Happy Birthday Mississippi

On December 10, 2019, Mississippi will celebrate 202 years as the 20th state admitted to the union. To celebrate, we used State Data Lab to find fun facts about Mississippi and to learn more about the Magnolia State.

In 2017, Mississippi spent $49.9 million on parks and recreation. A portion of that money went to the 24 state parks in Mississippi.

The state also spent $238.9 million on natural resources that same year. Sounds like a lot? The largest river in the country, the Mississippi River, ends at the Gulf of Mexico on Mississippi’s coast and the state has 14,000 miles of freshwater streams and 600,000 acres of lakes.

21.9 percent of Mississippi's 25 and older population has a bachelor's degree. This is 31 percent lower than the 50 state average.

In 2017, 44.4 percent of households in Mississippi were married-couple households. In Mississippi, it is illegal for schools to teach anything about polygamy.

Mississippi has over 193 children living in poverty, which is lower than the 50 state average.

Three percent of Mississippi’s workforce is employed in the farming industry, either working with crops or livestock. There are over 34,700 farms making agriculture a $7 billion industry.
Half of Mississippi’s population is female, and the median age for female residents is 38.9 years old.

You can learn more about Mississippi and make your own charts using State Data Lab. And we at Truth in Accounting wish Mississippi a very happy 202nd birthday!

Kate Brennan is a marketing and social media intern at Truth in Accounting, a nonprofit organization based in Chicago that researches government financial data.