Between 2015 and 2023, the most recent data available, the average income here increased by almost 30%, according to the United States census. The number of short -term rentals in the county has almost tripled from May 2024 to May 2025, according to Airdna data, which tracks the Airbnb listings and similar services, as the owners increasingly serve the workers of the steel industry.
“Housing is a great need,” said Blytheville mayor Melisa Logan.
“I used to say a ‘housing desert’, but now I am in a housing crisis.”
Logan said he has tried to find solutions to these housing problems. She said she spends time in networks with developers and builders, hoping that they can bring projects to Blytheville.
The efforts of steel manufacturers are also encouraged to encourage full -time employees to stay local. “If you trust us to win our lives,” said Logan, “he must trust us enough to raise his family.”
Approximately half of the Mississippi County Siderurgic Workers, according to Chitwood, of the Great River Economic Development Foundation.
A new program called “Work here, lives here”, sponsored by Big River Steel Works, Hybar and other companies, will provide workers in the steel industry that stay In their jobs for at least four years to $ 50,000 to build or buy new houses in the area. One hundred sixty -three have already registered.
“You understand these families. School districts do better. They bring restaurants, hotels,” said Dan Brown, vice president and operations director of Big River Steel Works. “The community begins to accumulate.”
