Rural MISSISSIPPI: Dying, Poverty-Stricken Towns - Far Off The Interstate

all right everyone I am in rural Mississippi I'll show you real quick on the map see the blue dot uh I'm in the middle of the state uh near the eastern border with Alabama you can see Birmingham over there to the east Meridian to the South uh Tupelo right up there at the top going to explore some towns here I'm just going to kind of cruise down the state line just to the west of it and I'm talking about the state line with Alabama check out some towns here that are nowhere near the interstate interesting towns this is the town of Brooksville that's where we're going to start I'll start with the per capita income uh sixteen thousand dollars a year that's 308 dollars a week I don't know if you can see these roads but they are really bad you have to drive very slowly anyway the town has about 900 people in it that's down from a peak in 2010 there were a little over 1200. poverty is very high very high in this town 42.6 percent for children it's worse 17 and under 55 percent and uh 65 and older it's 14 percent I'm approaching downtown now um it's pretty bad shape I read on the a local newspaper though that they are going to start working on it trying to improve it so that's always good to hear the primary industry here was a place called Pico's Foods I had to look it up it's a chicken processing plant but apparently it closed here so that that had to hurt of course they moved it up to a place close by I think so I guess the people could just drive to another town nearby just going to give you a look at the downtown [Music] you see uh yeah a lot of decay let's see I want to turn around and go back into downtown okay I'm making another drive into downtown another street over now people have been asking me to do the numbers on Race so I guess I'll start doing that beginning this video 75.6 of the town is black 20.3 is white 1.5 percent is Hispanic and the rest is just other so there's that it's taking another look into downtown quite a few police cars here um in fact this is the police station right here a Brooksville Police Department today is um Friday and it's about 10 in the morning um nothing or nothing really happening in this downtown as you can see ah it is uh it's basically abandoned now even though poverty is high crime here is low or relatively low which surprised me because usually crime or low incomes and poverty and crime go hand in hand but not this town violent crime is 3.8 per 1000 that's exactly the U.S average so uh that's not bad I've seen quite a few dogs just running around loose here in town a stat that kind of stuck out for me though is five percent of the men in the town are widowers this may surprise you but it's usually a lot lower ah that number six percent of the women are widows cost of living in this town is 20 percent lower than the US average that's driven strongly by the cost of housing housing is 55 percent lower than the U.S average in this town the town's motto is a great place to call home all right so uh I'm just going to look around a little bit now see what we can find here I saw this church I could see it from the distance it is uh not an operation though it's boarded up that's pretty unusual you rarely see abandoned churches I'm going to show you some of the neighborhood now some of the things here in town see what else I can find and now look at this church way of the Cross Chapel everyone welcome that is really unusual architecture especially for a small town it is beautiful I really love this uh building wow um a lot of abandoned houses here see quite a few I guess because of the uh obviously because of the population loss give you an idea where I'm at there's downtown right there so I'm gonna head up in there again there's the cat always good to find the cat early in the video he's just hanging out like he owns the place I'm on one of the residential streets this is pretty much what they look like most of them are just gravel uh let's see I might be heading to a dead end so I better turn around yeah I gotta tell you guys these roads are just barely here in this town I'm glad I've got four wheel drive right now subscribers have been asking me to show grocery stores in these small little towns so uh there you go Brooksville Market I think there's another one here let me see if I can find it I'm back in the downtown now let me give you another quick look at this uh yeah these buildings they're just um falling apart maybe they can get something done with that let's see I think there's another small grocery style store here yeah here it is so that's two stores where you can buy some groceries it looks like in this town all right I think I've seen enough here I'm going to head to the next town okay I've just arrived at the town of Macon um very poor town I'll give you the population first though just over 2 500 people a little bit bigger town per capita income is 14 800. that's uh 285 dollars a week it's one of the lowest income towns I've ever been to and in fact this town uh in terms of cities between one thousand and twenty five thousand is regularly uh ranks in the top ten in the country as one of the poorest towns in 2016 this was the poorest town in the United States pretty sure it's still in the top 20 now though high high poverty 44.6 percent that's almost half the people for children it's worse children 17 and under the poverty rate in this town is 72 percent that might be the highest number I've ever seen older folks a little better 65 and older 15 percent 39 of the town is married that's a pretty low number 11 of the women who live in this town are widows all right so I'm gonna turn around and go back into downtown give you another look the breakdown in race 80 or 86 percent black 13 White one percent Hispanic uh the rest is other surprisingly like the last time uh last Town violent crime is very low even lower here 1.6 per 1000 people U.S average is 3.8 so again another town where High poverty is not equaling a lot of violent crime property crime is a little high oh actually property crime I'm looking at the number that's low too 12 per 1000 U.S average is 20 per 1000. so this is a low crime town very high in poverty but uh crime is low almost doesn't make sense does it cost of living here is 22 percent lower than the rest of the US housing is 61 percent lower I want to give you a good look at this Capitol building I'm sorry courthouse county courthouse it looks like a capitol building so Grand in appearance so that's downtown again so uh yeah I'm gonna look around a little bit the median home value in this town is 84 400. so again very low home values I'm going to show you a residential street or two right now foreign I'm just one street off downtown it's right there what else about the town 73 percent graduated high school a little lower than the U.S average which is 85. 11 of the women who live here our widows so that's pretty high well not really seeing the lower home values here not in this part of town these are really nice here that is Main Street so very close to downtown another quick shot of the County Courthouse across the street from it is the county library and this was built in 1907 is on the national register and deservedly so that's a magnificent building used to be the jail but now it's the library and there's another shot of downtown anyway I've had people ask me for gas prices uh if you can see that 319 319 for a gallon of regular gas here in uh East Central Mississippi all right so uh there's the grocery store looks like for the town Tim's food market and uh there is a Dollar General as well those are in every town though yeah there's some place to shop there as well Rockin burgers I guess out of that kind of purplish building huh I don't think they're cooking anything out of this building interesting looking mural there anyway it looks like um I've hit a dead end I guess I'm gonna turn around I had a bunch of a bunch of stuff up there and a road closed dead end I uh I think I'm done here just want to give you a look at a couple of houses here on this street which are quite frankly magnificent I've got one here that's could use some TLC for sure but across the way look at that yeah that is a mansion all right everyone I am entering the town of Sugarloaf now you see the spelling down there looks like it should be spelled sugar lock but I'm told there is an r in the pronunciation lock anyway the town has about 350 people in it the per capita income is 18 800 that's 362 dollars a week by the way I'll give you the national numbers uh the per capita income for the U.S as a whole is 37 600 or 723 weeks so you can use it as comparison anyway you're looking at the primary employer in this town the sugar lock Lumber Company because they've got a train loaded with Lumber right now um let me turn around and go back into downtown not much going on here is there at another Street there's a there's some cars parked here though so I don't know what they're here for maybe they Park here to work at that lumber yard I don't I don't see any open businesses here there's the post office uh yeah across the street it's just kind of falling apart now there's town hall right there and other than that there's just not much here just the building's falling apart and you can see the street it's not that great a condition either anyway let's see more about the town it's 56 male 44 female so the ladies here got a few options compared to the men let's say I'm going to drive into residential and as I do I'll tell you the median home value 41 400. um I think that's the lowest median home value I've ever seen in any town a little over forty one thousand dollars I mean it's hard to get a new car for that price now cost of living is real low though here they're 25 percent lower than the average in the U.S housing is 71 percent lower so that surprises no one I'm thinking let's see I'm gonna look around here a bit see what else I can find this is a pretty typical Street here though that's not bad homes look pretty nice actually see I didn't give you poverty level yet uh 32.9 so really high poverty it's like a empty house here getting swallowed up by Nature um for children 17 and under poverty is 40 percent so close to half the kids here live at or below poverty like the other towns I've been to violent crime is not bad a little bit higher here 4.2 per 1000 people so that's a shade higher than the U.S average oh we got a house in really bad shape here yep Nature's taking that one only a matter of time uh here's the racial breakdown 84.7 percent black 10 White 1.2 percent Hispanic and in the last few percent is other there's a cafe I don't think that's open though yeah though looks like there's a house there and it's long gone all right let me uh see if I can find some sort of uh grocery store people want to see it that's what they tell me in the comments as far as stores to get your groceries can't really find anything except for this Dollar General I think this is it [Music] and then I I've seen one gas station also so uh there's that well okay I've ended up back in downtown so here's another look at it I'm going to make my way to one more time one more time in the video yeah so I'm gonna head there right now all right I'm entering the town of scuba Scuba Mississippi a little over 700 people here downtown is uh as you can see in a really bad shape now the numbers for this town are dismal but I think it's because of the Community College here East Mississippi Community College uh it's got a couple of satellite campuses so I had a hard time getting the actual enrollment but I think it's around 3 000 here in town which makes it much bigger than the town's population foreign but here are the town's numbers median age is 20. 20 years old so obviously the college is counted there half of the income ten thousand seven hundred and sixty seven dollars a year that's 207 a week 12 percent of the town is married a surprising number here 63 percent of the Town graduated high school kind of surprised this being a technically a college town I guess median home value here is 60 000. a little bit higher now poverty again this must be the college students factoring in 57 it's one of the highest I've ever seen children 17 and under 81 percent 81 of the children who live here are at or below the poverty line that's astonishing I'm not sure why that number is so high folks 65 and over it's 26 percent yeah I'm just kind of driving through the town give you a look as I tell you the numbers here's the numbers on Race 72.4 percent of the town is black 25 is white one percent Native American one percent Hispanic and the rest is just other now like these other towns violent crime is actually pretty low 4.3 per 1000 people that's not bad that's just a little bit higher than the US average cost of living very low 24 lower than the U.S average I think I'm at this uh community college right now let me see uh sure looks like one doesn't it looks like I've driven right up onto it or into it yeah these look like college buildings don't they uh let's see I think I'll be driving into it right here yeah uh here let me turn around okay yeah so here we are East Mississippi Community College oh yeah this is the campus this is among the top 20 community colleges in the United States it's currently ranked 12th additionally it is a football power uh this college has won five national titles in football over the past 10 years uh the ngcaa college football title that's a National Junior College Athletic Association so in terms of community colleges it's prestigious and uh an athletic Powerhouse because it's done real well in women's sports and basketball also pretty impressive I was uh surprised to read those numbers and you can see the campus looks pretty nice anyway uh let's see let me check out a residential area or two anyway there's not a lot to see here once you get off that campus I would guess it's easily the top employer let me see if I can find a uh some kind of store to show you guys an abandoned house there it's fairly modern too I'm wondering if that was a church at one time oh Behind These bumps hmm it's a pretty house here though like that green roof I'm trying to find some kind of grocery store well I saw a cat cross the road now I can't see it he's hiding somewhere well I've looked around everywhere and uh Dollar General that's it that is the only place I could see where people get groceries here all right well let's see there's an abandoned gas station here looks like it was pretty modern at one time I don't know how well you can see because of the Sun let's see what the gas prices were when they shut her down 285 interesting all right everybody so that's going to be the uh end of this video we're heading back West as you can probably tell we're in Mississippi now uh we gotta stop in Dallas check our mail that kind of thing get a haircut and then we'll be heading Way Out West I'm gonna try to make it all the way to the Pacific Ocean so uh be looking for those they're coming up next

Channel: Joe & Nic's Road Trip

Views: 172,515

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Id: T6kVyNezmGA

Length: 30min 10sec (1810 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 04 2023