Like all states, Mississippi has certain places that are going on hard times. These Mississippi places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in Mississippi.
To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 61 cities in Mississippi with more than 5,000 people.
$28,157 median income · 46.7% poverty · #1 lowest income in Mississippi
Yazoo City, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Mississippi thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 10,219 people averages the lowest median household income in Mississippi and the highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$36,382 median income · 40.3% poverty · #3 lowest income in Mississippi
Located in
Coahoma County, MississippiThe second poorest city in Mississippi is Clarksdale.
The city ranks as having the 2nd highest incidence of poverty and 3rd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 5th highest in the Magnolia State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$36,562 median income · 34.3% poverty · #4 lowest income in Mississippi
Located in
Lauderdale County, MississippiPlacing as the third poorest city, Meridian’s median income ranks as the 4th lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 34.3% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Magnolia State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$36,985 median income · 39.3% poverty · #7 lowest income in Mississippi
Located in
Winston County, MississippiLouisville ranks as the fourth poorest place in Mississippi.
The town ranks as having the 7th lowest median household income and the 3rd highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$36,735 median income · 33.7% poverty · #6 lowest income in Mississippi
Located in
Adams County, MississippiThe fifth poorest city in Mississippi is Natchez.
The city ranks as having the 6th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 6th highest in Mississippi.
Still not the best news for Natchez.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$35,473 median income · 28.4% poverty · #2 lowest income in Mississippi
Located in
Leflore County, MississippiGreenwood ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Magnolia State.
It ranks as having the 13th highest incidence of poverty and the 16th highest unemployment rate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$38,337 median income · 33.3% poverty · #9 lowest income in Mississippi
Located in
Madison County, MississippiCanton places as the seventh poorest city in Mississippi.
The city of over 10,811 ranks as having the 7th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$36,685 median income · 28.6% poverty · #5 lowest income in Mississippi
Located in
Lincoln County, MississippiBrookhaven ranks as the eighth poorest city in Mississippi.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$41,708 median income · 30.5% poverty · #15 lowest income in Mississippi
Located in
Sunflower County, MississippiIndianola couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Mississippi; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 15th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Indianola ranks as having the 10th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Mississippi.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$42,125 median income · 30.7% poverty · #17 lowest income in Mississippi
Located in
Oktibbeha County, MississippiAnd rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Mississippi is Starkville.
The city of 25,721 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Magnolia State.
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: $56,447
Mississippi statewide median: 18.9%
Mississippi statewide median: 5.8%
On the map
Where poverty hits hardest in Mississippi
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the poorest places in Mississippi for 2026
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
After we collected the data for all 61 places with more than 5,000 people in Mississippi, we ranked each place from 1 to 61 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Yazoo City, crowned the “Poorest Place In Mississippi For 2026”. The median Mississippi home is 39 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Detailed list of the poorest places to live in Mississippi
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Poor Score | Population | Median income | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yazoo City | 1.00 | 10,219 | $28,157 | 46.7% | 12.7% |
| 2 | Clarksdale | 2.50 | 14,231 | $36,382 | 40.3% | 10.8% |
| 3 | Meridian | 4.00 | 34,137 | $36,562 | 34.3% | 7.9% |
| 4 | Louisville | 5.00 | 5,983 | $36,985 | 39.3% | 10.3% |
| 5 | Natchez | 6.00 | 14,192 | $36,735 | 33.7% | 6.5% |
| 6 | Greenwood | 7.50 | 14,086 | $35,473 | 28.4% | 7.8% |
| 7 | Canton | 8.00 | 10,811 | $38,337 | 33.3% | 3.5% |
| 8 | Brookhaven | 8.50 | 11,650 | $36,685 | 28.6% | 3.4% |
| 9 | Indianola | 12.50 | 9,062 | $41,708 | 30.5% | 13.1% |
| 10 | Starkville | 13.00 | 25,721 | $42,125 | 30.7% | 6.1% |
| 11 | Greenville | 13.00 | 28,166 | $40,083 | 28.0% | 6.7% |
| 12 | Cleveland | 15.00 | 10,623 | $44,074 | 29.3% | 7.9% |
| 13 | Holly Springs | 15.00 | 6,704 | $45,462 | 31.1% | 7.2% |
| 14 | McComb | 15.00 | 12,049 | $40,707 | 27.1% | 5.6% |
| 15 | West Point | 15.50 | 9,900 | $38,064 | 25.6% | 11.6% |
| 16 | Jackson | 16.00 | 146,631 | $42,071 | 27.9% | 9.3% |
| 17 | Forest | 16.50 | 5,357 | $49,724 | 33.8% | 4.1% |
| 18 | Kosciusko | 16.50 | 6,933 | $40,085 | 25.7% | 5.5% |
| 19 | Columbia | 17.50 | 6,632 | $38,507 | 24.5% | 8.3% |
| 20 | Hattiesburg | 20.00 | 48,619 | $46,342 | 28.3% | 8.7% |
| 21 | Vicksburg | 20.50 | 20,589 | $45,781 | 26.8% | 5.9% |
| 22 | Grenada | 22.00 | 12,375 | $46,303 | 26.6% | 7.1% |
| 23 | Picayune | 22.50 | 11,900 | $41,213 | 20.6% | 6.0% |
| 24 | Columbus | 24.00 | 23,348 | $42,235 | 21.3% | 8.7% |
| 25 | Philadelphia | 26.00 | 6,996 | $50,788 | 25.6% | 8.0% |
| 26 | Moss Point | 27.00 | 11,957 | $44,296 | 20.0% | 12.0% |
| 27 | Laurel | 27.00 | 17,679 | $47,661 | 23.3% | 5.6% |
| 28 | Corinth | 28.00 | 14,323 | $44,226 | 18.7% | 4.7% |
| 29 | Gulfport | 28.50 | 73,003 | $49,919 | 22.8% | 9.1% |
| 30 | Senatobia | 28.50 | 8,380 | $54,167 | 26.4% | 3.0% |
| 31 | Pascagoula | 30.00 | 21,710 | $52,222 | 24.4% | 7.6% |
| 32 | Batesville | 31.00 | 7,387 | $51,727 | 22.0% | 4.8% |
| 33 | Pontotoc | 31.00 | 5,806 | $46,167 | 17.4% | 5.4% |
| 34 | Oxford | 33.00 | 26,411 | $64,451 | 25.4% | 2.7% |
| 35 | Horn Lake | 35.00 | 26,647 | $53,311 | 19.0% | 5.8% |
| 36 | Ripley | 35.00 | 5,377 | $55,444 | 20.1% | 10.7% |
| 37 | Booneville | 36.50 | 9,246 | $50,879 | 15.1% | 3.2% |
| 38 | New Albany | 37.50 | 7,663 | $51,332 | 14.8% | 2.5% |
| 39 | Amory | 37.50 | 6,500 | $52,901 | 16.4% | 7.0% |
| 40 | Biloxi | 39.00 | 48,861 | $57,204 | 16.4% | 7.7% |
| 41 | D’Iberville | 39.00 | 13,203 | $66,016 | 18.8% | 3.1% |
| 42 | Gautier | 39.00 | 19,046 | $61,926 | 17.5% | 3.8% |
| 43 | Tupelo | 43.00 | 37,791 | $66,257 | 15.1% | 5.2% |
| 44 | Pearl | 44.00 | 27,737 | $61,695 | 12.2% | 4.3% |
| 45 | Bay St. Louis | 45.50 | 10,188 | $67,442 | 14.5% | 7.8% |
| 46 | Richland | 46.00 | 7,346 | $66,558 | 12.7% | 5.1% |
| 47 | Ridgeland | 48.00 | 24,587 | $66,038 | 9.9% | 4.1% |
| 48 | Long Beach | 49.00 | 17,009 | $70,332 | 11.5% | 6.1% |
| 49 | Waveland | 49.50 | 7,062 | $68,693 | 10.8% | 3.4% |
| 50 | Southaven | 51.00 | 56,226 | $78,483 | 12.6% | 3.3% |
| 51 | Flowood | 51.00 | 10,587 | $83,880 | 13.4% | 4.1% |
| 52 | Petal | 51.00 | 11,294 | $74,750 | 11.1% | 3.6% |
| 53 | Byram | 52.00 | 12,799 | $70,445 | 9.1% | 5.4% |
| 54 | Clinton | 52.00 | 27,195 | $74,745 | 9.6% | 3.2% |
| 55 | Hernando | 54.00 | 17,949 | $76,950 | 8.8% | 2.5% |
| 56 | Pass Christian | 55.50 | 6,097 | $78,212 | 8.4% | 5.6% |
| 57 | Brandon | 57.50 | 25,542 | $92,783 | 8.5% | 5.2% |
| 58 | Ocean Springs | 57.50 | 18,646 | $79,712 | 5.5% | 4.2% |
| 59 | Diamondhead | 58.00 | 9,338 | $87,407 | 7.0% | 4.2% |
| 60 | Olive Branch | 60.50 | 47,019 | $100,606 | 4.6% | 2.4% |
| 61 | Madison | 60.50 | 27,946 | $119,338 | 4.8% | 2.0% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 61 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
The poorest cities in Mississippi for 2026
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Mississippi, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Mississippi.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there. Not sold on Mississippi? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
