Counties / Mississippi / George County

George County, MS

FIPS 28039 · population 25,170 · outside every metro area

$216k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$216k
▲ 2.9% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$844
occupied-unit survey; not current asking rent
Census ACS · surveyed
Gross yield
n/a
gross yield cannot be computed without measured market rent
requires both measured price and measured rent
HUD 2-bed standard
$921
the Section 8 payment standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

The annual signals disagree
FHFA five-year cumulative+30.0%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+2.9%FHFA HPI2025−10.1%
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$167k
Surveyed gross rent$844
Rent burden 30%+28.7%
Median year built1989
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
10.3%vacant
10,373estimated housing units
Occupied tenure17.9% renter
owner 82.1%renter 17.9%
Structure mix79.7% single-family
Single-family 79.7%20+ units 0.1%Mobile home 16.6%Other 3.5%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs5,352▲ 2.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments416annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$886▲ 11.2% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities35.2% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+2.1%WEEKLY WAGE+11.2%Trade, transportation, and utilities35.2%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

George County presents a valuation-versus-carrying-cost diligence case, suited to investors able to verify property-level rents, insurance and comparable sales; others should be cautious. Zillow’s county median home value was $216,267 in June 2026, up 2.89% year over year, while FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI for annual 2025 fell 10.05%. These are different vintages and methods: the index is not a home value, and the conflict prevents treating either direction as settled.

02Housing economics

No county market asking rent is published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $921 per month is a payment standard, not a market-rent estimate, and cannot fill that gap. The effective property-tax rate is 0.63%; it is a known carrying-cost input alongside an insurance burden not published in the record. Underwriting can compare price and tax exposure, but cannot establish rent coverage, operating margin, or a rent-to-FMR relationship from this record.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s June 2026 MLS snapshot shows 67 active listings, with 22.44% reduced, evidence of visible asking-market supply and seller concessions rather than closed-sale pricing or buyer demand. Tax-return households produced net migration of 96, and incoming mover AGI exceeded outgoing mover AGI by $9,137. Non-owner purchase mortgages were 10 of 321 total purchases, or 3.12%, so investor participation appears limited in this measure. QCEW is annual covered employment at county workplaces, not resident employment; Trade, transportation, and utilities is its largest disclosed private supersector.

04Risk & next checks

Hurricane is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.50% of building value; that county-level ratio should be matched to parcel flood, wind, condition, deductible and insurance evidence, not converted into a dollar loss here. The thesis could change with market-rent comps, current insurance quotes, property-level taxes, closed-sale comps, vacancy and repair data. Verify whether the price-measure disagreement persists, whether MLS reductions translate to completed-sale discounts, and whether any target’s hazard cost overwhelms its unmeasured income.

Cities & communities

Where people live within George County

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Lucedale city3KAgricola CDP388Benndale CDP18
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

3 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Lucedale cityIncorporated place
    2,995
  2. 02
    Agricola CDPCensus-designated place
    388
  3. 03
    Benndale CDPCensus-designated place
    18

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardhurricane

0.501% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.63%

$1,044 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+96

563 in · 467 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$9,137

$57,970 arriving · $48,833 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors3.1%

10 of 321 mortgages

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings67▲ 15.7% year over year
Median days on market66▲ 23.5% year over year
Listings price-reduced22.4%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 11.4% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

No rent index is published for this county.Zillow’s county rent series does not cover every county, and estimating one from a neighbouring county would be a guess wearing a number’s clothes. Everything above is measured here; no wider market is mapped for it either.
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Market rent, vacancy, repair costs and insurance quotes are not published, preventing revenue and operating-margin underwriting.
  2. The Zillow and FHFA measures point in different directions and may not resolve into a consistent property-level valuation signal.
  3. County-level hurricane loss modeling may differ materially from a target property’s wind, flood and insurance exposure.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. County market asking rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot be substituted for market rent.

What do the two supplied price measures show?

Zillow’s June 2026 county median home value rose year over year, while FHFA’s annual 2025 repeat-transaction index declined; they use different methods and vintages.

How much purchase activity was attributed to non-owner buyers?

Non-owner purchase mortgages accounted for 3.12% of total purchases in the supplied record.