$28,157 median income · $767 median rent · #3 home prices in Mississippi
Yazoo City is an affordable place to live in Mississippi with a median home value of $73,051 and median rent of $767.
As the county seat of Yazoo County, it boasts a rich history and culture. Named after the Yazoo River, which was named after the Yazoo tribe, this city has deep roots in Native American history. Today, residents can enjoy exploring local museums and landmarks that showcase the city’s history. Plus, with a population of 10,219, Yazoo City maintains a small-town feel while still offering all the amenities and services residents need to live comfortably.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$38,507 median income · $806 median rent · #12 home prices in Mississippi
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
$36,382 median income · $774 median rent · #1 home prices in Mississippi
Located in
Coahoma County, Mississippi
A city in the Mississippi Delta region, Clarksdale is a city with historic ties to the development of blues music in America. Blues musicians such as Ike Turner and Duke Ellington were hosted at the Riverside Hotel, a popular stop on the Mississippi Blues Trail. You’ll certainly have no reason to sing the blues if you decide to buy a home in Clarksdale, where the median home price is the first in the state at $42,685. With residents earning a median income of $36,382, Clarksdale has the best home price to income ratio in Mississippi.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$36,735 median income · $806 median rent · #10 home prices in Mississippi
Located in
Adams County, Mississippi
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$50,788 median income · $791 median rent · #14 home prices in Mississippi
Located in
Neshoba County, Mississippi
Located about 40 miles northwest of Meridian, Philadelphia, Mississippi is a heck of a lot cheaper than it’s northern namesake. With a median rent of $791, Philadelphia is the least economical place to rent on this list. However, the city makes up for it by having the 14th cheapest homes in the state. Paying of a median mortgage of $137,663 on a median income of $50,788 is no sweat for Philadelphia residents. Since you’re already lucky enough to live in the fifth most affordable city in Mississippi, we vote you let your luck ride at Philadelphia’s Silver Star Casino. Even if you lose at the casino, you’ll be winning big on housing costs.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$40,085 median income · $814 median rent · #9 home prices in Mississippi
Located in
Attala County, Mississippi
Kosciusko, the sixth most affordable city in Mississippi, located in central Attala County, offers a cost-effective haven with a $113,939 median home value and a $814 median rent. The overall cost of living index is 82, 6.8% lower than the Mississippi average.
With a small 6,933 population, the city relies on outdoor activities like Niles Park or a quiet breakfast at Jason’s Southern Table for affordable fun.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$36,562 median income · $910 median rent · #8 home prices in Mississippi
Located in
Lauderdale County, Mississippi
Meridian is the sixth largest city in the state of Mississippi, United States. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County and the principal city of the Meridian, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area. Along major highways, the city is 93mi east of Jackson, Mississippi; 154mi southwest of Birmingham, Alabama; 202mi northeast of New Orleans, Louisiana; and 231mi southeast of Memphis, Tennessee.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$35,473 median income · $678 median rent · #5 home prices in Mississippi
Located in
Leflore County, Mississippi
Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore County, Mississippi, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta, approximately 96 miles north of the state capital, Jackson, Mississippi, and 130 miles south of the riverport of Memphis, Tennessee. It was a center of cotton planter culture in the 19th century.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$36,685 median income · $740 median rent · #25 home prices in Mississippi
Located in
Lincoln County, Mississippi
Brookhaven is a small city in Lincoln County, Mississippi, United States, 60 miles south of the state capital of Jackson. The population was 12,520 at the 2010 U.S. Census. It is the county seat of Lincoln County. It was named after the Town of Brookhaven, New York by founder Samuel Jayne in 1818.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$38,337 median income · $989 median rent · #43 home prices in Mississippi
Located in
Madison County, Mississippi
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
Mississippi statewide median: $56,447
On the map
Where your money goes furthest in Mississippi
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the most affordable places to live in the Magnolia State for 2026
Determining affordability for places in Mississippi boils down to how much it costs to live here.
You need to understand your costs relative to what people in the rest of the state are paying.
With that logic in mind, we derived several cost of living statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2020-2024 for Mississippi using Saturday Night Science. We indexed the cost of living statistics across the following categories:
- Housing
- Transportation
- Services
- Groceries
- Healthcare
- Utilities
These are then weighted together to produce an overall cost of living index where 100 is the United States average. Anything below 100 is relatively affordable. Anything over 100 is relatively expensive.
We applied the biggest weight to housing as it typically accounts for 25% or more of your budget. Additionally, housing costs are the highest variant cost across a state. We then compare these cost of living metrics for each place in Mississippi to figure out which is the least expensive.
The “Cost of Living Index” allows you to rank all of the 61 places in Mississippi that have more than 5,000 people from least expensive to most expensive. Any ties went to the larger city.
The place in Mississippi with the lowest cost of living according to the data is Yazoo City.
We updated this article for 2026. This report reflects our eleventh time ranking the cheapest places to live in Mississippi.
The full plate
Cheapest Places To Live In Mississippi
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Cost Of Living Index | Median Income | Home Prices | Rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yazoo City | 10,219 | 79 | $28,157 | $73,051 | $767 |
| 2 | Columbia | 6,632 | 79 | $38,507 | $133,498 | $806 |
| 3 | Clarksdale | 14,231 | 82 | $36,382 | $42,685 | $774 |
| 4 | Natchez | 14,192 | 82 | $36,735 | $117,030 | $806 |
| 5 | Philadelphia | 6,996 | 82 | $50,788 | $137,663 | $791 |
| 6 | Kosciusko | 6,933 | 82 | $40,085 | $113,939 | $814 |
| 7 | Meridian | 34,137 | 84 | $36,562 | $113,056 | $910 |
| 8 | Greenwood | 14,086 | 84 | $35,473 | $87,553 | $678 |
| 9 | Brookhaven | 11,650 | 84 | $36,685 | $160,659 | $740 |
| 10 | Canton | 10,811 | 84 | $38,337 | $223,700 | $989 |
| 11 | Indianola | 9,062 | 84 | $41,708 | $103,788 | $720 |
| 12 | Holly Springs | 6,704 | 84 | $45,462 | $175,426 | $773 |
| 13 | Greenville | 28,166 | 85 | $40,083 | $61,070 | $872 |
| 14 | Laurel | 17,679 | 85 | $47,661 | $147,337 | $909 |
| 15 | Moss Point | 11,957 | 85 | $44,296 | $146,443 | $1,075 |
| 16 | Picayune | 11,900 | 85 | $41,213 | $193,808 | $931 |
| 17 | West Point | 9,900 | 85 | $38,064 | $143,439 | $746 |
| 18 | New Albany | 7,663 | 85 | $51,332 | $199,590 | $973 |
| 19 | Forest | 5,357 | 85 | $49,724 | $122,992 | $900 |
| 20 | Jackson | 146,631 | 86 | $42,071 | $87,256 | $1,055 |
| 21 | Vicksburg | 20,589 | 86 | $45,781 | $145,564 | $820 |
| 22 | Amory | 6,500 | 86 | $52,901 | $157,258 | $834 |
| 23 | Louisville | 5,983 | 86 | $36,985 | $139,871 | $617 |
| 24 | Ripley | 5,377 | 86 | $55,444 | $138,469 | $735 |
| 25 | Hattiesburg | 48,619 | 87 | $46,342 | $220,234 | $1,005 |
| 26 | Pascagoula | 21,710 | 87 | $52,222 | $143,032 | $894 |
| 27 | Grenada | 12,375 | 87 | $46,303 | $133,953 | $802 |
| 28 | McComb | 12,049 | 87 | $40,707 | $89,933 | $873 |
| 29 | Pontotoc | 5,806 | 88 | $46,167 | $201,463 | $803 |
| 30 | Pearl | 27,737 | 89 | $61,695 | $205,783 | $1,175 |
| 31 | Horn Lake | 26,647 | 89 | $53,311 | $202,373 | $1,435 |
| 32 | Corinth | 14,323 | 89 | $44,226 | $181,417 | $601 |
| 33 | Booneville | 9,246 | 89 | $50,879 | $140,559 | $645 |
| 34 | Waveland | 7,062 | 89 | $68,693 | $210,333 | $927 |
| 35 | Columbus | 23,348 | 90 | $42,235 | $172,832 | $897 |
| 36 | Petal | 11,294 | 90 | $74,750 | $223,366 | $1,047 |
| 37 | Cleveland | 10,623 | 90 | $44,074 | $143,488 | $943 |
| 38 | Richland | 7,346 | 90 | $66,558 | $217,271 | $1,185 |
| 39 | Gulfport | 73,003 | 92 | $49,919 | $200,520 | $1,086 |
| 40 | Tupelo | 37,791 | 92 | $66,257 | $203,314 | $976 |
| 41 | Gautier | 19,046 | 92 | $61,926 | $190,096 | $1,040 |
| 42 | Senatobia | 8,380 | 92 | $54,167 | $236,534 | $895 |
| 43 | Batesville | 7,387 | 92 | $51,727 | $200,429 | $895 |
| 44 | Byram | 12,799 | 93 | $70,445 | $222,108 | $1,343 |
| 45 | Diamondhead | 9,338 | 93 | $87,407 | $244,374 | $1,571 |
| 46 | Biloxi | 48,861 | 94 | $57,204 | $232,658 | $1,089 |
| 47 | Clinton | 27,195 | 94 | $74,745 | $237,467 | $1,118 |
| 48 | Starkville | 25,721 | 94 | $42,125 | $279,620 | $916 |
| 49 | Southaven | 56,226 | 95 | $78,483 | $274,141 | $1,445 |
| 50 | Long Beach | 17,009 | 96 | $70,332 | $232,929 | $1,215 |
| 51 | D’Iberville | 13,203 | 96 | $66,016 | $238,690 | $1,249 |
| 52 | Ocean Springs | 18,646 | 98 | $79,712 | $270,588 | $1,358 |
| 53 | Pass Christian | 6,097 | 98 | $78,212 | $302,881 | $1,198 |
| 54 | Brandon | 25,542 | 99 | $92,783 | $284,755 | $1,382 |
| 55 | Bay St. Louis | 10,188 | 99 | $67,442 | $236,958 | $1,179 |
| 56 | Ridgeland | 24,587 | 100 | $66,038 | $282,705 | $1,336 |
| 57 | Flowood | 10,587 | 101 | $83,880 | $328,702 | $1,430 |
| 58 | Hernando | 17,949 | 102 | $76,950 | $344,672 | $1,302 |
| 59 | Olive Branch | 47,019 | 103 | $100,606 | $331,685 | $1,829 |
| 60 | Oxford | 26,411 | 107 | $64,451 | $412,781 | $1,071 |
| 61 | Madison | 27,946 | 112 | $119,338 | $410,432 | $1,853 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, cost-of-living data. 61 places with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Mississippi Affordability Summary
This is an accurate list of the most affordable places to live in Mississippi for 2026, if you’re looking at the cost of living numbers in Mississippi.
The cheapest cities in Mississippi are Yazoo City, Columbia, Clarksdale, Natchez, Philadelphia, Kosciusko, Meridian, Greenwood, Brookhaven, and Canton.
