Housing Market in Mississippi
Mississippi's statewide housing market runs genuinely, substantially affordable relative to the national picture, though its own most-cited figures diverge: a $281,002 median sale price (Redfin, May 2026) versus a separately calculated $172,654 typical home value (Zillow, mid-2026) -- both well below the roughly $355,000-$375,000 typically cited nationally in 2026.
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Learn moreTwo statewide figures, a real, disclosed spread
Redfin's statewide median sale price reached $281,002 in May 2026, up 4.1% year-over-year, and Houzeo separately reported a similar $284,000 median -- both running meaningfully higher than Zillow's separately calculated typical home value of $172,654 (mid-2026, up 2.7% year-over-year). These are legitimate but methodologically different measures: median price of homes that actually sold versus a broader estimated-value index across the full housing stock, with Zillow's broader measure pulled down by Mississippi's large share of lower-value rural and small-town housing. This record discloses both rather than picking the more flattering one.
Rent runs affordable statewide, with real bedroom-size and regional variation
RentCafe's statewide average rent ran $1,328/month in mid-2026, up 2.94% year-over-year -- but this masks real bedroom-size variation: studios average $976/month, one-bedrooms $1,083/month, two-bedrooms $1,286/month, and three-bedrooms $1,621/month. The Gulf Coast and Jackson-metro suburbs generally run above the statewide average; confirm your specific target market's current rent directly.
The Gulf Coast, Jackson metro, and DeSoto County anchor Mississippi's most distinct markets
The Gulf Coast (Biloxi, Gulfport, D'Iberville, Ocean Springs, Gautier, Pascagoula, Long Beach, Bay St. Louis, Waveland, Diamondhead, Moss Point) is a real, distinct tourism/casino/military/shipbuilding coastal market carrying real, still-evolving hurricane-driven insurance-market stress. The Jackson metro (Jackson, Pearl, Clinton, Ridgeland, Madison, Byram, Brandon) splits between the city's own real water-infrastructure challenges and Madison/Ridgeland's genuinely affluent, fast-growing suburbs (Madison County up 5.2% per this pass's migration research). DeSoto County, an outer-Memphis-metro suburban corridor, grew a real 6.1% to approximately 197,000 residents.
University towns and the Delta carry their own real identities
Oxford (University of Mississippi) and Starkville (Mississippi State University) are real, distinct SEC-conference university towns; Hattiesburg (University of Southern Mississippi, plus William Carey University) anchors the real Pine Belt region. The Mississippi Delta (Greenville, Cleveland, Greenwood, Yazoo City) carries real, internationally significant blues heritage alongside genuinely severe, documented rural population decline -- Sharkey County down 18.2% and Quitman County down 14.1% in this pass's migration research -- a genuinely different housing-demand trajectory than the state's growing suburban and coastal markets.
Property tax adds a genuinely small, but real, ongoing cost on top of price
Because Mississippi's statewide effective property tax rate clusters around 0.65% -- genuinely among the three or four lowest in the nation -- a buyer's realistic monthly housing cost carries a comparatively small property-tax line item relative to most states, though real county-level variation (0.346% in Issaquena County to 1.240% in Coahoma County) still applies. See the property-taxes topic for the full mechanics.
Key takeaways
- Mississippi's statewide median sale price reached $281,002 in May 2026 (Redfin), while Zillow's separate typical-value index ran lower at $172,654 -- a real, disclosed spread.
- Statewide average rent ran $1,328/month (mid-2026), ranging from $976/month for studios to $1,621/month for three-bedrooms, with the Gulf Coast and Jackson suburbs running higher.
- The Gulf Coast, the Jackson metro (split between the city and Madison/Ridgeland), and fast-growing DeSoto County anchor Mississippi's most distinct housing markets.
- Mississippi's ~0.65% statewide property tax rate adds a comparatively small, but real and address-specific, ongoing cost on top of purchase price.
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