States / Mississippi

State rental intelligence

Mississippi rental market data

A source-traced view across 10 metro markets and 82 counties. State figures below are labelled medians and totals—not a made-up statewide investment score.

9/10 metros scored82/82 counties with FEMA risk13 sources used in this analysis

Median scored metro45.0out of 100 · 9 measured metros

Mississippi identity diorama showing regional landscape, cities, housing, and infrastructure

Median metro home value$218kmedian across published metro values

Median metro rent$1,424monthly · published metro values

Median gross yield7.7%annual rent ÷ price · before costs

Median job trend▼ 0.4%trailing 12-month metro employment

State research brief

Measured rents are rising faster than home values even as median job growth and net migration are negative, making tenant depth—not headline yield—the central Mississippi screen.

Updated 2026-07-31 · evidence current to the releases listed below.

Across measured metros, median rent growth was 4.4% while median home-value growth was 1.8%, a 2.5 percentage-point gap. That apparent income advantage lacks broad demand confirmation: median metro employment growth was -0.4%, and measured county migration was a net -3,063 people, or -1.0 per 1,000 residents.

The practical screen is local rather than statewide. Positive employment pockets, strong gross yields and rising rents are genuine counter-signals, but resale conditions, renter strain, vacancy and physical risk vary materially. These data can identify markets requiring deeper lease, employment, exit and insurance checks; they cannot establish property-level occupancy, achievable rent or net return.

Median metro rent growth of 4.4% versus 1.8% home-value growth → verify whether local signed leases support the measured income advantage

Median metro job growth of -0.4% and net migration of -3,063 → require locality-specific evidence of tenant depth rather than relying on statewide rent momentum

Median supply of 3.7 months but a ninetieth percentile of 17.7 months → use market-specific resale timing and concession assumptions

Median gross yield of 7.7% alongside 28.5% rent-to-income and 48.9% county rent burden → test achieved rent, collections and vacancy before treating gross yield as durable

County hazard-loss and property-tax measures have material outliers → obtain parcel-specific insurance and current tax inputs

Price and rent momentum

Rent growth leads home-value growth across measured metros

Median rent growth was 4.4% across nine measured metros, compared with 1.8% median home-value growth across 10. The packet reports a 2.5 percentage-point rent-growth advantage. The underlying ranges are also positive at their lower ends for rents: metro rent growth ran from 2.3% at the tenth percentile to 5.9% at the ninetieth, while home-value growth ranged from -0.2% to 4.3%.

Meridian, MS shows the clearest selected separation, with rent up 7.2%, home value up 0.1% and a 13.9% gross yield. Starkville, MS recorded 5.6% rent growth against 1.9% home-value growth. These are useful income screens, but indexed market rent and gross yield do not show signed-lease rent, collection performance or operating expenses.

Evidence: Zillow ZHVI — metro home values · Zillow ZORI — metro market rents

Employment and household movement

Broad demand measures are soft, but employment pockets remain

Median employment growth across 10 measured metros was -0.4%, with the distribution running from -1.0% at the tenth percentile to 1.2% at the ninetieth. Across 81 counties with migration data, net movement was -3,063 people, equal to -1.0 per 1,000 residents. Aggregate income associated with movers offers a modest counter-signal: inflow AGI exceeded outflow AGI by $97,027.

Local employment results are more constructive than the metro median. Oxford, MS recorded 2.9% growth, Starkville, MS 1.0% and Laurel, MS 0.8%. Screening should therefore connect a property's tenant base to its local employment result rather than treating rent momentum as evidence of statewide demand strength. The packet does not identify employer concentration, household formation or neighborhood-level renter movement.

Evidence: Census ACS 5-year — population · BLS CES — payroll employment · BLS LAUS — resident employment · IRS SOI — county migration and mover income

Supply and resale conditions

Typical resale conditions hide a long tail of slow markets

Among eight metros with resale measures, median supply was 3.7 months and median marketing time was 41 days, but the ninetieth percentiles reached 17.7 months and 82 days. The median price-drop share was 27.6%. That spread makes a statewide exit assumption unreliable even when the middle of the distribution appears manageable.

Permit activity is also concentrated. Gulfport, MS recorded 3,390 permits, or 8.1 per 1,000 residents; Oxford, MS recorded 560, or 7.9 per 1,000; and Jackson, MS recorded 2,052, or 3.4 per 1,000. Permits do not establish completed competing units. Starkville, MS provides a counter-signal to a simple slow-market reading: it had 89 days on market and 9.0 months of supply, yet its sale-to-list ratio was 101.3% and its price-drop share was 11.1%.

Evidence: Census Building Permits Survey — permitted units · Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts

Entry cost and affordability

Headline yields coexist with meaningful rent stretch

Gross yields across 10 measured metros had a median of 7.7%, with a tenth-to-ninetieth-percentile range of 6.9% to 9.4%. Median rent-to-income was 28.5%, rising to 38.7% at the ninetieth percentile. Market rent was 135.9% of the HUD fair-market-rent benchmark at the median and 177.5% at the ninetieth percentile.

Meridian, MS combines a $122,080 home value, $1,412 monthly rent and 13.9% gross yield. Its rent-to-income measure is 34.0%, while its price-to-income ratio is 2.45. That combination supports a low-entry-cost screen but not a net-return conclusion: the packet does not deduct vacancy, repairs, management, insurance, taxes or concessions, and it does not establish that the indexed rent is achievable for a specific unit.

Evidence: Census ACS 5-year — household income · HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standard · Zillow ZHVI — metro home values · Zillow ZORI — metro market rents

Housing stock and tenant conditions

County vacancy and renter burden weaken simple occupancy assumptions

Across all 82 counties, the median housing-unit vacancy rate was 16.8%, and the ninetieth percentile was 23.5%. The median renter share was 25.1%, while the median ACS rent-burden rate was 48.9%. These measures flag markets where a high advertised yield should be tested against both occupied-rental depth and tenant payment capacity.

Lafayette County had a 33.7% housing-unit vacancy rate alongside a 36.2% renter share. The highlighted rent-burden rates were 74.5% in Jefferson Davis County, 72.9% in Wayne County and 65.8% in Greene County. The vacancy measure covers all housing units rather than rental units alone, and rent burden does not establish delinquency or turnover for a particular property.

Evidence: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock

Physical risk and property tax

Leading hazards and tax outliers require county-level differentiation

FEMA's mutually exclusive leading-hazard labels identify inland flood for 73 counties, hurricane for eight and earthquake for one. The county FEMA loss-ratio measure had a median of 0.16% and a ninetieth percentile of 0.24%. Among highlighted areas, the ratios were 0.50% in George County, 0.41% in Pearl River County and 0.40% in Jackson County.

The median measured property-tax rate was 0.69%, compared with 0.93% at the ninetieth percentile. Highlighted higher-rate counties included Coahoma County at 1.12%, Quitman County at 1.06% and Grenada County at 1.03%. These county measures help route underwriting, but a leading-hazard label is not parcel-level exposure and neither the label nor loss ratio supplies an insurance premium.

Evidence: FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratios · Census ACS 5-year — effective property tax

Evidence selected for Mississippi

The ranges behind the analysis

Each row keeps its own unit and shows the measured 10th percentile, median and 90th percentile. A single-value row is labelled directly.

Price and rent momentumAre home values and asking rents moving together or separating?

Employment and household movementDo jobs, household movement and mover income point in the same direction?

Supply and resale conditionsWhat do permits, inventory, marketing time and price cuts say about pressure?

Shape of the state

Distribution before conclusion

A statewide median can hide a wide spread. These SVG charts render at build time and carry no chart library or browser-side data request.

Metro score distribution9 scored metros · median 45.0

County evidence coverageEvery gap stays visible as missing—not estimated

Highest measured metro gross yieldsscreening metric only · before expenses and financing

Metro leaderboard

Markets touching Mississippi

Multi-state CBSAs appear in every member state. Score is still a metro score; no value is reweighted into a statewide ranking.

#	Metro	Score	Price	Rent	Yield	Jobs
1	Oxford, MS	61	$413k	$2,108	6.1%	▲ 2.9%
2	Starkville, MS	59	$258k	$1,571	7.3%	▲ 1.0%
3	Hattiesburg, MS	49	$221k	$1,388	7.5%	▼ 0.4%
4	Tupelo, MS	46	$198k	$1,241	7.5%	▼ 0.9%
5	Gulfport, MS	45	$225k	$1,459	7.8%	▲ 0.4%
6	Meridian, MS	41	$122k	$1,412	13.9%	▼ 2.4%
7	Columbus, MS	37	$188k	$1,396	8.9%	▼ 0.9%
8	Jackson, MS	35	$216k	$1,489	8.3%	▼ 0.8%
9	Memphis, TN	28	$248k	$1,435	6.9%	▼ 0.4%

Showing the top 9 scored metros of 10. Unscored metros remain discoverable through the national rankings.

Below the metro line

Largest counties in Mississippi

County figures join on the five-digit FIPS code. The table uses measured local values and prints “n/a” wherever a publisher has no record.

County	Population	Price	Rent	Yield	Hazard
Hinds County, MS	218,533	$133k	$1,305	11.8%	inland flooding
Harrison County, MS	210,891	$229k	$1,472	7.7%	hurricane
DeSoto County, MS	191,301	$303k	$1,676	6.6%	inland flooding
Rankin County, MS	158,854	$270k	$1,688	7.5%	inland flooding
Jackson County, MS	145,249	$216k	$1,427	7.9%	hurricane
Madison County, MS	111,647	$338k	$1,604	5.7%	inland flooding
Lee County, MS	83,034	$215k	$1,268	7.1%	inland flooding
Forrest County, MS	78,272	$191k	$1,155	7.3%	inland flooding
Lauderdale County, MS	71,504	$127k	$1,412	13.4%	inland flooding
Jones County, MS	66,472	$161k	$1,133	8.5%	inland flooding
Lamar County, MS	65,713	$271k	$1,474	6.5%	inland flooding
Lafayette County, MS	58,327	$413k	$2,108	6.1%	inland flooding

County yield sample15/82counties have the rent needed to compute yield

Statewide net migration−3,063IRS tax-return households summed across counties

Median investor share7.3%among counties with HMDA purchase records

Published city evidence

Go from Mississippi to a city record

These links exist only where an official Census place, direct city price and rent series, and a checked city brief are all available.

City · MSJackson$86k home · $1,270 rent · 17.8% yield

Sources used in this analysis

Measured releases, not a global source count

Only sources supporting the selected evidence modules are listed here.

Bear case

What can break the thesis

Rent and home-value indices do not report signed-lease terms, collections or the operating history of a specific property.
The demand thesis may fail where negative employment or migration outweighs measured rent momentum; the positive job results are limited to selected local markets.
Gross yields exclude vacancy, maintenance, management, capital spending, financing, insurance and taxes.
Coverage is incomplete: rent growth covers nine metros, while months of supply, marketing time and price-cut measures cover eight, so the distributions do not establish conditions in every locality.
County housing vacancy is not rental vacancy, and FEMA's leading-hazard label does not establish parcel exposure, building condition or available insurance pricing.

Investor questions

Before underwriting a property

Can the rent-growth advantage be treated as a statewide demand signal?

No. Median rent growth was 4.4% across nine measured metros versus 1.8% home-value growth across 10, but median employment growth was -0.4% and measured migration was negative. The gap is a screening signal, not proof of statewide tenant demand.

Which measured market has the strongest highlighted entry-yield case?

Meridian, MS has a highlighted 13.9% gross yield on a $122,080 home value and $1,412 monthly rent. Its 34.0% rent-to-income measure and the absence of operating-cost data prevent that gross figure from establishing net return.

Do any local employment results counter the soft statewide demand measures?

Yes. Oxford, MS recorded 2.9% employment growth, Starkville, MS 1.0% and Laurel, MS 0.8%, even though the median across 10 measured metros was -0.4%.

How conservative should resale timing assumptions be?

The measured median was 41 days on market and 3.7 months of supply, but the ninetieth percentiles reached 82 days and 17.7 months. Exit assumptions should therefore follow the specific metro rather than the state median.

Can the county hazard data price property-level physical risk?

No. The data identify each county's single leading FEMA hazard and provide county loss ratios. They do not show parcel exposure, elevation, building resilience, coverage terms or insurance premiums.