Southaven, Mississippi

Southaven is a city in DeSoto County in the U.S. state of Mississippi and is located just on the border with the state of Tennessee, about 300 kilometers north of the capital city of Jackson. Southaven is a southern suburb of Memphis, Tennessee and is part of the Memphis metropolitan area.

At the 2010 census, the city had 48,982 residents. By 2014, the population was 51,824, of which about two-thirds are white and just under a quarter are black, with Hispanics making up the largest minority at about five percent. Overall, Southaven has seen a 78.8% increase in population from 2000 to 2014. As of February 2011, Southaven was Mississippi's third most populous city.

In 1988, Baptist Hospital-DeSoto was founded.

Darren Musselwhite has been the city's mayor since 2013. The previous mayor, Greg Davis, was involved in a scandal involving the misappropriation of city funds and was ordered to repay the city a total of more than $170,000; this penalty was upheld by the Mississippi Supreme Court after Davis appealed.

The University of Mississippi and Northwest Mississippi Community College have satellite campuses in Southaven.

Southaven has its own hockey team, the Mississippi RiverKings, who play in the Southern Professional Hockey League.

Southaven is where the 35th parallel north and the 90th parallel west intersect.

About five kilometers north of Southaven is the Memphis Airport. Interstate 55 takes you from Southaven to Jackson.

Personalities

• John Grisham (* 1955), US-American lawyer and author
• Cory Branan (* 1974), US-American singer-songwriter