Anyone got any other data to back this up or refute it?
- Thread starter paindonthurt
- Start date
It's not really the governor's fault, he doesn't have that type of power. He's just investing in what he CAN.
Again, MS doesn't have the urbanized area to be able to attract white collar jobs. It just doesn't. You'll need to solve that problem before you can try and recruit things that increase wages.
look at the units. these are not %. net change in people moving in and out per 10,000. This would mean MS had gain of ~5,000 in 2025. Thats like adding Winona + maybe 500 folks
Cue MDA’s The Delta is Open for Business advertising extravaganza
(the sarcasterisks are understood if you’re wondering where they are)
Census Bureau says we may be starting to turn that around. Added net 11,000 people last year. Or it could be just a 1-year abberation.
Hurricanes are not that big of a deal. Look at Florida. I agree about Memphis, but Oxford, Starkville, Tupelo, Hattiesburg, Madison, and the coast together make a great a bigger market when added together. Tupelo for example is a Micropolitan area that is set for growth. We may not be Texas, but overall better days ahead. I have taken calls from friends in Atlanta over the last few months that have started having kids looking to move here.
Hadn't seen that. Interesting. That would reverse a decades long trend.
The problem I have with this data as a PoliSci guy is the fact that they're doing it as a statewide count.
You can say it's government policies all you want, but if it's the folks in rural California are moving to Austin, TX, you can't really say it's about that.
I'm happy to be corrected, but the data is flawed specifically for that reason.
Condo yes, house no. I live close to the Gulf and my insurance is $3200 a year, some of the condos can't get insurance since the one collapsed in Miami. No worries, they are all corporate owned Airbnb that self insure now.
No one made any claims but there is plenty of chatter around people and companies leaving places like Cali and New York bc of BS politics.
Admire the optimism, but I've tried that train already, a few times in my life, and it just ends with heartburn. We all love Mississippi to some extent, but we just have to admit what it is at this point.
As far as the hurricanes, come on man. You can't just rebuild every 30 years and expect to maintain a thriving city, and the MS Coast is a PROVEN common track for major hurricanes. Not to mention all the minor ones that 17 shlt up too.
You bring up great points, but the wage issue is a bigger problem nation wide. Where do college kids go? Nashville, Atlanta, and Houston are great examples of places I have seen kids going to. (BTW, this comes from talking to college kids at State, USM, and UM). You may make more in those cities but the cost of living out weighs it. I talk to kids regularly that want to interview with my company and one before this company because they realize making $25k more doesn’t go far in cities.
Honestly, with the rise of AI white collar jobs are becoming bad investments. You are better off getting a two year degree and getting a job at one of the manufacturing plants coming to the state.
I’m currently living in Orange Beach Al. You wouldn’t believe the influx of Florida people moving into Baldwin county. Next time anyone heads down this way, get of the Beach Express or Hwy 59. DRHorton is building subdivisions as fast as they can. Cities are starting to institute building moratoriums because city services and infrastructure can’t handle the growth.
Idaho has doubled its population since 1990. Potato farming is of course the big driver of this growth.***
Realistically, Idaho is growing because it's the most livable state in the Rockies for most people. Utah is right there too if you are comfortable with being a social minority.
Colorado has gone too blue for many and Denver is just too big. That airport is now worse than DFW and O'Hare. Montana is overly romanticized by TV. Wonderful place to visit. Tough place to live. Same with Wyoming.
Boise is probably the cleanest and safest city of its size (850k metro) in the country. The amount of access to outdoor activities is unparalleled. The public schools are excellent. Most important (compared to other mountain states) the economy is robust. The cost of living feels lower than when I lived in DFW.
I know it won't be this way for ever, but I can't think of anywhere else that can come close to checking all these boxes for our family.
Tupelo has been ready to blow up for 35 years. I remember the argument back in the day was 78 not being an interstate was what was holding it back... What's the reason nowadays?
While the percentages may not be wholly accurate there's no doubt that people are gravitating to politically red states and that's not to start a political argument but is the plain truth. Looks like they pretty much reversed the color here for this chart.
An alternative to that approach might be the exact opposite: Bet on your intelligence and flexibility by maximizing your critical thinking skills via a liberal arts education…
They just keep building houses in DeSoto County
I grew up around Columbus and Starkville. I always wanted to get out. After State in 2013 I left. I lived in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Atlanta. When It came time for my wife and me to start a family, I realized that the cost of Atlanta was awful. Also, the crowds. Getting to a Braves game was almost impossible. So, we decided to come back. I say this to explain why Tupelo is growing.
1. It has access, I can get to Huntsville, Birmingham, and Memphis in two hours. I have three cities to choose from, without having to deal with living in any of them.
2. Schools. The people moving here are at the spot where they are ready for kids, which means education is important. Education in Mississippi is improving, and in this area, you have great schools.
3. Activities, Golf, new outdoor putting venue, parks, fishing (river), Oxford and Starkville, great food. I mean, we have a Meadery
Another sign of the growth that is coming is the Target. We often joke about joke about it, but the store has been resized to be 150,000 sq feet. That will make it the biggest in the state from my research.
I work across the State. I see homes being built in most regions. Also, I keep meeting people from other States that have moved in. 4 in my neighborhood alone.
I did my part & declared my residency in 2025. Mainly because I didn't want MeeMaw (AL Gov Ivey) to get any tax money from 401k withdrawals. Still working in AL part time though.
To add onto your point, MDOT finally finishing HWY-76 from Red Bay to Fulton is huge. Having a 4 lane highway between HSV and Tupelo is a potential starting point for some of the Defense Contractors moving their manufacturing facilities to Tupelo/North MS.
The real impact will be the electoral college with states New York, California, & Illinois losing more electoral votes to Tennessee, Texas, Florida, & South Carolina. Electoral math will be a lot more difficult for Democrats in 2032.
I do agree with you about the House seats though. Republicans will not be able to control the distribution of House seats in the states with in migration.
Now that's some serious optimism.
What is actually IS a starting point for, is for more MSU students from the Huntsville area, and North Alabama in general, of which we already have a ton. Need to keep that up, because even if they move back to HSV, it's close enough for them to attend games and stay engaged.
You are correct. But that wage issue is magnified here in MS. In the metro areas, apartments are starting at $12-1500/month, good luck finding a starter home under $300k, and the average wage still hovers under $50k. If I was a 25 year old again I’d much rather struggle on 75-80k in Atlanta than 45k in Jackson, Tupelo, Hattiesburg or Biloxi.
Affordable housing is in the pocket areas of rural communities and the Delta where wages are even lower and no college graduate is going to want to relocate to.
The largest employer in MS is still the government sector and the Guv and Legislature have no problem with many of them still living under the poverty line with no urgency to increase salaries or even make them competitive in many cases.
Here is the data to back it up with info and tools that may answer some of your questions
www.hireahelper.com
The 2026 HireAHelper Moving Migration Report
Discover the latest U.S. migration trends in HireAHelper's 2026 report. Explore fastest growing cities and states and the factors that drove relocation in 2025.
www.hireahelper.com
I'm trying to find a high tax area that has recovered. Even with the "Urban Rebewal" of the sixties or any other gentrification of urban areas ...it's the welfare state that has made our unban centers nothing more than vehicles For systemic corruption.
Taking on $100k in student loans and only being able to get a $40k salary is about the decisions made in taking out that much debt. It's unfortunate, but we have made four years of undergrad at a university a poor bet for a lot of people. Two years of community college for free and two years at State, even if you load up on debt, and you are carrying enough debt that you could have bought a new car, but not something that really makes it hard to thrive. Some states don't have good cheap options (Vermont is the worst with their state college clocking $40k a year in cost of attendance), but most do.
Truth
All of it
Unless the communities in question are fairly close to Jackson, Tupelo, Hattiesburg, the Coast, or Desoto County…
Correct
I know many folks who are former state employees because other entities valued their abilities and paid them significantly more than at the state agencies where they were formerly employed
What happens has basically zero to do with more services and infrastructure. Once a place is desirable, it makes more sense for stationary bandits to fight harder to plunder it. So they do. But that only explains half the equation. Voters could keep voting for sensible policies, even if their politicians were on average going to be more corrupt. But there is some weird mechanism where living in densely populated areas do want the government to exert more power. I guess being in close proximity to other people there are more people to piss you off and more things to make you think "gov't should do something." And of course once you are voting to give them power you are going to get worse politicians on average. That still doesn't quite explain how destructive urban voters have been though. They could still have corrupt governments that generally did some decent things while raking a lot off the top. Not sure why they tend to gravitate towards politicians that are actively destructive on top of being corrupt. Would be great to figure it out because it's a damn shame that people are being chased away from what is basically paradise on earth and what are still (for now) some of the coolest cities in the world but definitely in the US.