If you want to be a gentleman farmer and have a good bit of land, you can't get that in Germantown or Cordova any more. The downside is the 5-percent state income tax here. Former Memphis Mayor Dick Hackett lives a few miles away. Hackett says DeSoto County's rolling hills and shared yards remind him of the Whitehaven neighborhood where he grew up. On several occasions, the ex-mayor says, strangers have knocked on his door to inquire about buying land even though there are no signs outside.
Nothing is more important to a growing family community than good schools.
And nothing is more important to good schools than good teachers and principals. It's the Memphis City Schools system, even though bashing Memphis schools is a favorite pastime of DeSoto County boosters. DeSoto County schools are only average in teacher pay and student test scores, even by Mississippi standards. What is undeniable is that several veteran Memphis educators are finding a second life in DeSoto County, where they trade rank and a pay cut for less stress, a smaller bureaucracy, and increased retirement benefits. We have good working conditions and a supportive central office.