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This Is the City With the Richest Middle Class in Mississippi | Mississippi

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www.thecentersquare.com – Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. via The Center Square – 2023-04-12 08:18:48

The American middle class has been hollowed out for decades. Factors such as the decline of major industries like manufacturing, alongside stagnating wages and the rising cost of living, have reduced the ranks of the American middle class since the 1970s and exacerbated income inequality.

Not only impacting millions of American families, the decline of the middle class, as the economic backbone of the United States, is also a cause for concern among policy makers. A strong middle class is considered a pillar of economic stability and a key driver of economic growth. Middle-class households provide the labor market with workers and are themselves a steady market for goods and services. Middle-class households are also an engine of entrepreneurship and innovation, and their tax dollars help sustain investment in quality public services.

Despite the challenges of the middle class nationwide, there are still in the United States where middle-class incomes remain relatively high. Due to both economic and demographic circumstances, the middle class in these places have bucked many of the longer-term trends that are all too evident in other parts of the country.

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Of the three metro in Mississippi, - ranks as the wealthiest middle class. The middle 20% of households by earnings in the area make between $42,951 and $69,812 annually, which is still below what the middle 20% of earners across the state as a whole earn, between $52,295 and $82,996.

Unlike in decades past, where someone could get a well-paying job with just a high school diploma, today, the vast majority of high-paying positions require a college education. In Gulfport-Biloxi, 26.8% of adults have a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 24.8% of adults across all of Mississippi.

All data in this story is from the U.S. Census 's 2021 American Community Survey. For each of the 384 U.S. metro areas with available data, we reviewed the income range of the middle 20% earners at the household level. In each state, the metro area with the highest floor for the middle quintile of earners ranks as having the wealthiest middle class.

 

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State Metro area with the wealtiest middle class Lower income limit of middle class households in metro area ($) Upper income limit of middle class households in metro area ($) Lower income limit of middle class households in state ($) Upper income limit of middle class households in state ($) Total metro areas in state
Alabama Huntsville 59,275 95,386 51,964 81,812 12
Alaska Anchorage 69,309 104,406 56,320 89,984 2
Arizona Phoenix 60,980 92,683 69,215 113,568 7
Arkansas Fayetteville 58,347 85,134 51,469 81,356 6
California San Jose 107,949 176,806 63,308 101,711 26
Colorado Denver 72,213 111,148 71,175 111,220 7
Connecticut Bridgeport 75,514 127,824 46,623 73,356 4
Delaware Dover 52,778 79,512 56,948 94,304 1
Florida Naples 61,008 93,239 50,200 78,317 22
Georgia Atlanta 61,941 95,704 50,200 78,317 14
Hawaii Urban Honolulu 73,035 110,664 69,215 113,568 2
Idaho Boise City 60,209 88,755 66,612 105,995 6
Illinois Chicago 61,683 97,911 52,379 83,764 10
Indiana Columbus 60,201 88,113 51,980 80,331 12
Iowa Des Moines 60,185 91,157 65,032 96,596 8
Kansas Wichita 49,763 73,976 49,218 77,486 4
Kentucky Lexington 50,700 78,104 50,200 78,317 5
Houma 45,606 75,633 48,732 77,231 9
Maine Portland 62,119 94,293 53,713 85,848 3
Maryland California 89,350 126,751 39,906 65,189 5
Boston 77,961 125,760 66,612 105,995 5
Michigan Ann Arbor 60,480 97,679 48,732 77,231 14
Minnesota Minneapolis 69,840 106,711 66,612 105,995 5
Mississippi Gulfport 42,951 69,812 52,295 82,996 3
Missouri Kansas City 59,319 90,657 49,218 77,486 8
Montana Billings 56,458 83,949 50,618 77,150 3
Nebraska Omaha 58,797 91,491 65,335 104,919 3
Nevada Reno 61,956 95,089 52,379 83,764 3
New Hampshire Manchester 73,687 108,394 50,618 77,150 1
New Jersey Trenton 68,864 108,749 56,295 88,426 4
New Mexico Santa Fe 53,897 84,031 69,921 112,054 4
New York Poughkeepsie 69,276 109,645 49,218 77,486 13
North Carolina Raleigh 67,045 104,142 44,235 69,505 15
North Dakota Bismarck 54,197 85,621 51,156 79,317 3
Ohio Columbus 57,296 89,383 50,618 77,150 11
Oklahoma Enid 50,742 72,058 51,964 81,812 4
Oregon Portland 67,202 102,601 66,612 105,995 8
Pennsylvania Lancaster 62,449 89,527 66,612 105,995 18
Rhode Island Providence 57,443 93,753 50,200 78,317 1
South Carolina Charleston 58,474 89,582 54,292 81,556 8
South Dakota Sioux Falls 62,200 89,212 52,379 83,764 2
Tennessee Nashville 58,925 90,095 66,612 105,995 10
Austin 68,737 105,556 51,964 81,812 25
Utah Provo 71,963 104,267 69,215 113,568 5
Vermont Burlington 65,505 98,761 50,618 77,150 1
Virginia Charlottesville 63,159 97,426 54,429 84,652 9
Washington Seattle 80,316 124,685 62,433 95,630 11
Virginia Morgantown 43,940 71,959 52,379 83,764 7
Wisconsin Appleton 61,672 90,064 54,429 84,652 12
Wyoming Casper 51,001 75,905 52,295 82,996 2

 

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The Center Square

Senators from 17 states want Postal Service to pause 10-year plan to save $160B | National

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Joe Mueller | – 2024-05-09 12:00:00

(The Center Square) – A bipartisan group of 26 U.S. senators from 17 states are urging of the U.S. Postal Service to delay execution of its strategic plan.

“We call on you to pause planned changes to the U.S. Postal Service's processing and delivery network under the ‘Delivering for America' plan, until you request and a comprehensive Advisory Opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission to fully study the potential impacts of these changes,” according to a letter signed by the Senators and addressed to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the Board of Governors.

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Democratic Nevada Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen signed the letter and highlighted ongoing demands to change the plan, made along with U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev. They highlighted planned changes to a facility in Reno, which will be downsized from a regional hub to a local center and its regional operations moved to Sacramento, Calif.

“We call on USPS to pause all changes, pending a full study of this plan by its regulator,” the letter stated. “While USPS claims these changes overall will improve service while reducing costs, there is evidence to the contrary in locations where USPS has implemented changes so far. USPS must stop implementation, restore service in those where changes were implemented, and fully understand the nationwide effects of its plan on service and communities.”

“Delivering For America,” a 60-page, 10-year plan published by USPS, states the organization is optimizing mail and packaging processing capabilities as it lost $87 during the last 14 years.

“The Plan's strategic initiatives are designed to reverse a projected $160 billion in losses over the next ten years by achieving break-even operating performance,” according to the publication.

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Changes in how people use the Postal Service resulted in costly inefficiencies, according to the plan.

“Our processing network was originally designed to meet the demands of a robust, and ever-growing mail market,” the plan stated. “Similarly, our facilities were located geographically and set up operationally to facilitate the timely and efficient processing of mail. As mail volume has decreased, our machines and facilities have been left under-utilized, leaving us with a physical network that does not correspond to the current and projected needs of our customers.”

In addition to the senators from Nevada, senators from Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, , Virginia and Wyoming also signed the letter. It highlighted problems associated with moving mail processing away from local communities and reductions in transporting mail, leaving mail sitting overnight in local offices.

“We are concerned about the impacts these changes have had so far, and the potential impacts that further changes could have,” the senators wrote. “In regions where USPS has implemented significant changes, on-time mail delivery has declined. In addition, it is not clear these changes will improve efficiency or costs. Despite these concerns, USPS has moved forward with announcing and approving additional facility changes across the country.”

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The Center Square

25 states fight EPA’s power plant smokestack regulations | West Virginia

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Jon Styf | – 2024-05-09 07:53:00

(The Center Square) – Virginia and Indiana are leading a group of 25 states asking for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to declare the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new rule on coal, natural gas and oil power plants to be declared unlawful.

The new EPA rule will require coal and natural gas power plants to capture smokestack emissions or shutter.

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“The EPA continues to not fully understand the direction from the Supreme Court—unelected bureaucrats continue their pursuit to legislate rather than rely on elected members of for guidance,” West Virginia Morrisey said. “This green new deal agenda the Biden administration continues to force onto the people is setting up the plants to fail and therefore shutter, altering the nation's already stretched grid.”

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, , Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, , Utah, Virginia and Wyoming are part of the lawsuit.

Morrisey and the attorneys general argue Congress did not give EPA the authority to create rules to remake the electricity grid and the rules are taking to make broad regulatory authority away from Congress.

West Virginia successfully fought EPA rules in front of the in 2022 as the court said the EPA should not use its regulatory authority to create broad new regulations with the Clean Act.

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West Virginia, Indiana and others have continued to fight several other EPA proposals the “Good Neighbor Plan” and the EPA's new rule on electric vehicles.

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The Center Square

Senate bill would ban student loan forgiveness for protestors convicted of a crime | National

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor – 2024-05-08 12:53:00

(The Center Square) – Republican U.S. senators introduced a bill that would ban student loan forgiveness for protestors convicted of a while protesting on U.S. college campuses.

The No Bailouts for Campus Criminals Act was filed by U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., with multiple cosponsors. The bill would prevent any college or student who is convicted of any offense under federal or state while protesting at a higher education institution from their federal student loans forgiven, cancelled, waived or modified.

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Despite the striking down 's student loan forgiveness program last June, his administration has proposed new student debt cancellation plans that could cost taxpayers up to $1.4 trillion, The Center Square reported.

The senators, who oppose Biden's plans, proposed the bill after widespread, anti-Semitic protests continue to occur on campuses nationwide resulting in violence against Jewish and in-person instruction and graduations being canceled. In the past few weeks alone, hundreds of students nationwide have been arrested on charges ranging from disrupting the peace, criminal trespass, alleged hate crimes, and acts of violence.

“Americans who never went to college or responsibly paid off their debts shouldn't have to pay off other people's student loans. They especially shouldn't have to pay off the loans of Hamas sympathizers shutting down and defacing campuses,” Cotton said.

U.S. Rep. Brandon Williams, R-NY, who is sponsoring companion legislation in the House, said, “Violent campus protestors laughably demand respect, amnesty, and even takeout food. Our bicameral bill ensures that not one student protestor convicted of criminal offenses is bailed out by student loan forgiveness. Not one dime of taxpayer money will fund these criminals.”

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No Democrats signed onto Cotton's bill. Republican cosponsors include Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Katie Britt of Alabama, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Ted Cruz of , Steve Daines of Montana, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Cindy Hyde-Smith and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Roger Marshall of Kansas, James Risch of Idaho, Mitt Romney of Utah, Marco Rubio of Florida, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, and J.D. Vance of Ohio.

Cotton also led another delegation of 27 U.S. senators last month calling on the Departments of Justice and Education to immediately respond to the “outbreak of anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist mobs on college campuses.”

They called on the Department of Education and federal law enforcement “to restore order, prosecute the mobs who have perpetuated violence and threats against Jewish students, revoke the visas of all foreign nationals (such as exchange students) who have taken part in promoting terrorism, and hold accountable school administrators who have stood by instead of protecting their students,” The Center Square reported. At the time, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights was currently investigating roughly 100 incidents at colleges and universities for alleged “discrimination involving shared ancestry” in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, The Center Square reported.

After the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel, antisemitism and violence escalated against Jews in America by nearly 400%, The Center Square reported. Since then, violence has increased on college campuses with leaders failing to stop it, another report found.

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Hamas, the acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Islamic Resistance Movement), was designated by the U.S. State Department as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997. “It is the largest and most capable militant group in the Palestinian territories and one of the territories' two major political parties,” according to the National Counterterrorism Center.

More than a dozen federal judges have pledged not to hire students from Columbia University after its leaders pro-Hamas encampments on its property and chose to shut down in-person instruction and cancelled graduation. The judges said Columbia had become an “incubator of bigotry” against Jewish people, The Center Square reported.

Several Jewish groups have also sued Palestinian groups they argue are “collaborators and propagandists for Hamas.” Advocating for the death of Jews and committing violence against Jews is not protected speech under the First Amendment, they argue.

Cotton's bill was also filed after nearly all Ivy League universities received failing grades for antisemitism, The Center Square reported. They include Harvard, whose student group hosted a pro-Palestinian activist with ties to Hamas; Brown, which is considering divesting from Israel; and Yale, who's student paper's editor was stabbed in the eye by a pro-Hamas rioter.

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According to The Center Square Voters' Voice Poll, only 2% of Americans surveyed said public universities should encourage students to oppose Israel; 32% said students advocating for the genocide of Jews at schools receiving taxpayer should be held accountable for their words and actions.

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