Mississippi vs. New Mexico

The Race to the Bottom

Are you happy with the state in which you live?

I’d venture to guess most are. More so with transplants because they have chosen to live in the state in which they live.

Now a resident of New Mexico, I chose to move here from Chicago. Unfortunately, just like California, there is a diaspora of Illinoisans leaving the state. In fact, on a percentage basis, more people left Illinois in the last ten years than any other state. (There were two others in this category, one being none other than…Mississippi!) But I really love my new state.

The only time I’ve ever been to Mississippi was an overnight business trip I had in Jackson. So I didn’t get much of a flavor for the place, but “Mississippi Burning” was filming on-location in downtown Jackson when I was there. Probably the most exciting thing to ever happen there. But there I go, making a judgment with limited insight.

As a geography geek, I’ve been reading many of Markie Young’s listicles about our country's states and cities.

I don’t know Markie, and we’ve never chatted, but he is a “Top Writer in Travel.” He has a YouTube channel. That always impresses me, as I wouldn’t have a clue how to go about that. However, I feel like he does not live in the United States, given his commentary.

He often writes listicles about the best and worst cities and states, based on these criteria or those. In addition, he sometimes (but not always) cites the sources he uses to determine his rankings.

This is not an affront to Markie — I enjoy his work. But New Mexico is often at the bottom of his lists of places. (It happens in a lot of other publications too.) With this, I hope to alter some misperceptions about New Mexico. Sometimes, I’ll question why we didn’t make the grade. Sometimes I’ll question why we didn’t make a list at all. Finally, I’m comparing New Mexico to Mississippi because, well, we are both always at the bottom of these lists. And yeah, I’m trying to get us out of the dumpster!

Negatives

The 10 Worst States In America: This is not a ranking, but New Mexico is among the ten. He states that “New Mexico is practically a vast wasteland of mountains and deserts…”. Since when are these bad? They afford vast opportunities for those who love the outdoors. And most people that live here do.

Mississippi was also on this list.

The 10 Ugliest States to Live in America in 2021: New Mexico comes in at number ten. He says of New Mexico: “First of all, who wants to live in a state that’s basically a desert?”

While the Chihuahuan Desert does take up a chunk of the state, it’s a high desert, and a river runs through it. As a result, it is teeming with wildlife.

In all four corners of the state, you’ll find mountain ranges covered in thick forests. We even have alpine settings.

Not to say that we don’t have our less desirable parts. For example, much of eastern New Mexico is not very appealing, but it is the High Plains, not a desert by classification.

Mississippi ranks number seven.

The 10 Most Hated States in America in 2021: New Mexico is number one.

WTF?

Young says that there are only two types of weather in New Mexico — hot and hotter. He doesn’t know that New Mexico can also get quite cold because of what I said above about the mountains, which range to 13,000 feet. The highest recorded temperature in the state is six degrees lower than that of our neighbor, Arizona.

In the mountain town of Galivan, the mercury hit -50 in 1951. Here in Albuquerque, we only get 4–5 days a year of temperatures at 100 or above. Compare that to Phoenix’s 110 days. We even get an average of 10 inches of snow a year. That is not hot! But when it is, “it’s a dry heat.” (Our heat index can be lower than the actual temperature based on low relative humidity.)

Mississippi doesn’t even make this list! Why not? Texas came in at number four, which I thought would have been number one, especially given the recent political shenanigans.

The Top 10 Worst Medium-Sized Cities To Live In America 2021: Poor Albuquerque. It is at number nine in this ranking. Primarily because of the crime rate, which is 1:17. Most of that crime is auto-related. Catalytic converters are the hottest thing, according to my NextDoor Digest. The number of homicides in 2021 has already beaten that of 2020. The poor quality of our schools is also cited.

On the other hand, recreational opportunities abound. Great hiking begins immediately on the east and west sides and along the Rio Grande within the city. There are beautiful mountains to wake up to. While public transportation is nominal, the street and freeway system makes getting almost anywhere no more than a 20-minute drive. And we have Sadie’s, arguably the best New Mexican food in the world. (So acclaimed by myself and many others.)

Albuquerque has its issues cut out for it, but it is not “Breaking Bad!”

Where’s Jackson? I’m thinking too small for a medium-sized city, too large for a small city. Purgatory?

Neutral

The Top 10 States Americans Are Moving To in 2021: New Mexico is at number seven. This does not hold true on any of the lists I checked, nor according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s statistics. Look to Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Texas, and North Dakota if you want to talk about growth. From 2010 to 2020, New Mexico grew by only 2.8%.

Yeah, Mississippi ain’t on this list either.

Head Scratchers

10 Best State Capitals In The United States: Criteria includes “natural beauty, the quality of food, historical artifacts, and more!” Santa Fe, which more than excels in all of these areas, is absent from the list. Maybe that’s why we are one of the nation’s best-kept secrets?

Jackson? Nope. Nowhere to be found. Not a surprise.

Ten Best States To Live In America For 2021: Neither New Mexico nor Mississippi are on this list but come on. Nebraska at number nine? I lived in Lincoln for six years while attending the University and saw much of the state. But “Nebraska is a pretty gorgeous place,” quotes Young, which is a misnomer to me. Have you ever driven the 455 miles on I-80 across the entire state? You’ll want to murder someone before it’s over.

Positives

Top 10 BEST Small Cities to Live in America in 2021: At last! Santa Fe comes in at number three. Santa Fe is often on “the best of” lists in many national and international publications, so I’m glad to see it here because it deserves it. But the conundrum is, why is it not on the list of best state capitals?

Nothing for Mississippi.

I created this table from US News & World Report’s rankings,partly based on the US Census, which summarizes the shortcomings of Mississippi and New Mexico, according to the metics they used.

New Mexico wins by the tiniest of margins!

I could go on and on about each of these criteria, but I think it’s best we end here with one last note.

The area I most strongly disagree with is education. We all have to learn how to spell Albuquerque. How hard is it to spell Jackson?