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In reading posts over time about various towns in Mississippi, there are definite patterns in terms of people's general reactions to each community:
Ocean Springs - Universally posters always "love" Ocean Springs. What's not to love? Bridges, beaches, restaurants, giant oaks, coastal cottages and bungalows, yacht clubs, boats, and nearby islands.
Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian - This area is breathtaking. I melt every time I cross that bridge going from Pass Christian to Bay St Louis. And Pass Christian, with its miles of seaside mansions and picturesque marina, is postcard perfect. Paradise. You don't hear too much about this area though. I wonder if neighboring Diamondhead, which is north of I-10 and has room to grow to its north, will emerge as a growing area with NASA and such easy proximity to New Orleans suburbs as well as Gulfport-Biloxi.
Biloxi and Gulfport north of I-10/ Tradition Community area - Personally I like Florence Gardens, which also feels like paradise, with coastal/French colonial architecture, contained nicely amid lush coastal pine forests and with its own community lake. But further north, the Tradition area has space all around it (DeSoto national forest) and several nice looking schools with new campuses. If you want a coastal climate but with some cooler weather in the winter (60s) and easy access to New Orleans, compared to Florida this area is very uncrowded and inexpensive...and overall is very, very livable. It's hard to see how this region doesn't evolve into a destination for people around the country.
Picayune/Pearl River County - A lot nicer than you think. Clean overall...and has fresh new stores like Home Depot and Kroger...lots of wooded areas, and surprisingly rolling and hilly as you go north up Hwy 11 just north of Picayune, all the way up to Poplarville. Nice interstate going directly to New Orleans, and to Hattiesburg in the other direction. NASA is down the road. Very safe. Still the country, but there are several Very nice, new subdivisions with big, fancy houses and some nice little lakes. New Orleans is a full hour, but nice New Orleans suburbs are less than 30 minutes. To me it seems to have the ingredients to be Mississippi's surprise winner, turning into a mini-North Carolina (i.e. Raleigh-Durham) in say 50 or 60 years as it evolves into a true outer suburb of both New Orleans and the Miss Gulf Coast.
Hattiesburg - This is another one that usually gets great reviews. Location, location, location. Artsy. Nice blend of traditional upscale Mississippi culture (i.e. a healthy dose of Madison, Belhaven and Eastover type culture with a strong helping of casual, Gulf Coast joi-de-vivre, at least according to Grandview Gloria...). Presently besides Oxford, I believe Hattiesburg leads the state in growth, so 30 years from now, it may well have evolved into a North Carolina-type growth area. Maybe, maybe not, but it seems to have the bones for this.
Oxford - Already a mini-North Carolina or mini-Nashville, this place feels wealthy and has everything going for it. Beautiful hills and forests all around. Crime free. Town architecture is right out of a magazine. Affluent country clubs and lakeside subdivisions with big new homes. This is Mississippi's own little Austin.
Tupelo - Every poster always says they "love" Tupelo and exclaim how nice it is. Every time I drive down Tupelo's Main Street, a feeling of optimism comes over me. Recently I drove the lovely new highway that runs north from Pontotoc to the community of Sherman, just an exit or so over from the Toyota plant. That highway is truly beautiful as highways go...nice rolling hills, forests and...clean.... I wouldn't call Tupelo a mini-Nashville, Austin or Raleigh just yet. But, the ingredients seem to be there. Nice weather, nice location, just an easy hour's drive to Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Pickwick. Not far from Memphis. My instincts tell me in 30 or 40 years, Tupelo will have evolved into Mississippi's mini-Dallas. It's already got everything for it...just needs a little bit more time and it will truly be Something.
DeSoto County - Presently I would describe DeSoto County as class suburban Americana. Schools, shops, and little pink houses for you and me (to quote a phrase). The question is whether over the next 30 or 40 years, will the average wealth level gradually adjust upwards to a more Germantown-like level (i.e. median household incomes near $100k versus current $80k). My sense is that yes, as the national economy grows, and the county continues growing south around the new interstate, and to the west and south of Hernando, more and more of the growth will approximate Germantown. Basically with DeSoto, you get the dynamism of a very big Memphis economy, but without the baggage, instead getting lots open clean, green, open space, nice schools and plenty of jobs.
Canton - Madison is Nice. Highway 463 is Nice. That new Livingston township development along Hwy 22 is Very tasteful. And there is already a Lot of money around Lake Caroline and south of Hwy 22. Canton has a beautiful square and is loaded with historic architecture. Could Canton become the center of an urban revival?
Could downtown Canton experience the kind of downtown renaissance that big city downtowns are experiencing across the US? Will developers start building "new-urban" style historical replication townhomes near the Canton square? Will young people begin discovering Canton, as an alternative to downtown Jackson, with hip new apartments and condos? ..... Maybe, maybe not. But downtown Canton and adjacent historic districts Do have the bones for such a revival. And the whole area up from Madison and Ridgeland is job-rich, with Nissan growing by leaps and bounds. Regardless, it appears that Hwy 22 west of Canton will be the area for affluent suburban growth over the next several decades, which likely means more lake-oriented developments and probably new-urban developments like Livingston, in the entire region between Canton and Flora, between Hwy 22 and the Big Black River. Along the way, logic suggests that nearby downtown Canton may just take off at some point...
Starkville - The Columbus area in 8 years has raced into the top 20 micro areas in the US for manufacturing job growth. Starkville and Mississippi State are steadily evolving into a highly livable area. Most recently news reports confirmed that Starkville will be completely reworking Hwy 12 that runs along the front edge of Mississippi State's campus, creating a downtown Main Street setting, a la Chapel Hill, NC.
On the southern edge of the State campus, a huge new, manicured campus lawn will be developed and will serve as the southern entrance point for campus. Based on the renderings and drawings, it has the potential to rival the Grove in Oxford, but much larger. I will also note that the region has more than its share of top 10/ top 15 elementary schools in the state according to schooldigger.com (Ackerman, East Webster, Nanih Waihya, Caledonia). South of Starkville is a very upscale lakeside community, approximately 5 miles directly south of MSU campus. Overall...things are feeling sunny in Starkville.
Brandon - You don't hear much about Brandon, but it has the ingredients to achieve just about anything it wants. Nice terrain, nice forests, nice schools, safe, plenty of access to jobs, good location. Could this area be the sleeping giant of the Jackson metro? The areas along Hwy 471 are already quite affluent. This census tract area has 40,000 people (Reservoir), about identical to the Madison/Gluckstadt area, and only just a tad lower in median income. Over the next 30 years, increasingly this area, including also the city of Brandon area, will evolve very similar to Madison and Gluckstadt. I'd like to see city leaders become more aggressive. What if they attracted their own Nissan or Toyota, or Rolls Royce or some Aerospace company? The potential is there to be just about anything it wants.
You described Hattiesburg as having North Carolina-like growth in 30 years. If USM's research park and the Howard Industries Technology Park in nearby Jones County take off, the region could be another RDU area.
Also, keep in mind that William Carey has a very young medical school (graduated their first class a year ago this month). That could be a possible boon for the area.
Golden Eagles, I like your attitude. I'm guessing that you are fairly young. Possibly a young professional. I hope you are an aspiring leader in the Metro. I don't know if you work for some place like Cellular South or otherwise local rising company. But maybe you should, with our optimistic outlook...Just a thought...
<<DeSoto County - Presently I would describe DeSoto County as class suburban Americana. Schools, shops, and little pink houses for you and me (to quote a phrase). The question is whether over the next 30 or 40 years, will the average wealth level gradually adjust upwards to a more Germantown-like level (i.e. median household incomes near $100k versus current $80k). .>>
Although this is a well written post, I will have to say this about DeSoto County.
DeSoto County's median household income is far less than $80,000, it is $56,000. Also, Germantown is just one city, with high incomes, with 26.5% holding graduate or professional degrees, and with a fully developed area containing only 20 square miles. DeSoto County, on the other hand, contains I believe 476 Square miles with several cities; including Horn Lake and and some parts of Southaven, with declining median incomes under $50,000 due primarily to encroaching blight. Also, only 6.3% of DeSoto County residents hold a professional or graduate degree. In short, there is no way Desoto County income will ever equal Germantown's income, assuming Germantown stays and remains the top choice of relocating corporate families from out of the area. Given that Germantown is still perceived as the top suburban choice since the 80s, there is little reason to expect this will change.
All the Shelby County suburbs except Millington have higher incomes than any of the Mississippi suburbs. And although some of the higher income households are moving away from Shelby County (mostly to leave the region entirely), the preference seems to be for Fayette County, TN which contains lots of estate homes. If the incomes are between $50,000-$75,000, then the majority probably does pick DeSoto, especially with school age children. To have DeSoto County get to an even $80,000 median household income, it would have to be similar to Williamson, County, TN (which has a median income of $89,000 and is one of the 20 wealthiest in the country ). If you have ever been to Williamson County, TN, there is absolutely no comparison in wealth, population growth, education or amenities between Williamson and DeSoto.
I checked the census tracts where the main new growth in DeSoto County is (basically south of Goodman Rd, between I-55 and Hwy 78, essentially the newer parts of Olive Branch and Southaven which has altogether about 30,000 people at the moment).
Those areas in DeSoto have median household incomes about the same as Lakeland, Arlington, Piperton, and Bartlett in Shelby County (between $80 and $90k). That's a solid income level to attract new commercial growth, which is probably why there has been so much new development in DeSoto (e.g. new outlet mall under construction). Among the census tracts in DeSoto, the highest I found was the area of southern Southaven towards Hernando, basically going south along Getwell Rd towards Hernando ($89k median household income). (And that's probably going to keep rising as it fills out, since presently it's only partially filled out and still somewhat a mix of new development and older rural.)
Usually the way cities seem to grow, it appears to me anyway, is that they get wealthier over time, going outwards, as the nation gets wealthier and also as new-growth areas become more established. You can see that now in DeSoto, for example, if you compare the older parts closer to the state line and the new parts further south.
My thought was that now that the area has become fairly well established (nice schools, subdivisions, shopping, hospitals, etc)...and now a new interstate opening soon..as the national economy begins to take off again, probably after 2016, DeSoto is perfectly positioned for growth and, as it becomes more established and wealthier, it will continuously shift upwards in income. It looks like to me, if that area between Southaven and Hernando is the highest in income presently ($90k essentially), along with the area just south of Olive Branch going towards the new Lewisburg schools and the new interstate which is about $85k, it seems likely that over the next 20 to 30 years or so, as the area fills out, the income levels will evolve upwards. Maybe not to Germantown levels, but certainly it will be a very strong area and getting stronger by the year in my opinion.
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