Lowndes County nationally recognized for economic development
LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – The saying goes, “you reap what you sow.”
In Lowndes County, the seeds of economic development have been producing a bumper crop of successes.
This month, the County was recognized nationally for its accomplishments in the industrial world.
“We’ve created an environment where we have many big things to announce every month when it comes to economic development. And so, we’ve seen those things come to fruition. And I think it’s nice to be nationally recognized for the things we’ve done in Lowndes County,” said Trip Hairston, the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors president.
The award-winning industry magazine Site Selection ranked Lowndes County 17th in its Top County Per Capita list for 2025.
“Your big cities always do big numbers, but when you do it per capita, it kind of evens out everybody. And for us to be in the top 20, actually number 17, for the country, I think it’s a big honor. I think it’s a big testament of what we’ve been able to do,” said Joe Max Higgins, the CEO of the Golden Triangle Development Link.
The rankings are based on the total number of points awarded to counties for the amount of projects between January 2024 and March 2025.
Aluminum Dynamics and FedEx are some of the projects that helped land Lowndes County on this list.
“They create jobs, and that’s what benefits the community the most. And these aren’t low paying jobs. On average, the last big announcement with the Aluminum Mill, you’re looking on average of $90,000+ a year for a thousand or more jobs,” said Hairston.
The award also highlights the hard work county leaders put into facilitating a project.
The Golden Triangle Development Link hopes the success will continue in years to come for the neighboring counties.
“Our goals are to bring high paying, high capital investment projects into the Golden Triangle. And we’re hoping with the new Cinco mega site that we unveiled, that we’ll be able to do that sooner rather than later,” said Higgins.
Marshall County in Mississippi also landed on Site Selection’s list at number 20.
