About those freeze dates I posted earlier... .

They were collected in The Delta, specifically, in Greenwood, Mississippi. 

According to the US Census, Greenwood has a population of just over 15,000 folks, 72% of whom have graduated from high school (5% fewer than Mississippi total), and 19% of whom have a bachelor's degree or higher (same as Mississippi total). 

The median household income is almost $25,000 (compared to $37.8k in Mississippi). 

At 48%, Greenwood's home ownership rate is well below Mississippi's 70%. But-- and folks, keep in mind it's The Delta-- the "median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2006-2010" (homes and condos, right?) is about $81k, far less than Mississippi overall ($96.5k ), but still greater than my little county's $72.5k. 

Thirty-six percent of Greenwood's population is living below the poverty level (21% in Mississippi). 

Here's an interesting statistic. The percentage of foreign born persons in Greenwood is 3.1. As a percentage, there are a lot more foreign born persons in Greenwood compared to my little county (1%) and Mississippi (2.2%). Heck, statistically it's probably the same as in Starkvegas (2.9%; Go Dawgs), but no where near large as in that Rebellious Town Up North (6.3%). 

Based on these statistics, what picture are you painting of Greenwood's population? 

As a population, it is no dumber than the rest of Mississippi. A bunch of them may not be working to their full potential, but those who are are doing okay. Or so it would seem. Although the Census figures specify the parameters of the high school graduate population ("persons age 25+, 2006-2010"), it does not specify the parameters of "persons below the poverty level."  So we cannot infer that some folks with high school diplomas have incomes beneath the poverty level.

The percentage of foreign born persons is telling. You wouldn't think that a small city in The Delta (yes, 15,000 people in one place counts as a city here) would have such a large percentage of folks not born in Mississippi, let alone the USA. The census provides some clues as to who these danged foreigners (just kidding) are: Asian-owned firms, percent, 2007 =  4.0%; Mississippi =  1.8%.

Here, I have to confess that I am leading you on. I know the City of New Orleans stops in Greenwood. We picked Kat & Tony up at the station once. (It is not a pleasant place.)

Night time on The City of New Orleans
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee
Half way home, and we'll be there by morning
Through the Mississippi darkness
Rolling down to the sea
And all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rails still ain't heard the news
The conductor sings his song again
The passengers will please refrain
This train's got the disappearing railroad blues

Just as a simple matter of historical fact, towns along rail lines have had larger populations of Americans who claim Asian ancestry compared to European. This is why the United States was, and could still be if we get it together, a great country. Our product was, and still could be, freedom. There were, and still are I think, people who are willing to pay dearly for it. I know this because I read crappy old history books many of which were written for people who had not yet graduated from high school. These books often refer to data collected by way of the census. I would probably earmark $2 of what I owe the Feds to collect anonymous demographic data. 

Back to Greenwood.

The point of looking at these data is this. 

Click to enlarge

The key lines are in the middle: 

Manufacturers shipments, 2007 ($1000)    D    59,869,456

(Line. Greenwood. Mississippi.)

And in the footnotes:

D: Suppressed to avoid disclosure of confidential information

So Viking, which offers us "professional performance for the home" and is located in Greenwood, Mississippi,

has made an arrangement, or taken advantage of some sentence in some law, blah blah, such that I-- as a citizen of the state that I'm sure gives Viking credit for something-- can not take a shot at how large Viking is with respect to Greenwood.

A Viking 6-burner gas range. It ain't cheap.

I do not think there should be different rules for different entities.  The census data report that my county doesn't ship anything. However,

1: Counties with 500 employees or less are excluded.

so my county doesn't count, anyway. Leaving me to believe that if Viking employed fewer than 500 employees, it would take that way out. 

Conclusion: The folks who are doing well in Greenwood work for Viking, and they like Chinese food.

It's a Company Town.