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Is there anything really wrong with being called a Mississippi redneck? Most rednecks would say, “I don’t care what you call me, as long as you call me for supper.”
Rednecks are a part of our culture. They are hailed as being great in our song lyrics. They’re prominently featured in reality television. There are even video games about rednecks.
So, you’d think people who are rednecks would be proud to be called a redneck.
Wait. What is a redneck anyways? Well, according to the official bible of literature, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a redneck is:
“ a white person who lives in a small town or in the country especially in the southern U.S., who typically has a working-class job, and who is seen by others as being uneducated and having opinions and attitudes that are offensive”
Plus, we thought why not add in a few stereotypes? Cause, you know, rednecks live in mobile home parks and they like to hunt, drink, chew and shoot things. They eat at Waffle House and shop at Bass Pro Shops, Walmart and Dollar General.
Using that criteria, it’s not hard to scrape the internet, run some scientific data on where rednecks might live in Mississippi, and then put out a list.
Because, the data never lies, does it? So hold our beers and watch while we run some rankings!
After analyzing 70 cities between 5,000 and 70,000 people in the Magnolia State, we came up with this list as The Most Redneck Cities in Mississippi:
- Corinth (Photos)
- New Albany (Photos)
- Columbia (Photos)
- Picayune (Photos)
- Pontotoc (Photos)
- Ocean Springs
- Booneville
- Ripley (Photos)
- Carthage
- Iuka
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town ranked.
For more Mississippi reading, check out:
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What redneck criteria did we use?
In order to rank the most redneck cities in Mississippi, we had to determine what criteria makes a redneck.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using Yelp and Google Maps, this is the criteria we used:
The dictionary definition categories
- Small towns
- Least amount of high school graduates
- Lives in the south
And the stereotypical categories
- Number of dive bars per city
- Number of mobile home parks per capita
- Number of tobacco stores per city
- Number of guns and ammo stores per city
- Walmarts, Waffle Houses, Bass Pro Shops, and Dollar Generals nearby
Note: For the sake of getting reliable numbers, we counted places within a city’s border, as well as within a short driving distance.
If you’d like to see the complete list of cities, from most to least redneck, we put in a list of the cities in a chart at the bottom. Hope you’re on there if you want to be.
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1. Corinth
Population: 14,663
Gun stores per capita: 2nd in Mississippi
Tobacco stores per capita: 8th in MS
High school graduation rate: 73%
Congratulations, Corinth. You have the official bragging rights as being named the most redneck city in the entire state of Mississippi. You may now brag to your friends and share this endlessly on your Facebook walls.
Lets see why. Up near the Tennessee state line, Corinth has the 2nd highest number of places to buy guns and ammo, per capita in the state of Mississippi. It also boasts a high number of tobacco stores, which means rednecks have a lot of options for getting their chew.
Plus, it’s 76% white, and it’s a very blue collar type town. And when you have a Waffle House, Huddle House, Dollar General, Walmart, Piggly Wiggly, and tons of fishing and hunting nearby, this might just be redneck heaven.
2. New Albany
Population: 8,076
Fishing/bait shops per capita: 1st
Tobacco stores per capita: 17th in the state
High school graduation rate: 70%
There are almost as many rednecks in New Albany as there are in Corinth.
Not too far away from Corinth is the small city of New Albany, where you have more opportunities to get night crawlers and tackle than any other place in the state. Plus, there are plenty of bars in the general area where rednecks can sip a cold one while talking about the big bass that got away.
New Albany is near the base of the Holly Springs National Forest, where there’s great deer hunting. You can bet lots of redneck dads take their redneck kids up here every fall.
3. Columbia
Population: 6,543
High school graduation rate: 69%
Fishing/bait shops per capita: 10th in Mississippi
Tobacco shops in the area: 1st in the state
Mobile home parks in area: 4th
Did you know that Columbia is the home of the modern rodeo? That’s a pretty redneck accomplishment.
In Columbia, there are more places to get your chew and smokes per person than any other place in the state. Being so close to the Gulf Coast, you can imagine there are lots of places to get fishing gear and tackle, too. Rednecks like their ocean fishing.
And when the truck isn’t running, rednecks in Columbia can just walk down to the Pearl River and cast in a line for some largemouth bass, bream, yellow cats and redfish.
4. Picayune
Population: 10,982
Gun stores per capita: Tied, first in Mississippi
Tobacco shops per capita: 6th in the state
Mobile home park rank: 8th
Walmart rank: 8th
You can see why so many rednecks call Picayune home. Not only are there lots of places to get your ammo (and pawn off a lawnmower in the process), you have a Walmart SuperCenter all to your very own. And, as a bonus, there’s a Home Depot nearby. So while dad is getting wood to finish that deck, mom can get an outfit for the barbecue on Sunday.
There’s a ton of fishing nearby, and the Bogue Chitto Refuge is practically in your backyard. Here, rednecks and their kids can shoot up the place, chasing deer, squirrel, turkey and hogs. Maybe dad will bring home a hog to take to that barbecue.
5. Pontotoc
Population: 5,652
Chew rank: 7th in Mississippi
High school graduation rate: 70%
Walmart rank: 17th
Mobile home parks per capita: 9th
The data says there are lots of rednecks here. The mobile home park ranking is high, as is the ‘chew factor’, meaning there is a high tobacco store/person factor.
Plus, Margaret Wood, a Pontotoc resident, was picked to compete on CMT’s Redneck Island show. That says a lot about Pontotoc’s redneck superiority.
The rednecks here have several options to gather and throw back a cold one, trying to speculate on when rut might hit. A local fave is LEP’s Bar-B-Q, a place to redneck it doesn’t even have a website.
6. Ocean Springs
Population: 17,420
Bars per capita: 1st in the state
Guns and ammo per capita: 6th in Mississippi
Chew factor: 3rd
You might call Ocean Springs residents ‘preppy rednecks’ since they are by far, the most educated and successful of their redneck peers in other cities. They probably have a boat and the most expensive fishing gear.
And, apparently, they drink a lot. There are more bars per capita here than in any other place in the state. So while the Misses is shopping at one of the fine restaurants downtown, dad can chill out in his tank and flops on the coast and chat with his redneck buddies about when they’re gonna take the boat out next.
7. Booneville
Population: 8,788
High school graduation rate: 65%
Mobile home parks per capita in area: 17th most in Mississippi
Tobacco shops per capita: 18th most
Walmart rank:19
Booneville is not too far away from Corinth and New Albany. So, evidently, the northeast corner is the most redneck part of the state of Mississippi. If you live up here, that’s probably not news to you.
There’s a ton of creeks and rivers in this area of the state, so rednecks have plenty of outdoor entertainment. Some of the small lakes and ponds might be on private property, but when did a ‘No Fishing’ sign ever stop a redneck?
Being out in the sticks, you can bet there’s lot of redneckery going on here. Stuff like mudding, blowing things up. That sort of thing.
8. Ripley
Population: 5,391
High school graduation rate: 74%
Tobacco stores per capita: 2nd in the state
Fishing/bait stores per capita: 9th
Mobile home parks per capita: 17th in the state
There’s no doubt that lots of the residents of Ripley are rednecks when you look at the data. The chew factor is through the roof, and there’s lot of places to get cheap bait.
Plus, there’s nothing more redneck that a good flea market, and according to online commenters, Ripley’s flea market is the best.
9. Carthage
Population: 5,062
High school graduation rate: 68%
Chew factor: 5th in the state
Walmart rank: 1st in Mississippi
Bars in area: 16th in the state
Little Carthage, about an hour in the pickup north of Jackson, has a lot goin’ on for being way out in the sticks. There’s no doubt lots of rednecks live here. But it also has a high black population. Carthage might have more black rednecks than anyone in the entire state.
Not only do you have several options for drink away your redneck sorrows, there’s a big ol Walmart SuperCenter in town. Rednecks here can stock up on cheap ammo and tackle, and then head down to either Barnett Reservoir or the Bienville National Forest to try and get supper.
10. Iuka
Population: 3,049
Mobile home parks: 2nd most in Mississippi
Bars per capita and in area: 17th most in the state
Tobacco stores per capita: 10th in MS
Welcome to Iuka, where 92% of the population are working-class white residents. You’ve got your Walmart here, a few options to throw back some cold ones, and a big ol’ mobile home park on the outskirts of town.
There’s nothing more redneck than that, is there? Hook, line and sinker.
There You Have It
According to the official dictionary definition of a redneck, and based on stereotypes that the internet says are true, using science to determine the most redneck cities in a state can’t be too far off. If you’re analyzing smaller cities in Mississippi with blue collar workers, where people have lots of options for drinking, smoking, hunting and Walmarting, this is an accurate list.
If you’re curious enough, here are the least redneck cities in Mississippi, according to science. While there are probably lots of rednecks that live in these places, too, remember, we’re looking at the percentage of rednecks per city.
- Gulf Hills (Pop. 8,419)
- Jackson (Pop. 174,382)
- Tupelo (Pop. 34,328)
- Gulf Park Estates (Pop. 6,343)
- Starkville (Pop. 23,908)
Breaking News: We just published a list of the cities in Mississippi that have the most cheating spouses. Yes, we have the list of cities in MS with the most Ashley Madison accounts.
Click here to read it.
We published a story on the 10 worst cities to live in Mississippi that might be more ‘stimulating’ reading for your day. Click here to read it.
