601 Area Code 🌍☎️

Jackson is the capital and most populous city of Mississippi, located on the Pearl River in the Deep South halfway between Memphis and New Orleans on Interstate 55, with a 2020 population of 153,701 and a metropolitan area of 592,000 residents. Founded in 1821 as the state's centrally located capital and named after General Andrew Jackson, a War of 1812 hero and seventh U.S. president, the city was destroyed by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's forces during the 1863 siege following the Battle of Vicksburg. Jackson became Mississippi's most populous city during the 1920s natural gas boom, surpassing Meridian, and serves as a major cultural hub known as "The City with Soul" for its prominent blues, gospel, jazz, and folk music heritage. The city hosts numerous museums and cultural institutions including the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, Mississippi Museum of Art, and Mississippi Children's Museum, along with the Mississippi Coliseum and home of the Jackson State Tigers football team. As of 2020, the Jackson metropolitan area generated $30 billion in GDP, representing 29 percent of Mississippi's total economic output. Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is the county seat of Forrest County and the 5th most populous city in Mississippi with a 2020 population of 48,730, serving as the principal city of the Hattiesburg Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing four counties in the Pine Belt region. Founded in 1882 by civil engineer William H. Hardy and incorporated in 1884 with approximately 400 residents, the city was named in honor of Hardy's wife Hattie and earned the nickname "The Hub City" in 1912 due to its position at the intersection of major railroad lines. The city's early growth was driven by the lumber and railroad industries, particularly following the 1897 completion of the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad connecting Gulfport to Jackson through Hattiesburg. Today, Hattiesburg is a prominent university town home to the University of Southern Mississippi (founded as Mississippi Normal College) and William Carey University, located less than 100 miles from Jackson, the Gulf Coast, New Orleans, and Mobile. South of the city lies Camp Shelby, the largest U.S. National Guard training base east of the Mississippi River, which trains up to 100,000 National Guardsmen and Reservists annually. Meridian is Mississippi's eighth most populous city with 35,052 residents as of the 2020 census, located 93 miles east of Jackson and serving as the county seat of Lauderdale County. Established in 1860 at the junction of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and Southern Railway of Mississippi, the city became a major trading and manufacturing hub until General William Tecumseh Sherman destroyed much of it during the February 1864 Battle of Meridian. Rebuilt after the Civil War, Meridian entered a "Golden Age" and was the largest city in Mississippi from 1890 to 1930, with its historic 1906 Union Station now serving approximately 242,360 passengers annually through Amtrak and Greyhound. The economy is currently sustained by military installations Naval Air Station Meridian and Key Field, which employ over 4,000 people, along with healthcare provider Ochsner Rush Health employing 2,610, despite the decline of the railroad industry. Meridian is known as the birthplace of Jimmie Rodgers, the "Father of Country Music," and features notable landmarks including the Highland Park Dentzel Carousel - a National Historic Landmark and the world's only two-row stationary Dentzel menagerie - along with the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience in its downtown.