Mississippi rental market data

Apartment List's Mississippi recent-lease rent was $1,097 in July 2026, up from $1,090 a year earlier, or 0.6%. Its separate Vacancy Index fell by 0.7 percentage points, from 5.7% to 5.0%. That is a firmer occupancy signal than the small rent increase alone would suggest, but neither measure identifies which local markets or property types account for the change.

The counter-signal is relative rather than absolute: the supplied national recent-lease rent measure fell 1.1%, while Mississippi rose, and Mississippi's vacancy rate was 2.1 percentage points below the national measure. These are Apartment List series, not Zillow rent or Census vacancy. No Mississippi time-on-market observation is supplied, so they do not show how quickly vacant units leased.

Zillow rent growth had a 4.4% median across nine measured metros, while home-value growth had a 1.8% median across 10. The supplied difference is 2.5 percentage points. Rent growth ranged from 2.3% at the 10th percentile to 5.9% at the 90th, whereas home-value growth ranged from -0.2% to 4.3%.

Meridian, MS illustrates the separation: measured rent rose 7.2% while home value rose 0.1%. Its supplied gross-yield screen was 13.9%, based on a $122,080 value and $1,412 monthly rent. That ratio is not a net return and does not account for vacancy, repairs, taxes, insurance, management or whether the quoted rent is achievable for a specific property.

Employment change had a -0.4% median across 10 measured metros, with a 10th-to-90th-percentile range from -1.0% to 1.2%. Migration records covering 81 counties showed a net loss of 3,063 people, equal to -1.0 per 1,000 residents. Those measures caution against treating tighter state rental vacancy as proof of broad household-demand growth.

Local and income-based counter-signals are present. Employment rose 2.9% in Oxford, MS, 1.0% in Starkville, MS and 0.8% in Laurel, MS. Inbound mover aggregate adjusted gross income also exceeded outbound mover income by $97,027 despite the population outflow. These exceptions support market-specific screening, but they do not establish rental absorption or tenant income at an individual asset.

Across eight metros with Redfin supply and marketing measures, months of supply ran from 2.9 at the 10th percentile to 17.7 at the 90th. Median days on market spanned 25.7 to 82.0 over the same percentile range, and the median share with price drops was 27.6%. These distributions imply materially different resale assumptions across covered metros.

Gulfport, MS had 3,390 permitted units, or 8.05 per 1,000 residents, alongside 3.7 months of resale supply, 49 days on market and a 28.2% price-drop share. Starkville, MS presented a different mix: 9.0 months of supply and 89 days on market, but only 11.1% price drops and a 101.3% sale-to-list measure. A long marketing period therefore does not, by itself, establish the eventual discount or depth of buyer demand.

ACS housing vacancy across all 82 counties had a 16.8% median and a 10th-to-90th-percentile range of 10.8% to 23.5%. The median renter share was 25.1%. This is vacancy across the housing stock, not Apartment List rental vacancy, and it cannot identify whether vacant units are rentable, habitable or available at current market terms.

At the same time, the median county share of renters paying at least 30% of income toward rent was 48.9%, reaching 58.8% at the 90th percentile. The highlighted burden rates were 74.5% in Jefferson Davis County, 72.9% in Wayne County and 65.8% in Greene County. High total housing vacancy therefore does not establish affordable, usable rental supply, while the burden measures limit what can be inferred from asking-rent growth.

FEMA's mutually exclusive leading-hazard labels classify 73 counties under inland flood, eight under hurricane and one under earthquake. These counts do not overlap, but a county's leading label is not parcel-level exposure. The county FEMA loss-ratio median was 0.159%, versus 0.237% at the 90th percentile. Highlighted ratios were 0.501% in George County, 0.408% in Pearl River County and 0.397% in Jackson County.

Effective property-tax rates had a 0.69% county median and a 0.93% 90th percentile. The highlighted rates were 1.12% in Coahoma County, 1.06% in Quitman County and 1.03% in Grenada County. These measures can refine an initial expense screen, but neither FEMA county ratios nor ACS tax measures substitute for parcel quotes, current assessments or insurance terms.