Notice to all Yankees ( Mississippi ranked least livable state 6 years running)

Google ^ | 04-29-04

[WKB]

Mississippi ranked 50th for the sixth year in a row. Other states in the bottom five were Tennessee, Louisiana and South Carolina.

For the 14th year running, Alabama has ranked near the bottom in a national survey of "livability" that measures each state's quality of life based on factors such as hazardous waste sites and the rates of crime, bankruptcy and unemployment.

Kansas-based Morgan Quitno Press ranked Alabama as the 47th most livable state.

The group found New Hampshire the "most livable state." Others in the top ten were Minnesota, Vermont, Iowa, New Jersey, Wyoming, Virginia, Nebraska, Connecticut and South Dakota.

[Ol' Sox]

Here we go...Lemme just get my helmet on for a round of Yankee-bashing. How about while you Southron guys are at it, you can tell us how good your barbeque is and get it all over with at once. Thanks for your kind consideration. :)

[KarlInOhio]

Negatives
1 Percent Change in Number of Crimes: 2001 to 2002 (Table 27)
2 Crime Rate (Table 28)
3 State Prisoner Incarceration Rate (Table 62)
4 Personal Bankruptcy Rate (Table 102)
5 Pupil-Teacher Ratio in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools (Table 122)
6 Rate of Public Libraries and Branches in 2001 (Table 152)
7 Unemployment Rate (Table 171)
8 Percent of Nonfarm Employees in Government (Table 185)
9 Electricity Prices (Table 204)
10 Hazardous Waste Sites on the National Priority List per 10,000 Square Miles (Table 218)
11 State & Local Taxes as a Percent of Personal Income (Table 291)
12 Per Capita State and Local Government Debt Outstanding (Table 303)
13 Percent of Population Not Covered by Health Insurance (Table 359)
14 Births of Low Birthweight as a Percent of All Births (Table 375)
15 Teenage Birth Rate (Table 376)
16 Infant Mortality Rate (Table 382)
17 Age-Adjusted Death Rate by Suicide (Table 399)
18 Population per Square Mile (Table 437)
19 Poverty Rate (Table 499)
20 Percent of Female-Headed Families with Children Living in Poverty in 2002 (Table 503)
21 State and Local Government Spending for Welfare Programs as a Percent of All Spending (Table 506)
22 Percent of Households Receiving Food Stamps (Table 531)
23 Deficient Bridges as a Percent of Total Bridges (Table 547)
24 Highway Fatality Rate (Table 550)
25 Fatalities in Alcohol-Related Crashes as a Percent of All Highway Fatalities (Table 557)

Positives
26 Per Capita Gross State Product (Table 93)
27 Percent Change in Per Capita Gross State Product: 1997 to 2001(Adjusted to Constant Dollars) (Table 94)
28 Per Capita Personal Income (Table 97)
29 Change in Per Capita Personal Income: 2001 to 2002 (Table 98)
30 Median Household Income (Table 100)
31 Public High School Graduation Rate (Table 126)
32 Percent of Population Graduated from High School (Table 127)
33 Expenditures for Education as a Percent of All State and Local Government Expenditures (Table 137)
34 Percent of Population With a Bachelor’s Degree or More (Table 150)
35 Books in Public Libraries Per Capita (Table 153)
36 Per Capita State Art Agencies’ Legislative Appropriations (Table 154)
37 Average Weekly Earnings of Production Workers on Manufacturing Payrolls (Table 161)
38 Job Growth: 2002 to 2003 (Table 176)
39 Normal Daily Mean Temperature (Table 232)
40 Percent of Days That Are Sunny (Table 233)
41 Homeownership Rate (Table 424)
42 Domestic Migration of Population: 2002 to 2003 (Table 481)
43 Marriage Rate (Table 487)
44 Percent of Eligible Population Reported Voting (Table 498)

[Hodar]

What better place to add the Link dedicated to the Great Mobile Homes of Mississippi!!

Yes, it's very non-PC; but funny .... unless you live in a Mobile Home in Mississippi.

[wardaddy]

Aside from an obvious Southern bias, I'd wager they weigh heavily poverty and public schools ....both of which are problems with little or no resolutions down South due to entrenched and (for now) irreparable demographic issues.

Sure Dakota is great....but if the Indian Reservation demographics were 40% of the population, it wouldn't be so bucolic and idyllic would it?

Yankee snobs....please stay away...you guys have overrun Nashville.

[Hodar]

Dakota made the top 10? The reviewers must not have factored "Flat, cold, windswept, and flat" into the equation.

As an ex-SoDak resident; I must certainly agree!! As I recall, SoDak has 9 months of winter; and 3 months of poor sledding. Brrrrrrr!!!!

[pgkdan]

The group found New Hampshire the "most livable state." Others in the top ten were Minnesota, Vermont, Iowa, New Jersey, Wyoming, Virginia, Nebraska, Connecticut and South Dakota.

Virginia's the only state that I would put in the Top 10 from that list.

[WKB]

That's more tables than a Baptist Dinner on the Ground

[Hodar]

How about while you Southron guys are at it, you can tell us how good your barbeque is and get it all over with at once. Thanks for your kind consideration. :)

We have really good BBQ. Now, we got that out of the way.

[Sybeck1]

Here's one for the state, bigger per captia ratio of players in NCAA football and the NFL

[lormand]

Perhaps you yanks can tell us all about the art of boiling meat? :)

[Types_with_Fist]

I cannot for the life of me figure out how Mississippi is worse than Lousyana.

Watch out! I've used the slang "Lousyana" on FReep a couple of times and got slammed for it by a couple of diehards who've never left the state.

I agree on your statement about MS. It is much prettier there, although just as humid.

I'm a refugee from Lousyana...now many years out. The only thing I've been able to miss about it is the food. But, you can find and make good Cajun food via the Internet these days.

Best to you if you're still stuck there.

[Sybeck1]

one word response to that..delta.

[wardaddy]

I love the Delta..have kin there and duck hunted there in the old days.

(but you lost me)

[Chapita]

I've been here in Pearl River County [South Mississippi] since '66. I moved here from New Orleans [45 miles away] and, damned if all the other white folks followed me.

Seriously, 90% of the new people moving into this county are from New Orleans.

[Unicorn]

NJ and Conn. this is nuts.

[meatloaf]

I lived in Mississippi for over ten years. You won't find better people anywhere. Being from WV, the only problem I had was how flat things were in most of the state. It almost hurt your eyes to see than far. I didn't realize how much I needed to be around hills until I drove back to WV after several years and got this feeling of homesickness when I saw them again.

[WKB]

Lots of minority folk in the delta

[AUsome Joy]

I was born in Alabama and have lived in 10 different states. New Jersey was one of my favorites. It is really beautiful there. I lived in one of the westernmost counties, and when I drove the back roads, I wanted to stop at every curve in the road to take a picture. Country beauty, and yet only an hour to New York City. We had great health care and little or no crime. The only negative, and it is a big one, you can't afford to retire there.

[Sybeck1]

Where Mississippi's number are pulled down is in the delta. That's where we have our only Dim US Rep.

[socal_parrot]

so stay in CA. Please

I occupy two homes in CA.

One here...

And one here...

It will be hard resisting the urge to move Mississippi, but I'll try. ;)