Besides thousands of new jobs which have been created in ship building and construction of offshore drilling rig platforms at shipyards in Pascagoula, the city is also continuing to see growth at the Naval Station in Pascagoula. A total of 387 officers and enlisted sailors with an estimated 182 families were stationed at the Naval Station in Pascagoula when the Aegis guided missile cruiser USS Thomas S. Gates was reassigned to Pascagoula in mid June. The entire Mississippi Coast has grown rapidly since the first casino, the Isle of Capri, opened six years ago. The Harrison County Development Commission has estimated that the Coast's population has increased from 350,000 to 440,000 since 1990. Moreover, populations and businesses have tended to move toward lower-cost regions of the country in recent years.
Statistical analysis shows that population growth has only slightly increased living costs.
Its residents had the fifth highest per capita income in 1991 and paid the highest median price for homes in 1990. The IHL report said these characteristics are typical of other counties with relatively high living costs such as Hinds and DeSoto. For example, it has not been possible to fully capture the impact of gaming, which is likely to have raised the cost of living in those counties with casinos beyond what is shown by the statistics. The top 10 counties for the highest wages are DeSoto, Hinds, Lauderdale, Warren, Madison, Rankin, Lee, Scott, Harrison and Lowndes.