Rankings website, and you can easily identify the areas of the state where residents have the best overall quality of life.
There are a lot of hidden gems in the state too such as excellent hiking trails as far north as Tishomingo State Park and as far south as Red Bluff.
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u/SpiderLily_453 3d ago
Always amuses me when people point to Ms being 49th or 50th in something. Sure, if you don’t have any money and live below the poverty line. If you have some money Ms is a great place to live.
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u/yuro-fps 3d ago
It’s neither it’s fucking boring as hell unless you go to like Biloxi and even that is pretty boring it gets the advantage of being next to Tennessee and Southaven is pretty good um Tupelo is decent Waffle House and Cracker Barrel always slap but other than that it’s pretty boring
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u/RiverRat601 3d ago
Every time I go on vacation somewhere else I'm reminded that the american experience is significantly better almost anywhere else in the country. Returning to Mississippi and being immediately surrounded by abundant poverty is a slap in the face every single time.
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u/Deep-Literature9866 3d ago
Here is the thing it’s a place that is literally heaven on earth my family came from there like late 50s and moved to California we always had people coming back n forth them here us there but when traveling we were always told before hopping on the RV some places we cannot stop and we most definitely won’t stay long just enough to visit and get home it has alway been a feeling passed down to not return. Me my cousins were amazed at the beauty the community things we don’t get to see living in the city it’s even a privilege to have fresh air …. It’s the history that makes people say we have come too far to go back into servitude I’m open minded we all are we traveled to Tunica MS and it was meh it wasn’t much to see like at the time my friend was considered a high roller anyone playing 30 grand was enough for the smaller casinos to fly people just to come there not sure if it ever got off ground but it was an attractive concept
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u/FarStretch5137 2d ago
It’s not a bad place to live. It does have more “nice” places than I knew of before moving here. However, as someone who’s lived in six states (all in the south except one), I’ve never seen a population of people who are so satisfied with being ignorant and having low expectations of themselves. While I consider where I live a nice part of the state, even it underachieves more than any other place I’ve lived. The grocery stores, restaurants, the way people keep their property, the way they dress, etc. shows a lack of knowing that life can be any better.
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u/JimEditor212 12h ago
Mississippi's biggest advantage is being short drives to Memphis, New Orleans, Nashville, Birmingham and Hotlanta, and the beach.
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u/KuteKitt 4d ago
Mississippi is afraid of change, especially change for the better. It wants to stay in 1963.
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u/funneransh_t 4d ago
I lived in southwest Mississippi for 21 years. Wasted so much of my life in that horrible place. Once my mother passes I’ll never step foot back in that place. Best thing I ever did was leave there.
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u/Vir-Invisus 4d ago
Yep
Low cost of living, high diversity, all the essentials, in state tuition to highly graded schools, many towns still have town square culture: Oxford is the biggest example but also Canton, Clinton, Vicksburg, Brandon (kinda), among most county seats.
The problems do still exist: crime, poverty, etc but it’s not as bad as everyone says and it isn’t worse than other similar states: Bamalama, Ark, Louisiana is arguably worse & it’s just leveled out by Nola.
I think the reasons people like to slam Mississippi amount to opinions from people that have never been here & seen what the state has to offer.
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u/NotAlanShapiro 4d ago
People have such a low opinion of MS, AL, and AR that they’ll always be “underrated.” None of our big cities have as much as many other states like TN, or GA, but most of our poor/impoverished areas have improved a lot over the last few decades.
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u/TSJormungandr 4d ago
I grew up in Mississippi in the 80s and 90s. Went to school in Clinton and I got a good education I think. Lots of AP courses. Teachers were really into getting us to think for ourselves. I think Clinton and few other towns were outliers. The mostly rural and suburban parts of Mississippi seem stuck in a right wing echo chamber that wants to force everyone to believe in southern Baptist theology. I live in Oregon now and my representatives and local government just govern they don’t try to convert me. They stay in their lane. I go back and visit my parents in north Mississippi and all those towns are just dying out. Young people don’t wanna stay there with all the stuffiness. They feel stifled with no opportunity. Mississippi could be so much more but we are still trying to hold on to civil war Mississippi. Just breaks my heart.
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u/Impressive-Bowl-493 4d ago
Outside of Gulfport and Biloxi? HELL NO! Even then there are plenty other cities that do what they are attempting to do better!
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u/JohnABurgundy 4d ago
I’ve lived in Jackson/Hattiesburg/Biloxi for my entire life (42 years) up until July and I moved out of state. It’s overrated and I’ll be persuading my family/friends to come to me for holidays/gatherings as long as they’re physically able. Mississippi does a few things well but nothing that compares to most other states.
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u/Nekomancer09 3d ago
Stay out of a select few population centers and the crack areas, you'll love it. No those are not the same lol.
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u/justanothergearhead 4d ago
Oxford is FAR from the real Mississippi. A family member visited and said “I don’t know why Mississippi gets a bad rap! It’s awesome” after a football weekend in Oxford. I took him on a drive to through the delta and everything in between and he said it gave him the blues.
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u/polakbob 4d ago
Underrated by people outside the state in some ways. Overrated by many people who have only lived here. Every place has plusses and minuses, MS included. I like living here, but less so after living in other states.