What are the main differences between Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi?

15 comments

1. Louisiana is more French, culturally and organizationally, than the other two.

2. Louisiana is strongly influenced by French and Acadian culture in a way that is unlike anywhere else in the US. It’s also well known for having a large region of swampy territory along the gulf. And it’s the only one of the three states with a genuinely well-known tourist destination city, New Orleans, the only city in all three states with more than 300,000 people.

   Alabama and Mississippi are *somewhat* similar to one another. Alabama is relatively more urban than Mississippi, in that it has a handful of large-ish cities and is substantially more populous. Jackson MS is the only city in MS with more than 100,000 people and it’s been shrinking for decades. Alabama has five and several of them are growing.

   Alabama also has more of an industrial base and more universities, and a NASA installation. Mississippi is still predominantly rural.

3. Well, the spelling, for starters.

   Outside of that, I’m not really sure what you want to know. They’re all states with SEC West teams. Mississippi and Alabama are more likely to have tornadoes, Louisiana is more likely to flood.

4. Louisiana has a lot of French influence. There are communities in Louisiana where French is the dominant language. New Orleans is in Louisiana, and it’s one of the most unique cities in the US. It’s the home of Mardi Gras, voodoo, and jazz. Cajun/creole food is unique to Louisiana and is one of the best cuisines in the US. The Louisiana accent is somewhat different from a “normal” Southern accent.

   Mississippi has the largest Black population in the US. It’s the home of the blues, Elvis Presley, Britney Spears, and Oprah Winfrey.

   Alabama is where the biggest battles of the Civil Rights movement were fought. Huntsville is a tech hub and center for NASA.

5. Better food in Louisiana

6. Louisiana is the only state whose legal system is closer to French and Spanish civil law than to the English common law that’s the basis in other states. Their largest administrative subdivisions are called parishes instead of counties.

   Though tourists aren’t likely to notice or care about these differences.

7. Louisiana and the gulf coast of Mississippi and Alabama were controlled by the Spanish and French before coming under English control, and the French influence on culture still exists to this day.

   Geographically, Louisiana and and Mississippi are dominated by the Mississippi River delta. Alabama stretches from the very southern end of the Appalachian mountains to the gulf so you surprisingly find lots of rolling hills in the north of the state: [https://www.al.com/life-and-culture/erry-2018/08/157e3ed4074007/these-10-alabama-mountains-hav.html](https://www.al.com/life-and-culture/erry-2018/08/157e3ed4074007/these-10-alabama-mountains-hav.html)

   New Orleans dominates the region culturally. Birmingham was known as Iron City and the “Pittsburgh of the South” for all the steel mills.

8. Louisiana has New Orleans.

9. Alabama’s the most historically industrial state in the south. Birmingham was founded to be a steel manufacturing city; shipbuilding became a bigger deal in Mobile for the war effort during WWII; and NASA became a thing afterward in Huntsville where parts where made in Decatur. Alabama started the South’s recent car/heavy manufacturing trend, and while Louisiana & Mississippi did initially step into the arena, that type of development is still more of a AL/SC/GA/TN thing. Unlike the other two, Alabama is about half upland south (about a third in land area and about 3/5 in population). While Alabama does have one of the biggest deltas in the South, its coast is primarily beach similar to the Florida panhandle. This is where Tuskegee is, and if you heard of less politically related black scientists and engineers/businessmen (like George Washington Carver), it’s most likely involving Alabama compared to the others. While Alabama does have a strong musical background, I wouldn’t associate it with a genre as much as music production, particularly the Shoals area which has a couple of mass hit producing studios responsible for songs primarily from the 60s-90s.

   Louisiana has a strong French history, whereas the other two have a mess of French/Spanish/British turnovers. This is why the French culture is more prevalent in Louisiana (Similar architecture is in the coastal parts of the other two as well). New Orleans is a thing unto itself. And while not the originator of Mardi Gras, the New Orleans version is probably more familiar than the moon pie throwing version from Mobile. Louisiana’s economy is much more dependent on the oil industry (AL and to a lesser degree MS would be more a mix with coal if anything energy related). Jazz, Cajun food, etc. are more associated with Louisiana. Unlike the other states, the vast majority of the population lives south near the coastal areas (which are more swamps than beachy Florida).

   Mississippi is the most rural of the three. Though its a bit misleading in thinking Mississippi’s biggest city is Jackson. The biggest Mississippi cities are Memphis and New Orleans, which just happen to be outside the state. It is, however, the most agricultural of the three. While Mississippi is economically tied to Louisiana, it’s not so much tied to Alabama (which leans more towards Nashville and Atlanta economically, and more likely to go visit the Florida panhandle than Mississippi/Louisiana). If Louisiana can be associated with Jazz, I’d say Mississippi can be more represented by blues and rock. This is the birthplace of Elvis, after all. I’d say Mississippi is the most evenly spread across the state compared to the other two, but its a bit misleading since Mississippi has a lower population and it’s more like AL & LA density if they had lost all their main cities. Mississippi’s city/towns are older like Louisiana’s compared to Alabama’s, as, outside Mobile, the majority of Alabama was essentially Indian territory until right up until statehood. Mississippi had a slightly better record of getting towns established beforehand, like Natchez. They just didn’t grow as much.

10. Louisiana has New Orleans, Cajuns are more swamps.

    Mississippi is rural (the largest city has population 150k) and is famous for being the birthplace of Elvis.

    Alabama is a more urban version of Mississippi and is famous for many events of the Civil Rights era.

11. Louisiana has better food. Alabama has better football.

12. Aside from cultural differences, the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains lie in Alabama, so it is generally more mountainous than either Mississippi or Louisiana.

13. Crawfish, football, and poverty.

14. Couldn’t tell you 🤷‍♀️

15. Well in Alabama they don’t go to the mall they just go down the hall