Editor’s Note: This is not investment advice, and we are not financial advisers.
Suppose real estate is the most significant investment a majority of people make in their lifetime. In that case, it’s best to understand the places in Mississippi with best potential return on investment.
After working in real estate adjacent roles for over a decade, I had the hypothesis that the best place to buy for a return on investment would be up-and-coming cities. Smaller cities where crime might be high now, but people still move to.
To test my hypothesis, we are going to look at places in Mississippi that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average, and crime rates are higher than average.
In everyday terms, these might be “deals”. The best deal in Mississippi at the moment according to Saturday Night Science? That would be Ripley.
-0.7% population growth · -6.1% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-0.1% population growth · 7.3% home price growth
Located in
Scott County, Mississippi
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
14.3% population growth · -0.7% home price growth
Located in
Marion County, Mississippi
Columbia is a city in Marion County, Mississippi, which was formed six years before Mississippi was admitted to statehood. Columbia was named for Columbia, South Carolina, from which many of the early settlers had migrated. The population was 6,603 as of the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Marion County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-0.6% population growth · 4.3% home price growth
Located in
Winston County, Mississippi
Louisville is a city in Winston County, Mississippi. The population was 7,006 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Winston County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
1.6% population growth · 3.6% home price growth
Located in
Pontotoc County, Mississippi
Pontotoc is a city in, and the county seat of, Pontotoc County, Mississippi, located to the west of the much larger city of Tupelo. The population was 5,625 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
2.6% population growth · 1.1% home price growth
Pass Christian, nicknamed The Pass, is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport-Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,613 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-0.1% population growth · -0.2% home price growth
Located in
Hancock County, Mississippi
Waveland is a city located in Hancock County, Mississippi, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico. It is part of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city of Waveland was incorporated in 1972. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 6,435. Waveland was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Camille on August 17, 1969, and by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-0.9% population growth · 14.2% home price growth
Located in
Attala County, Mississippi
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-1.0% population growth · -0.4% home price growth
Located in
Monroe County, Mississippi
Amory is a city in Monroe County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 7,316 as of the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-0.5% population growth · 3.9% home price growth
Located in
Neshoba County, Mississippi
Philadelphia is a city in and the county seat of Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 7,477 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Mississippi’s statewide median.
Mississippi statewide median: $192,906
On the map
Where Mississippi’s best buys are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Mississippi for 2026?
We were in real estate for almost five years and have worked on this site for over a decade. Suffice it to say we’ve put a lot of thought into finding an excellent place to buy a home.
So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we’d approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in Mississippi. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in Mississippi with undervalued homes relative to pent-up demand using Saturday Night Science.
To do that, we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2020-2024 and compared it to the previous vintage. Specifically, we used the following criteria:
- Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
- Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
- Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It’s still kinda cheap)
We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still “cheap” for Mississippi, with these caveats: home prices had to be within 20% of the state average, home prices increased in the last year, and the city had above 5,000 people.
So of the 362 cities and towns in Mississippi, only 61 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.
We then ranked each place from 1 to 61 for the above criteria, with 1 being the best. We averaged the rankings to create a “best place to buy” index, with the place having the lowest index being the best.
Turns out that Ripley is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Magnolia State.
The full plate
Best Places To Buy A Home In Mississippi
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Median Home Price | Population Change | Home Price Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ripley | 5,377 | $138,469 | -0.7% | -6.1% |
| 2 | Forest | 5,357 | $122,992 | -0.1% | 7.3% |
| 3 | Columbia | 6,632 | $133,498 | 14.3% | -0.7% |
| 4 | Louisville | 5,983 | $139,871 | -0.6% | 4.3% |
| 5 | Pontotoc | 5,806 | $201,463 | 1.6% | 3.6% |
| 6 | Pass Christian | 6,097 | $302,881 | 2.6% | 1.1% |
| 7 | Waveland | 7,062 | $210,333 | -0.1% | -0.2% |
| 8 | Kosciusko | 6,933 | $113,939 | -0.9% | 14.2% |
| 9 | Amory | 6,500 | $157,258 | -1.0% | -0.4% |
| 10 | Philadelphia | 6,996 | $137,663 | -0.5% | 3.9% |
| 11 | Batesville | 7,387 | $200,429 | -0.6% | 5.0% |
| 12 | Richland | 7,346 | $217,271 | 1.3% | 0.5% |
| 13 | Holly Springs | 6,704 | $175,426 | -2.3% | -0.1% |
| 14 | Senatobia | 8,380 | $236,534 | 0.9% | -0.8% |
| 15 | Diamondhead | 9,338 | $244,374 | 0.0% | -1.2% |
| 16 | Booneville | 9,246 | $140,559 | 2.1% | -1.6% |
| 17 | New Albany | 7,663 | $199,590 | 0.0% | 4.8% |
| 18 | Flowood | 10,587 | $328,702 | 2.0% | 1.0% |
| 19 | Indianola | 9,062 | $103,788 | -3.2% | 4.2% |
| 20 | West Point | 9,900 | $143,439 | -0.7% | 1.3% |
| 21 | Petal | 11,294 | $223,366 | 0.9% | 1.6% |
| 22 | Yazoo City | 10,219 | $73,051 | -0.5% | 7.4% |
| 23 | Picayune | 11,900 | $193,808 | 0.5% | 1.9% |
| 24 | Cleveland | 10,623 | $143,488 | -2.1% | 0.9% |
| 25 | Byram | 12,799 | $222,108 | -0.4% | 2.7% |
| 26 | Canton | 10,811 | $223,700 | -0.5% | 4.6% |
| 27 | Brookhaven | 11,650 | $160,659 | -0.1% | -0.0% |
| 28 | Grenada | 12,375 | $133,953 | -0.9% | 0.9% |
| 29 | McComb | 12,049 | $89,933 | -1.3% | 5.8% |
| 30 | Moss Point | 11,957 | $146,443 | -0.9% | 1.5% |
| 31 | Bay St. Louis | 10,188 | $236,958 | 2.2% | -0.2% |
| 32 | D’Iberville | 13,203 | $238,690 | 1.3% | 2.6% |
| 33 | Greenwood | 14,086 | $87,553 | 0.7% | -2.8% |
| 34 | Corinth | 14,323 | $181,417 | -0.9% | 7.1% |
| 35 | Natchez | 14,192 | $117,030 | -0.1% | 0.4% |
| 36 | Clarksdale | 14,231 | $42,685 | -1.3% | 2.0% |
| 37 | Long Beach | 17,009 | $232,929 | 0.8% | 0.4% |
| 38 | Hernando | 17,949 | $344,672 | 2.1% | 1.0% |
| 39 | Ocean Springs | 18,646 | $270,588 | 0.5% | 0.4% |
| 40 | Laurel | 17,679 | $147,337 | 3.2% | 5.6% |
| 41 | Gautier | 19,046 | $190,096 | 0.1% | 1.2% |
| 42 | Pascagoula | 21,710 | $143,032 | -0.5% | 0.8% |
| 43 | Vicksburg | 20,589 | $145,564 | -1.7% | 2.4% |
| 44 | Columbus | 23,348 | $172,832 | -1.1% | 1.0% |
| 45 | Brandon | 25,542 | $284,755 | 0.7% | 0.8% |
| 46 | Ridgeland | 24,587 | $282,705 | 0.2% | 2.6% |
| 47 | Clinton | 27,195 | $237,467 | -0.8% | 1.7% |
| 48 | Starkville | 25,721 | $279,620 | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| 49 | Madison | 27,946 | $410,432 | 0.6% | 0.5% |
| 50 | Pearl | 27,737 | $205,783 | 1.0% | 3.6% |
| 51 | Horn Lake | 26,647 | $202,373 | 0.1% | 1.2% |
| 52 | Oxford | 26,411 | $412,781 | 1.2% | 0.8% |
| 53 | Greenville | 28,166 | $61,070 | -2.3% | 30.3% |
| 54 | Meridian | 34,137 | $113,056 | -1.0% | 4.3% |
| 55 | Tupelo | 37,791 | $203,314 | -0.1% | 0.6% |
| 56 | Olive Branch | 47,019 | $331,685 | 1.0% | 0.3% |
| 57 | Hattiesburg | 48,619 | $220,234 | 0.2% | 1.9% |
| 58 | Biloxi | 48,861 | $232,658 | -0.3% | 2.2% |
| 59 | Southaven | 56,226 | $274,141 | 1.3% | 0.7% |
| 60 | Gulfport | 73,003 | $200,520 | 0.6% | 1.6% |
| 61 | Jackson | 146,631 | $87,256 | -2.1% | 8.7% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024 via Saturday Night Science. 61 Mississippi cities cleared the filters.
Summary
Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In Mississippi for 2026
There’s our analysis of the best places to buy a house in Mississippi. And, to be clear, we aren’t necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.
In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 362 places in the state.
The best cities to buy a house in Mississippi are Ripley, Forest, Columbia, Louisville, Pontotoc, Pass Christian, Waveland, Kosciusko, Amory, and Philadelphia.
So if we could rent or buy in these cities, we’d definitely buy.
