City Accomplishments

The City of Hattiesburg has garnered a multitude of awards and distinctions over recent years. We're proud to share some of these honors with you. We've categorized a partial list of the more distinguished accolades below.

Economic Development

Hattiesburg, MS MSA ranked 68th among 313 metropolitan areas in the United States for "economic strength" according to Where the Money is...America's Strongest Local Economies written by economist William H. Fruth and published by POLICOM Corporation of Jupiter, Florida, in 1997.
Hattiesburg Is Hot! A 1999 issue of Expansion Management Magazine ranked Hattiesburg Mississippi 42nd nationally for business expansion and relocation.

Retirement

In its September/October 2008 issue, Where to Retire magazine, the only magazine in America geared to helping people with retirement relocation decisions, profiles Hattiesburg as on of eight towns with safe and well maintained cycling trails and amenities suitable for retirement.? The Longleaf Trace is rated one of the top trails in the nation and runs through piney woods, wetlands and small towns in Southeast Mississippi.
In the most recent edition of Where to Retire: America's Best and Most Affordable Places, Hattiesburg is listed among the 150 communities in the United States desirable for retirement living. The City of Hattiesburg was one of only 11 cities in Mississippi listed in the publication.
Hattiesburg's retirement program was featured on the front page of the May 24, 1997, edition of The New York Times. The article touts Hattiesburg's high quality of life, cultural opportunities, and state-of-the art medical facilities.
Hattiesburg landed two listings in the 1997 Places Rated Almanac by David Savegeau and Richard Boyer.
Hattiesburg was one of five cities listed as "Best Cities for Retirement" as well as one of five cities listed as "Best Small Metro Areas." As if this wasn't enough good news - an interview highlighting the 1997 edition was featured on NBC's Today Show. Hattiesburg was one of the main cities discussed in the December 1996 interview.
In the July 1996 issue of Retire with Money, a newsletter published by Money Magazine, Hattiesburg was featured as the "Retirement Community of the Month." This publication enjoys a circulation of 100,000 people.
Mississippi was the only state to rate two listings in the "20 Top Retirement Towns in North America" chosen by MoneyExtra, a publication of Money Magazine. Hattiesburg and Oxford, two of Mississippi's Certified Retirement Cities, made the prestigious listing in the company of longtime retirement havens such as Palm Springs, CA; Sedona, AZ; Hot Springs, AR; and Myrtle Beach, SC.
The prestigious "Kiplinger Washington Letter" rated Hattiesburg as one of the "Top Ten College Towns for Grownups" for its combination of rich academic and cultural environment with great health care, reasonable costs of living and natural beauty.
Hattiesburg's retirement program made its prime time TV debut on NBC's Nightly News, June 18th, 1997.
Hattiesburg was featured as part of the series, "Starting Over," which was aimed at older Americans who are facing life changes, including relocation. If Hattiesburg had purchased an advertising spot lasting three minutes on the Nightly News, it would cost $300,000. Using the Ogilvy Principle, which states that third-party endorsements are at least five times more credible, more effective and more valuable than a pure advertisement, Hattiesburg's segment on NBC would yield an advertising impact of $1.5 million.

Awards

2010 Excellence Award in the City Spirit Category for the R3SM Volunteer House as recognized by the Mississippi Municipal League
Hattiesburg named one of the 50 Top Adventure Towns in the August 2007 and in August of 2010 by National Geographic Adventure Magazine Where to Live and Play Now.
City of Hattiesburg named Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation. This is the tenth year that Hattiesburg has received this national recognition.
Hattiesburg was awarded first runner-up in the Seventh Annual City Cultural Diversity Awards given by the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials (NBC-LEO) at the Celebrate Diversity Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on March 10, 2002. Hattiesburg placed second nationwide for cities of 25,000 to 100,000 populations for its "Neighborhood Revitalization" program, which included the Council of Neighborhoods, which Mayor Johnny DuPree instituted upon taking office.
The Saenger Theatre has been selected to receive a Heritage Award of Excellence at the 2002 Heritage Awards Luncheon and Ceremony on April 27, 2002, at Key Field in Meridian
Hattiesburg was selected as a 1999 Smart Choice Select City by the National Strategy Group on November 10, 1998. This distinction is extended to the top 1 % of cities and towns in America based on recreational opportunities, quality education, seasonal climate as well as additional factors. Smart Choice Select Cities are promoted nationwide to individuals considering relocation.
April 20, 1998, Hattiesburg named a top 30 finalist for the "All America City" (AAC) award.
The July 1998 issue of Money Magazine ranked Hattiesburg 133 out of 300 of "The Best Places to Live in America 1997." Key issues such as clean water, low crime, clean air, good public schools and low property taxes were considered in the ranking system.
Hattiesburg is home to two of Mississippi's largest hospitals ranked by number of licensed beds. Forrest General Hospital ranked 6th and Wesley Medical Center ranked 17th.(Mississippi Business Journal 12-8-97)
The City of Hattiesburg took the Governor's Tree City USA Award at the 1997 National Arbor Day Awards Luncheon. This top award, developed in 1997 as a cooperative effort of the Mississippi Urban Forrest Council, Inc. and the Office of the Governor, was designed to recognize the most outstanding efforts in urban forest management by a Tree City USA for the 1996 calendar year.(Mississippi Municipalities Dec./Jan. 1997/1998)
Money Magazine recently ranked the Hattiesburg metropolitan area at 17th on the list of most livable small southern cities (southern cities with a population of 100,000 to 249,900). (Money Magazine July 1998)
Hattiesburg is the sixth most popular destination for American's relocating to small cities (defined as those with populations uner 100,000), according to the 1995 Ryder Relocation Report.
Hattiesburg was rated first in healthcare and among the country's top ten for desirability and shopping availability by a nationwide survey of more than 200 small American cities. Hattiesburg's cost of living consistently falls nearly 10% below the national average according to the American Chamber of Commerce Research Association (ACCRA).

Chamber

Old Time Festival was chosen as one of the "Top 100 Events" for 1998 by the Special Events Directory and Events Business News, the two leading publications in the special events industry. Old Time Festival was chosen from an extensive data base of over 38,000 events. Old Time Festival was featured on a "Coast to Coast" event map.
A 1996 Leaders for A New Century project, "Host," was selected as one of the top three projects in the state's BOLD Projects of Excellence competition.
Old Time Festival was chosen by the Southeast Tourism Society (STS) as a Top 20 Event for April 1997. STS is a non-profit organization whose goals and objectives are to develop, market and promote travel to and within the Southeastern states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

University of Southern Mississippi

As a charter member of Conference USA, USM was conference champion in 1997 and 1998 - for the first two years of the conference and 1998 Liberty Bowl Champions.
In the March 1996 issue of U.S. News and World Report, the Polymer Science Institute at USM was acknowledged as third in the nation among special programs.
The New York-based Institute of International Education ranked USM fifth nationally in number of students who went abroad to study in 1994-95. According to the institute study, 500 USM students were among more than 84,000 U.S. students studying abroad during 1994-95. This is the second consecutive year USM has been listed in the study's top 10.
USM is one of only twelve colleges and universities in the U.S. to be accredited in all four disciplines of visual arts, music, theatre and dance. The USM College of the Arts is the only comprehensive arts college in the State of Mississippi.

Tourism

The Hattiesburg Convention & Visitor's Bureau (HCVB) received the industry's top public relations award on February 4, 1997, for its role in making Hattiesburg a pre-Olympic training site. The HCVB received three gold and one platinum award in addition to the Edward L. Bernays "Best of Show" Award at the seventh annual Travel Industry awards, sponsored by Hospitality Sales & Merketing Association International (HSMAI).

State

More than 125,000 net new jobs have been created in Mississippi since 1992.
Site Selection magazine ranked Mississippi #2 in job creation from 1992-1994.
Whirlpool Corporation ranked Mississippi's business climate #1 for the last three years.

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