Mississippi, the Magnolia State, might well be called the Catfish State. Its catfish aquaculture farms are the source of most of the farm-raised catfish consumed in America, and fishing for wild catfish is also popular in the state. The Mississippi River, the Tennessee River and Mississippi’s major lakes all contain a variety of the fish, from flatheads to blues to channel cats, which range in size from less than a pound to hundreds of pounds, and Mississippi is ranked third in the nation for top fishing sites.
While Mississippi has the lowest per capita income in the U.S. at $26,908, that fact is somewhat misleading as Mississippians enjoy the lowest living costs in America. Though its gaming industry was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, Mississippi has rebuilt and expanded that industry and now ranks third nationally in gaming revenues behind only Nevada and New Jersey. The state’s extensive Interstate Highway system is supplemented by Amtrak lines along two routes, the Crescent and the City of New Orleans.
Roads
Interstate 10: One of America’s major east-west highways, I-10 runs from Florida to California. Entering Mississippi from Louisiana, I-10 runs through the large Mississippi cities of Gulfport, Biloxi, and Moss Point.
Interstate 20: In central Mississippi, I-20 is an important highway. It provides links with Dallas, Atlanta, and Birmingham, Alabama.
Interstate 55: At just under 1,000 miles, I-55 spans America’s girth from Louisiana to Chicago. The 290 miles it spends in Mississippi run from the Louisiana border to the state’s border with Tennessee.
Interstate 59: While it does pass through or near the cities of Picayune, Hattiesburg, Laurel, and Meridian, I-59 spends most of its miles within Mississippi connecting small towns in rural areas of the state.