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SURROUNDING AREA
Hancock County is on the fast-growing Mississippi Gulf Coast just east of New Orleans. County residents have easy access to that city’s major medical, transportation, education, entertainment, cultural and recreation facilities.
Hancock County’s economy is largely influenced by the NASA-Mississippi Test Facility (MTF). At its peak employment level in 1965 MTF had 6,168 people working-most on the Apollo program. By 1972 this figure was about 1,100.
Many NASA activities are phasing out, but the facility is being used by new agencies. There is much effort by the local, State, and Federal governments to find new uses for the facility and new employment for the displaced workers.
Hancock County’s 1970 population was 17,400. The two incorporated towns in the county both border the Mississippi Sound. Bay St. Louis had a population of 6,800 in 1970 and Waveland had 3,100. Both towns grew substantially between 1960 and 1970.
The labor pool is larger than Hancock County’s population indicates, because the county is between two large metropolitan areas, Biloxi-Gulfport and New Orleans. There are one million people within 50 miles of the site.