“Thank God for Mississippi” is an adage used in the United States, particularly in the South, that is generally used when discussing rankings of U.S. states.[1] Examples include rankings of educational achievement, business opportunities,[2] obesity rates,[3] overall health,[4] the poverty rate,[5] life expectancy, or other criteria of the quality of life or government in the 50 U.S. states.[6][7][8]
Since the U.S. state of Mississippi commonly ranks at or near the bottom of such rankings, residents of other states also ranking near the bottom may say, “Thank God for Mississippi”, since the presence of that state in 50th place spares them of being ranked last.[9] The phrase is in use even among state government officials[10][11] and journalists,[12][13][14][15] though occasionally with a slight modification
Yeah, you’ll sometimes hear it with alabama instead, but it really is a thing
As someone from Alabama we say it exclusively about Mississippi