Mississippi does not fare well on most national rankings. That trend continued as WalletHub.com published a series of rankings on multiple categories that compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Mississippi ranked at or near the bottom on most.

Innovative states – Mississippi ranked at the bottom. Among factors considered the state ranked at the bottom on share of venture capital spending per capita, STEM professionals, and science and engineering graduates and among the bottom three on share of technology companies, eighth grade math and science performance, and innovation environment.

Impact from immigration – Mississippi ranked at the bottom. The state was among the bottom three on brain gain, immigrant work force, and international students.

At-risk youth – Louisiana edged out Mississippi for the state with the most at-risk youth. Mississippi ranked at the bottom on youth labor force participation rate, third from the bottom on youth poverty, and fifth from the bottom on obesity.

Wallet Hub factoid: “At least 70% of young adults today are ineligible to join the U.S. military because they fail academic, moral or health qualifications.”

Safest states – Mississippi ranked next to last. Notably the state ranked 23rd on personal and residential safety but 49th on financial safety, 50th on road safety, and 47th on workplace safety.

Best places to retire – Mississippi ranked next to last. Notably the state ranked 1st on adjusted cost of living and 2nd on lowest annual cost of in-home services, but 50th on quality of life, 49th on health care, and 50th on life expectancy.

Health care systems – Mississippi ranked 48th, barely ahead of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Alabama. The state ranked last on infant mortality rates and within the bottom five on percentage of insured adults age 19 to 64, physicians per capita, and heart disease rates.

Gambling addictions – Mississippi ranked fourth worst, behind Nevada, South Dakota, and Montana. The state was in the bottom five on gambling friendliness and gambling problems and treatment.

Best state to find a job – Mississippi ranked 45th. The state ranked in the bottom 10 on job availability, economic environment, and average starting salary.

Quality of public schools – Mississippi ranked 45th, ahead of Oklahoma, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Louisiana, and New Mexico.

Early education systems – Mississippi ranked 35th. Notably, Arkansas ranked number one.

Most sinful states – Mississippi ranked 27th. The state ranked among the most for laziness and greed, but among the least for vanity and lust.

Among other rankings, Mississippi ranked 28th among most patriotic states and 40th among states with most racial equality.

Hmmm.

Interesting that Arkansas ranked number one on early education systems, an investment that research shows will benefit other rankings significantly over time.

Hello Mississippi.

PS: Out of 150 major cities, Hub Wallet ranked Jackson next to worst as a “best run” city, just ahead of Detroit. Among the factors considered Jackson ranked 146th on financial stability, 98th on education, 120th on health, 141st on safety, 122nd on economy, and 149th on infrastructure and pollution.

“Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it” – Proverbs 13:11.

Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson