Is it better to have int joins instead of string columns?

Question

Let's say I have a User which has a status and the user's status can be 'active', 'suspended' or 'inactive'.

Now, when creating the database, I was wondering... would it be better to have a column with the string value (with an enum type, or rule applied) so it's easier to both query and know the current user status or are joins better and I should join in a UserStatuses table which contains the possible user statuses?

Assuming, of course statuses can not be created by the application user.

Edit: Some clarification

1. I would NOT use string joins, it would be a int join to UserStatuses PK
2. My primary concern is performance wise
3. The possible status ARE STATIC and will NEVER change

Answer 1

On most systems it makes little or no difference to performance. Personally I'd use a short string for clarity and join that to a table with more detail as you suggest.

create table intLookup
(
pk integer primary key,
value varchar(20) not null
)
insert into intLookup (pk, value) values
(1,'value 1'),
(2,'value 2'),
(3,'value 3'),
(4,'value 4')

create table stringLookup
(
pk varchar(4) primary key,
value varchar(20) not null
)

insert into stringLookup (pk, value) values
(1,'value 1'),
(2,'value 2'),
(3,'value 3'),
(4,'value 4')



create table masterData
(
stuff varchar(50),
fkInt integer references intLookup(pk),
fkString varchar(4)references stringLookup(pk)
)
create index i on masterData(fkInt)
create index s on masterData(fkString)

insert into masterData
(stuff, fkInt, fkString)
select COLUMN_NAME, (ORDINAL_POSITION %4)+1,(ORDINAL_POSITION %4)+1 from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
go 1000

This results in 300K rows.

select 
*
from masterData m inner join intLookup i on m.fkInt=i.pk

select 
*
from masterData m inner join stringLookup s on m.fkString=s.pk

On my system (SQL Server) - the query plans, I/O and CPU are identical - execution times are identical. - The lookup table is read and processed once (in either query)

There is NO difference using an int or a string.