For What It's Worth

My email inbox gets inundated from time to time with messages from different representatives of companies, websites, public relations folks, and such. They are pitching story ideas and lately they are asking for my interest on stories that put Mississippi in a negative light.

Here is one, for instance, that we are likely shaking our head in unison in agreement about. Provided to me in an email recently was information that Mississippi is ranked second to last in the condition of its roads. Only New Mexico ranks below the Magnolia State. Overall, the American Society of Civil Engineers put the nation’s roads at a D- grade.

In Mississippi, almost half of the state’s urban roads and more than a quarter of all rural roads are in poor condition.

The report added that Mississippi is the worst state in the country for traffic fatalities with a rate that’s 42 percent higher than the national average. The statistic is actually interesting because we are in the bottom three nationally for road rage.

Forty-nine percent of urban roads are in poor condition, 28 percent of rural roads are rated “poor,” and traffic fatalities per 100 million miles traveled are 1.79.

Here are some other bits of “uplifting” information I get to go through from time to time.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently came out with a report that says Mississippi has some of the worst food insecurity of any state in the nation. What that means is that, from the USDA report, one in five Mississippians said they didn’t always have enough to eat in a year.

Food insecurity does not necessarily equate to hunger, but it does say that a person or household does not have reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food to maintain an active, healthy life. You can be “food secure” one month, but if an unexpected car repair or medical bill comes up, you may have trouble finding the money to cover the grocery bill the next month.

Mississippi’s food insecurity rate between 2022-2024 was 17.3 percent, higher than the national average of 13.3 percent. In Marshall County, the food insecurity rate was at 28.5 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Those are serious numbers that need to be addressed. They should not give you a warm and fuzzy feeling, but what they should do is be a call to action to see how the issue can be addressed.

We just got through another income tax season with taxpayers putting their figures together to determine how much more they owe the government in income taxes, or how much the government owes us in a refund.

Thankfully, the government has now given us until June 8 to file our taxes because of the severe winter ice storm we encountered. Some want to give the storm a name, but I will just call it the Ice Storm of 2026. I only name tropical storms and hurricanes and I have valid reasons for that, which I will get into at another time.

If you are still trying to crunch your numbers and file your taxes, you may be scrambling for help from an accountant. Finding an accountant, according to Sam’s List, a directory for finance professionals, may be difficult. One reason for that is the overburdening workload that accountants already have, but also because there is a staggering shortage of accountants in Mississippi.

The report indicates that the Magnolia State on average has 2.35 accountants per 1,000 residents, or 44 percent below the national average. Each accountant in the state handles an average of 97 returns; and 58 percent of all Mississippi tax returns are done by an accountant. Need a job? Become an accountant, there is plenty of work available. The state needs nearly 5,600 additional accountants just to reach the national average.

While Mississippi often faces uphill battles in national rankings, there are several areas where it is currently leading the country or significantly outperforming expectations.

The state has been pushing what has been termed in education as the “Mississippi Miracle.” Since 2013, the state has ranked first in the country for gains in fourth-grade reading and math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In 2025, the KIDS COUNT Data Book put Mississippi 16th in the nation for education. It is not number one, but it is the state's highest ranking ever.

Mississippi’s graduation rate has also reached 90.8 percent for the 2024-25 school year, surpassing the national average.

Consider this. We ranked third in the nation for school-required vaccination rates, which exceed 97 percent and have seen significant declines in teen birth rates and opioid overdose deaths compared to national trends.

Earlier this year, a study ranked Mississippi as the number one most affordable state in the nation. Real estate and housing expenses in Mississippi are approximately 27 percent lower than the national average, and overall living costs (including utilities and transportation) are roughly 13 percent lower than the U.S. average.

The point to all this is that, as we continue to hear about how Mississippi is at the bottom of this list or the bottom of that list, there remains a lot that is good in the “Hospitality State.” We celebrate the great things that are taking place, see the shortcomings and try to improve on them. Who is up for a little pothole filling?

That is what I have for now… for what it’s worth.

Bob Bakken is editor of The South Reporter.