Starkville rated top small town in the South. In the words of Mark Keenum...

L4Dawg

All-American
Oct 27, 2016
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Sorry, but Starkville is lucky to be in the Top 10 of best small town in Mississippi. Love my Dawgs, but it just isn’t. Bring on the Oxford chastisement as I’m not promoting it either, but it’s way more than having a college in the zip code.
Yes, you are promoting Oxford. Dont kid yourself.
 

L4Dawg

All-American
Oct 27, 2016
10,416
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What constitutes small town and whose poll is this and who’s voting on it?
I can think of a few ahead of StarkVegas…
Ocean Springs, MS
Concord, NC
Roswell, GA
Fairhope, AL
Franklin, TN
Spartanburg, SC
and that’s not even thinking too hard about it.

Starkville is great but what criteria are we judging ?
Usual suspect
 

L4Dawg

All-American
Oct 27, 2016
10,416
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As per usual, and in a vain effort to defeat the Starkville inferiority complex, in no particular order:

1) Bay Springs
2) Ocean Springs
3) Laurel
4) Natchez
5) Oxford
6) New Albany
7) Tupelo
8) Hernando
9) Anywhere else
10) Starkville on a wing and a prayer

I didn’t say there were necessarily 10 better. And the Top 10 in Mississippi pale in comparison to some other states. I said it was lucky to be in the Top 10 of anything. Hate to break it you, but Starkville contains little, is on the way to nothing, and offers zilch outside of a place to sleep. The 60-mile radius is a societal cess pool. Additional hotels and growth aside in the last 20 years, it’s still a Petty’s, Dave’s Darkhorse, Cheers, and Flo and Eddie’s, kind of town. While not a problem for some, the talent it attracts speaks for itself. Its people have a chip on their shoulder while it’s basically the Louisiana Tech of Mississippi and little more than a piss stop for most off Hwy. 45 or 82. That isn’t meant to be offensive. It’s just reality.
Why don't you go ahead and move to Oxford? BAY SPRINGS?
 

L4Dawg

All-American
Oct 27, 2016
10,416
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Tupelo by any honest metric is absolutely a small town. It’s ~#7 in a state with relatively minuscule population centers. With students, Starkville is likely less than 10k people behind. Outside of State jobs, Starkville isn’t exactly a job opportunity mecca. Your other point(s) is/are factual, although I’m not sure I understand? Meridian is between Jackson and Tuscaloosa…Tupelo is between Corinth and West Point…Memphis is between LA and Baltimore…and?
How much time have you spent in Tupelo.? It's not really a small town. Actual live there population it is but there are 100k+ people there during every work day.
 
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L4Dawg

All-American
Oct 27, 2016
10,416
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What constitutes small town and whose poll is this and who’s voting on it?
I can think of a few ahead of StarkVegas…
Ocean Springs, MS
Concord, NC
Roswell, GA
Fairhope, AL
Franklin, TN
Spartanburg, SC
and that’s not even thinking too hard about it.

Starkville is great but what criteria are we judging ?
The only one of those that MIGHT be a small town is Ocean Springs. It's a cool town, but it doesn't have a major university in it.
 

DAWGSANDSAINTS

All-Conference
Oct 10, 2022
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The only one of those that MIGHT be a small town is Ocean Springs. It's a cool town, but it doesn't have a major university in it.
Spartanburg, Fairhope both have less than 30K
I was surprised by Concord - has way more than I expected and I was just there a couple of weeks ago. Such a great little downtown with a nice new ballpark and of course the Dale memorial and statue.
The downtowns of Roswell and Franklin make them feel like a much smaller town.
 

bully12

Senior
Sep 2, 2012
1,653
730
113
What constitutes small town and whose poll is this and who’s voting on it?
I can think of a few ahead of StarkVegas…
Ocean Springs, MS
Concord, NC
Roswell, GA
Fairhope, AL
Franklin, TN
Spartanburg, SC
and that’s not even thinking too hard about it.

Starkville is great but what criteria are we judging ?
Obviously you've never been to Spartanburg, SC; it don't hold a candle to Starkvegas, and I know; I live there!!
 
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L4Dawg

All-American
Oct 27, 2016
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Spartanburg, Fairhope both have less than 30K
I was surprised by Concord - has way more than I expected and I was just there a couple of weeks ago. Such a great little downtown with a nice new ballpark and of course the Dale memorial and statue.
The downtowns of Roswell and Franklin make them feel like a much smaller town.
Both Spartanburg and Fairhope are suburbs, or at best exurbs. My wife used to work In Concord, it’s not a small town.
 
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eckie1

All-Conference
Jun 23, 2007
3,909
3,860
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Sorry, but Starkville is lucky to be in the Top 10 of best small town in Mississippi. Love my Dawgs, but it just isn’t. Bring on the Oxford chastisement as I’m not promoting it either, but it’s way more than having a college in the zip code.
Go eat the huge bag of dicks you’ve had in the fridge waiting on a special occasion. You give the OG Troy McClure a bad name. Suck off a sawed off, do whatever you have to do. Just post less.
 

TroyMcClure2025

Sophomore
Aug 1, 2025
193
187
43
Go eat the huge bag of dicks you’ve had in the fridge waiting on a special occasion. You give the OG Troy McClure a bad name. Suck off a sawed off, do whatever you have to do. Just post less.
Have you ever made love to a woman without having to give your credit card number first?
 

Motodawg

Senior
Apr 19, 2018
542
523
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As per usual, and in a vain effort to defeat the Starkville inferiority complex, in no particular order:

1) Bay Springs
2) Ocean Springs
3) Laurel
4) Natchez
5) Oxford
6) New Albany
7) Tupelo
8) Hernando
9) Anywhere else
10) Starkville on a wing and a prayer

I didn’t say there were necessarily 10 better. And the Top 10 in Mississippi pale in comparison to some other states. I said it was lucky to be in the Top 10 of anything. Hate to break it you, but Starkville contains little, is on the way to nothing, and offers zilch outside of a place to sleep. The 60-mile radius is a societal cess pool. Additional hotels and growth aside in the last 20 years, it’s still a Petty’s, Dave’s Darkhorse, Cheers, and Flo and Eddie’s, kind of town. While not a problem for some, the talent it attracts speaks for itself. Its people have a chip on their shoulder while it’s basically the Louisiana Tech of Mississippi and little more than a piss stop for most off Hwy. 45 or 82. That isn’t meant to be offensive. It’s just reality.
“hi I’m Troy McClure. You may remember me from such films as Starkville Sucks I and II, the classic, Yes, I Really Listed Bay Springs With No Sarcastirics and Crayon: The Movie”**
 

BulldogDX55

Redshirt
Aug 31, 2025
23
23
3
The only one of those that MIGHT be a small town is Ocean Springs. It's a cool town, but it doesn't have a major university in it.
Yeah, Roswell, GA is a suburb of Atlanta. You can't really count the burbs as a small town when they're part of a 6.3m metropolitan area.

I'm pretty sure several others on the list are the same way.
 

Perd Hapley

All-American
Sep 30, 2022
5,886
6,948
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What constitutes small town and whose poll is this and who’s voting on it?
I can think of a few ahead of StarkVegas…
Ocean Springs, MS
Concord, NC
Roswell, GA
Fairhope, AL
Franklin, TN
Spartanburg, SC
and that’s not even thinking too hard about it.

Starkville is great but what criteria are we judging ?
Wow. Not sure if serious.

Roswell, GA is essentially Atlanta, and has a population of 92,000 by itself.

Franklin, TN is 90,000 and is 20 minutes from downtown Nashville

Spartanburg is in the middle of the Greenville, SC MSA, which has a population of 1.5 million.

Concord has over 100,000 people and is in the middle of a MSA of over 3 million.

Fairhope is smaller than the 3 above, but still is located in a county of 230,000 people, and is adjacent to Mobile MSA with another 400,000 people.

Ocean Springs is the only one on your list that anyone would refer to as a small town.
 

Maroon Pug

Junior
Nov 5, 2022
171
266
63
As per usual, and in a vain effort to defeat the Starkville inferiority complex, in no particular order:

1) Bay Springs
2) Ocean Springs
3) Laurel
4) Natchez
5) Oxford
6) New Albany
7) Tupelo
8) Hernando
9) Anywhere else
10) Starkville on a wing and a prayer

I didn’t say there were necessarily 10 better. And the Top 10 in Mississippi pale in comparison to some other states. I said it was lucky to be in the Top 10 of anything. Hate to break it you, but Starkville contains little, is on the way to nothing, and offers zilch outside of a place to sleep. The 60-mile radius is a societal cess pool. Additional hotels and growth aside in the last 20 years, it’s still a Petty’s, Dave’s Darkhorse, Cheers, and Flo and Eddie’s, kind of town. While not a problem for some, the talent it attracts speaks for itself. Its people have a chip on their shoulder while it’s basically the Louisiana Tech of Mississippi and little more than a piss stop for most off Hwy. 45 or 82. That isn’t meant to be offensive. It’s just reality.
Bait GIF
 

Villagedawg

All-Conference
Nov 16, 2005
2,042
1,991
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And about 10 Mexican restaurants that have basically the same damn menu. . . . .
Corn tortilla with ground beef, flour tortilla with ground beef, chicken with corn tortilla, chicken with flour tortilla, chuck steak with flour tortilla, chuck steak with corn tortilla, all with American cheese and green chilis and/or canned tomato salsa and rice. But I do love it all!
 
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TroyMcClure2025

Sophomore
Aug 1, 2025
193
187
43
How much time have you spent in Tupelo.? It's not really a small town. Actual live there population it is but there are 100k+ people there during every work day.
If you think 70k people flow into Tupelo for work every day, I’d encourage you to reconsider. That sounds “high.”
 

TroyMcClure2025

Sophomore
Aug 1, 2025
193
187
43
I didn't deny sh*t, cap'n. My point was that your post made no sense.

You said you were trying to "defeat the Starkville inferiority complex" then proceeded to sh*t all over Starkville... which would accomplish the opposite of what you said you were doing.
Dare I respond to this asinine discussion again with third-party facts and data from reality versus nostalgic and fictional emotion, but nary a man outside (or apparently inside) the state is pulling for “Starksville” as Chris Robinson of Black Crowes fame famously said. It’s extraordinarily better than 1998 but it has a long way to go. Geography may be its biggest weakness.

Love you all. Bit*%. Moan. Complain. It’s what you do.








 

onewoof

Heisman
Mar 4, 2008
15,260
13,450
113
Dare I respond to this asinine discussion again with third-party facts and data from reality versus nostalgic and fictional emotion, but nary a man outside (or apparently inside) the state is pulling for “Starksville” as Chris Robinson of Black Crowes fame famously said. It’s extraordinarily better than 1998 but it has a long way to go. Geography may be its biggest weakness.

Love you all. Bit*%. Moan. Complain. It’s what you do.








Awwwww. You took so much time for your report, good job buddy. You know what they say about blow hards that are often wrong but never in doubt?

The only small town in the state that is drastically improving year over year. Drop by one of the churches one weekend, you'll see they are all busting at the seams. Just one of many many indicators. Several projects underway that honestly will end the debate once completed, which is already already over tbh.
 

TroyMcClure2025

Sophomore
Aug 1, 2025
193
187
43
Awwwww. You took so much time for your report, good job buddy. You know what they say about blow hards that are often wrong but never in doubt?

The only small town in the state that is drastically improving year over year. Drop by one of the churches one weekend, you'll see they are all busting at the seams. Just one of many many indicators. Several projects underway that honestly will end the debate once completed, which is already already over tbh.
Bless your heart.