The best and worst places to live if you only care about money

Natchez, Mississippi, is a town of about 15,000 people nestled on the Mississippi River. It's pretty, pretty enough to be a popular wedding destination. It's racially diverse. It's got a college campus, multiple art galleries, good steakhouses and southern eateries, a brewery, and a decent nightlife. Natchez's tourism agency says the town offers "a taste of true southern hospitality" and "a visit to Natchez feels like coming home."

But Natchez may hold even more appeal for the roughly 60 percent of American adults who have not graduated from college. A fascinating new study by Stanford University economist Rebecca Diamond and UC Berkeley economist Enrico Moretti finds that Natchez and its surrounding area offers one of the highest standards of living in America for workers without college degrees.

The conventional wisdom has long been that most workers — no matter their education or skills — should move to big metropolitan areas with lucrative, globally competitive industries, where they can