Counties / Mississippi / Jones County

Jones County, MS

FIPS 28067 · population 66,472 · part of Laurel, MS

$161k
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
$161k
▼ 1.6% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,133
n/a year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
8.5%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$917
market rent is 1.24x the 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+43.7%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−1.6%FHFA HPI2025+3.8%
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$143k
Surveyed gross rent$869
Rent burden 30%+50.1%
Median year built1981
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
13.4%vacant
28,826estimated housing units
Occupied tenure24.9% renter
owner 75.1%renter 24.9%
Structure mix69.9% single-family
Single-family 69.9%20+ units 1.1%Mobile home 20.7%Other 8.4%
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 jobs28,670▲ 1.0% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments1,442annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,042▲ 13.8% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorManufacturing38.7% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+1.0%WEEKLY WAGE+13.8%Manufacturing38.7%
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

Jones County’s tension is a reported gross yield against discordant price measures. Zillow’s county median home value was $160,807 in 2026-06, down 1.63% year over year; the 2025 FHFA repeat-transaction HPI rose 3.82%. Different vintages and methods mean the HPI is not a value and the rates cannot be averaged. Buyers able to validate asset-level rent and replacement risk should investigate; buyers whose exit pricing requires quick confirmation should be cautious.

02Housing economics

Median market asking rent is $1,133 monthly, producing the supplied 8.45% pre-cost gross yield against Zillow’s value. It is asking-rent evidence, not collections or an expense result. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $917 monthly is a payment standard, not market rent, and cannot derive rent or yield. The 0.74% effective tax rate adds to carrying costs; insurance, repairs, vacancy and management are not published, preventing net-yield and debt-service conclusions.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com MLS evidence shows visible supply rising and marketing time shortening, yet 21.11% of listings had reductions and the pending-to-active ratio was 44.71%. These are asking-price, visible-supply, marketing-time and seller-concession measures, not closed-sale prices or proof of demand alone. Tax-return migration was negative by 79 households, although incoming movers’ average AGI exceeded outgoing movers’ by $4,520. Investor purchase mortgages accounted for 47 of 505 total purchase mortgages, or 9.31%, a measurable non-owner-occupant component rather than the whole buyer base.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard; modeled expected building-value loss is 0.14% annually, a ratio rather than an insurance quote or property-specific loss estimate. QCEW’s 2025 county data show 28,670 annual-average covered jobs at workplaces; Manufacturing is the largest disclosed private supersector, at 38.66% of private covered employment. This is neither resident employment, unemployment, nor a forecast. Flood zone and elevation, premiums and deductibles, condition, lease collections, operating expenses, financing terms and closed-sale comparables are not published, preventing hazard-adjusted cash-flow, valuation and exit-liquidity conclusions.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Jones 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
Laurel city17.7KEllisville city4.5KSharon CDP1.9KSoso town431Sandersville town413Ovett CDP333Moselle CDP89Eastabuchie CDP*82
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

8 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Laurel cityIncorporated place
    17,679
  2. 02
    Ellisville cityIncorporated place
    4,521
  3. 03
    Sharon CDPCensus-designated place
    1,910
  4. 04
    Soso townIncorporated place
    431
  5. 05
    Sandersville townIncorporated place
    413
  6. 06
    Ovett CDPCensus-designated place
    333
  7. 07
    Moselle CDPCensus-designated place
    89
  8. 08
    Eastabuchie CDPCensus-designated place · spans 2 counties
    82

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 hazardinland flooding

0.144% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.74%

$1,053 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-79

1,128 in · 1,207 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$4,520

$48,735 arriving · $44,215 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors9.3%

47 of 505 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 listings128▲ 1.6% year over year
Median days on market62▼ 8.9% year over year
Listings price-reduced21.1%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 3.7% year over year

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

Same metro

The other counties in Laurel, MS

A metro is an average of these. Which side of a county line a property sits on can change the tax bill, the hazard profile and the tenant pool.

CountyPopulationPriceRentYieldHazard
Jones County66,472$161k$1,1338.5%inland flooding
Jasper County16,059$141kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Property-specific flood insurance, mitigation, or repair costs could erase the pre-cost yield.
  2. Asking rents may not convert into collections, occupancy, or renewal performance.
  3. MLS listing indicators may not translate into executable resale prices or exit liquidity.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

What rent measure supports the reported gross yield?

Median asking market rent is $1,133 per month; HUD’s $917 two-bedroom FMR is not market rent.

What share of purchase mortgages were investor purchase mortgages?

Investor purchase mortgages were 47 of 505 total purchase mortgages, or 9.31%.

What hazard metric is published for the county?

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, with modeled expected building-value loss of 0.14% per year.