Jackson, Mississippi

Where Jackson is

Jackson is the seat of Hinds County, with portions in Madison and Rankin counties, at 32.30°N, 90.18°W in central Mississippi. The city stands on the west bank of the Pearl River, which flows south to the Gulf of Mexico and forms part of the Louisiana border downstream. The Ross Barnett Reservoir on the river northeast of the city supplies its water. Elevation is about 280 ft. Interstates 20 and 55 cross in Jackson, linking it to Dallas, New Orleans, Memphis and Birmingham. The city is on Central Time, as is all of Mississippi.

How it became the capital

Natchez, on the Mississippi, was the capital of the territory and of the state after admission in 1817, apart from a period at the nearby town of Washington. The legislature wanted a central site and in 1821 sent commissioners to LeFleur's Bluff on the Pearl. The new town was named for Andrew Jackson, then a national hero after New Orleans, and was laid out on a checkerboard plan suggested by Thomas Jefferson. The legislature first met there in December 1822. Union troops under Sherman burned the city twice in 1863.

Population

Jackson had 153,701 residents in 2020, the largest city in Mississippi, although it has lost population every decade since 1980. Gulfport, at about 72,000, is the second-largest city. The Jackson metropolitan area, covering seven counties, has about 590,000 people, a fifth of the state's 2,961,279.

The capitol

The Old Capitol, a Greek Revival building of 1839 at the head of Capitol Street, housed the legislature until 1903 and is now a museum. The New Capitol, three blocks north, was designed by Theodore Link of St. Louis and completed in 1903 on the site of the old state penitentiary. Its dome, 180 ft high, is topped by a copper eagle covered in gold leaf. The exterior is Indiana limestone; the interior uses Vermont and Italian marble.

Distances to other cities

The Mississippi River is about 45 miles west of Jackson at Vicksburg.

Related maps

• Mississippi map — the whole state with borders, cities and counties.
• Mississippi county map · blank Mississippi map · printable Mississippi map.
• All 50 state capitals on one map, and the state capitals quiz.
• South region · East South Central division · Central Time Zone.