Some of you might be asking yourself, at this very moment, is Mississippi a good place?
The answer is unequivocally yes… if you know where to locate the best counties to live in Mississippi.
Lucky for you, we’re here to help you identify the best counties to live in the Magnolia State based on the most recently available data from the Census. And this isn’t our first rodeo — we’ve been using Saturday Night Science to rank places for years.
The question becomes if you wanted to relocate to the best part of Mississippi, where would you go? To answer that, we looked at crime, cost of living, and demographic data for all 82 counties in the state.
DeSoto County is the county to be when it comes to living the good life in Mississippi. And you should avoid Quitman County if you can — at least according to the data.
$85,297 median income · 3.2% unemployment
$83,441 median income · 3.7% unemployment
$79,357 median income · 4.4% unemployment
$67,185 median income · 2.1% unemployment
$67,708 median income · 5.0% unemployment
$70,909 median income · 4.8% unemployment
$55,546 median income · 5.1% unemployment
$67,863 median income · 5.1% unemployment
$69,704 median income · 4.7% unemployment
$59,327 median income · 1.6% unemployment
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Mississippi’s statewide median.
Mississippi statewide median: $56,447
Mississippi statewide median: $192,906
Mississippi statewide median: 5.8%
On the map
Where Mississippi’s best counties are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How do you determine which Mississippi county is the best?
To give you the best county in Mississippi, we have to look at a handful of metrics that signal the quality of a place. To do that, we made assumptions about what’s in a “best county” and what isn’t. For reference, we are trying to make the kind of argument you’d make at a bar using facts, Saturday Night Science.
With that in mind, we went to two of the best data sources on the internet. Namely, the American Community Survey data and FBI Crime data for the most recent period.
We paid particular attention to:
- Violent Crime Rates
- Property Crime Rates
- Median Home Values
- Median Income
- Unemployment Rates
- Adult Education Levels
- Health Insurance Coverage
- Poverty Rates
We then ranked each county in Mississippi across each of the criteria from one to 82, with one being the best.
Taking the average rank across all criteria, we created a quality of life score with the county posting the lowest overall score being the “Best County To Live In Mississippi.”
The result is some of the safest, quietest, and best counties to raise a family in the Magnolia State.
We updated this article for 2026. This report is our eleventh time ranking the best counties to live in Mississippi.
Read on to see why DeSoto County is the best county, while Quitman County is probably in contention for being the worst county in Mississippi.
The full plate
Detailed List Of The Best Counties In Mississippi
Click any column to sort. Search by county name.
| Rank | County | Population | Median Income | Median Home Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DeSoto County | 191,301 | $85,297 | $298,836 |
| 2 | Madison County | 111,647 | $83,441 | $334,032 |
| 3 | Rankin County | 158,854 | $79,357 | $265,117 |
| 4 | Lafayette County | 58,327 | $67,185 | $401,965 |
| 5 | Hancock County | 46,167 | $67,708 | $232,472 |
| 6 | Lamar County | 65,713 | $70,909 | $264,022 |
| 7 | Itawamba County | 24,036 | $55,546 | $161,732 |
| 8 | Lee County | 83,034 | $67,863 | $201,406 |
| 9 | Tate County | 28,321 | $69,704 | $238,526 |
| 10 | Carroll County | 9,686 | $59,327 | $174,370 |
| 10 | Tishomingo County | 18,660 | $53,040 | $189,935 |
| 12 | Jackson County | 145,249 | $66,201 | $212,491 |
| 13 | Lowndes County | 57,838 | $53,812 | $182,790 |
| 14 | Warren County | 43,020 | $59,401 | $145,827 |
| 15 | Smith County | 14,132 | $60,916 | $160,019 |
| 16 | Oktibbeha County | 51,771 | $46,695 | $275,090 |
| 17 | Prentiss County | 25,184 | $49,724 | $139,713 |
| 18 | Webster County | 9,972 | $58,789 | $162,162 |
| 19 | Alcorn County | 34,289 | $51,260 | $181,276 |
| 19 | Franklin County | 7,622 | $52,939 | $148,959 |
| 21 | Jones County | 66,472 | $52,216 | $159,236 |
| 22 | Attala County | 17,526 | $51,639 | $117,169 |
| 23 | Simpson County | 25,691 | $56,381 | $151,652 |
| 23 | Union County | 28,122 | $55,505 | $197,435 |
| 25 | Forrest County | 78,272 | $53,640 | $186,726 |
| 26 | Pearl River County | 57,458 | $58,135 | $193,922 |
| 27 | Harrison County | 210,891 | $59,479 | $223,162 |
| 28 | George County | 25,170 | $59,758 | $206,920 |
| 29 | Lincoln County | 34,877 | $51,119 | $168,181 |
| 30 | Perry County | 11,449 | $49,634 | $156,862 |
| 31 | Jasper County | 16,059 | $48,660 | $134,993 |
| 32 | Monroe County | 33,747 | $51,866 | $157,592 |
| 33 | Pontotoc County | 31,550 | $51,484 | $204,300 |
| 34 | Stone County | 18,894 | $61,413 | $201,655 |
| 35 | Covington County | 18,148 | $45,051 | $173,288 |
| 36 | Benton County | 7,589 | $46,016 | $157,538 |
| 37 | Marshall County | 33,979 | $53,458 | $216,684 |
| 38 | Grenada County | 21,217 | $48,804 | $132,498 |
| 39 | Lauderdale County | 71,504 | $50,817 | $124,823 |
| 40 | Choctaw County | 8,118 | $50,919 | $135,165 |
| 41 | Walthall County | 13,839 | $48,905 | $155,251 |
| 42 | Newton County | 21,093 | $50,540 | $142,059 |
| 43 | Tippah County | 21,523 | $52,542 | $141,599 |
| 44 | Winston County | 17,536 | $53,031 | $141,865 |
| 45 | Copiah County | 27,855 | $49,089 | $133,248 |
| 45 | Clay County | 18,383 | $43,125 | $149,429 |
| 47 | Montgomery County | 9,602 | $41,748 | $124,290 |
| 48 | Neshoba County | 28,932 | $57,013 | $140,641 |
| 49 | Yalobusha County | 12,419 | $49,151 | $148,409 |
| 50 | Greene County | 13,615 | $54,276 | $160,128 |
| 51 | Leake County | 21,319 | $50,728 | $163,553 |
| 52 | Chickasaw County | 16,915 | $43,586 | $135,255 |
| 53 | Clarke County | 15,314 | $46,108 | $106,868 |
| 54 | Amite County | 12,565 | $37,222 | $143,287 |
| 55 | Hinds County | 218,533 | $49,402 | $132,560 |
| 55 | Panola County | 32,808 | $45,945 | $188,484 |
| 57 | Jefferson County | 7,068 | $38,305 | $101,820 |
| 58 | Calhoun County | 12,922 | $43,125 | $124,022 |
| 59 | Adams County | 28,803 | $43,644 | $116,583 |
| 60 | Marion County | 24,193 | $45,110 | $137,754 |
| 61 | Issaquena County | 928 | $31,429 | $125,878 |
| 62 | Wayne County | 19,718 | $37,619 | $143,318 |
| 63 | Scott County | 27,718 | $48,786 | $123,939 |
| 64 | Bolivar County | 29,534 | $39,585 | $124,660 |
| 65 | Pike County | 39,602 | $43,814 | $105,338 |
| 66 | Jefferson Davis County | 11,117 | $38,548 | $96,084 |
| 67 | Lawrence County | 11,786 | $43,531 | $118,729 |
| 68 | Kemper County | 8,729 | $46,431 | $134,992 |
| 69 | Washington County | 42,765 | $42,165 | $62,040 |
| 70 | Humphreys County | 7,395 | $33,731 | $86,252 |
| 71 | Holmes County | 16,191 | $32,538 | $76,673 |
| 72 | Tunica County | 9,475 | $39,364 | $155,893 |
| 73 | Wilkinson County | 8,162 | $35,311 | $121,394 |
| 74 | Yazoo County | 24,835 | $39,295 | $113,234 |
| 75 | Sunflower County | 24,333 | $39,956 | $100,505 |
| 75 | Coahoma County | 20,540 | $37,461 | $47,484 |
| 77 | Tallahatchie County | 11,764 | $37,466 | $109,214 |
| 78 | Sharkey County | 3,872 | $40,000 | $120,584 |
| 79 | Claiborne County | 8,582 | $31,897 | $94,521 |
| 80 | Noxubee County | 10,025 | $33,833 | $108,870 |
| 81 | Leflore County | 27,141 | $35,277 | $79,439 |
| 82 | Quitman County | 5,774 | $32,412 | $79,071 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS + FBI crime data via Saturday Night Science. All 82 Mississippi counties.
Summary
Summary: The Best Counties In Mississippi To Call Home For 2026
Living in Mississippi can vary from one part of the state to the next — who woulda thought?
The best counties in Mississippi are DeSoto County, Madison County, Rankin County, Lafayette County, Hancock County, Lamar County, Itawamba County, Lee County, Tate County, and Carroll County.
But now you know the outstanding parts and the parts to avoid, and that’s why you came here to learn at the end of the day.
You are welcome.
