Marion County’s population is continuing to decline, according to 2018 census estimates released last week.
During the 2010 census, Marion County had a population of 27,088, but it has fallen now to 24,715, a loss of 2,373 people. The 8.8 percent decrease is among the worst in the state, ranking 72nd out of 82 counties.
However, the county’s total population only dropped Marion from 37th to 38th in the latest estimate.
Meanwhile, neighboring Lamar County had the third-highest growth in Mississippi, increasing in population by 12.2 percent. But Jefferson Davis and Walthall counties are in the same boat as Marion with decreases of 10 and 6.3 percent, respectively.
Board of Supervisors President Terry Broome said the biggest issue facing Marion County is there aren’t enough jobs to attract people to move to the area while areas such as Lamar County are exploding with new business opportunities.
“Our industries and employment has decreased so much that people are having to move out to be able to find a work place,” he said. “That contributes more to it than any one thing.”
Marion County Development Partnership Director Lori Watts added that another big role in the decline isn’t that people are fleeing the county for neighboring areas but that the deaths likely outnumber the births and new families moving to the area.
Broome added it’s something the board discusses every meeting and the economic development committees are doing everything they can to attract businesses. However, the population loss decreases the county’s chances of bringing in new employers.
“It’s just elsewhere seems to have a greener pasture than we do most of the time when you start looking at the possibility and prospects for a business,” he said. “Of course, when you lower your population, you lower your taxes of getting an industry of some kind in here. One of the big things an industry looks at when they start talking about putting something here is a survey of the workforce. Our workforce is not here to supply a big-sized industry. It’s a domino effect and a double-edged sword.”
Broome said there are still a lot of aspects of Marion County that can attract residents and industry such as the highly rated school systems, a good hospital and the impending airport expansion. He also mentioned the old Columbia Training School, which has been turned into the Marion County BusinessPlex.
“What we’re trying to do to make (the county) more attractive is we’ve recently acquired more property at the old training school, which is a very good prospect for a business, and we’re trying to put it out there that we have it. We need to push it as hard as we can,” he said.
Watts says there has been a shift in the way industries think and the trend now is they follow the quality of a workforce rather than the quantity. She said it all comes back to improving the county first.
“The key is making our community a place where people want to come to live, work, learn and enjoy life,” she said.
Marked Tattoos owner Mark Carithers, who has been in business downtown for nine years, said the county needs to remain on the path that it’s on.
“We have all of the increased events and happenings we’ve been doing. Of course, more industry would be good, but that doesn’t just happen overnight,” he said. “We’re just going to have to offer more of what people is looking for. There really is no secret recipe.”
Watts said the MCDP is currently working on several projects, including making the county recognized as a “Work Ready Community,” which aligns skills needed for particular jobs already in the area.
While the appeal of being centrally located and in proximity to markets such as New Orleans, Jackson and Memphis is a selling point, the same can be said for Lamar and Forrest counties, which are exploding with new businesses and industry and subsequently rising in population.
“If you’re riding around in a car and your choice is either, ‘Let’s go to Columbia or let’s go to Hattiesburg,’ where are you going to go? We have little man syndrome, but we’re trying,” Carithers said.
