I wonder if Mississippi's stats would be better if they included its main city, Memphis.
You'd think Alabama and Mississippi would be identical twins, but there is a different vibe. Mississippi got a head start on plantations and castes back when Alabama was still wilderness filled with people who'd cut you for lookin at em.
It's still that way RD!
Goldurnit, son, I'm a-talkin. I'll cut yew later.
OK fine!
Anyway, in Mississippi you either inherit your family's lands, or you move to Memphis. Or Mobile. Or my street in the Birmingham metro. Which if you feel like doing it, cmon down. I am talking Hyde Park with actual families, walking distance to groceries, drug store, oncologist and multiple less dramatic medical types, several churches, a dozen restaurants, a library, and maybe 14 bars. And a 30 cent bus to the fucking train station.
In the past 20-30 years there has been an explosion in things to do here. An artist can make a living exhibiting at the shows in Birmingham, with maybe some side trips to Huntsville and Montgomery. Mobile is its own world but I've had some good times there. Honestly, it, Pensacola, and maybe New Orleans are some crypto-state that should exist on the coast, and doesn't have a thing to do with anything more than 50 miles from the coast.