There’s no denying it: there are plenty of places in Mississippi that are downright beautiful and full of excitement.
Unfortunately, not all towns and cities in Magnolia State are so lucky.
Just like in all U.S. States, there are definitely some boring places within Mississippi’s’ borders. You know the places where everyone has an AARP card and the most exciting thing they do all day is post a picture of their grandchild on Facebook.
Like Byram, for instance. In our latest analysis, we found that this city was the most boring city in all of Mississippi according to Saturday Night Science. But don’t feel bad if you’re a resident of Byram. There are plenty of other boring, lackluster places in Mississippi as well.
Here they are. Try not to jump out of your seat with excitement.
41.7 median age · 36.0% married households · #12 oldest in Mississippi
Located in
Hinds County, Mississippi
Byram is a city in Hinds County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 11,489 as of the 2010 census, up from 7,386 at the 2000 census, at which time it was an unincorporated census-designated place. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was incorporated for a second time in its history on June 16, 2009.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
42.6 median age · 40.0% married households · #6 oldest in Mississippi
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
42.5 median age · 27.0% married households · #8 oldest 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
42.5 median age · 31.0% married households · #8 oldest in Mississippi
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
43.6 median age · 28.0% married households · #4 oldest in Mississippi
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
39.5 median age · 34.0% married households · #20 oldest in Mississippi
Located in
Rankin County, Mississippi
Flowood is a city in Rankin County, Mississippi. The population was 7,823 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
40.6 median age · 37.0% married households · #18 oldest in Mississippi
Located in
Rankin County, Mississippi
Brandon is a city in Rankin County, Mississippi. The population was 21,705 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Rankin County. Brandon is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area and located east of the state capital.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
41.7 median age · 40.0% married households · #12 oldest in Mississippi
Located in
Madison County, Mississippi
Madison is a city in Madison County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 24,841 at the 2010 census. The population is currently over 25,000. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
44.6 median age · 23.0% married households · #3 oldest in Mississippi
Located in
Jackson County, Mississippi
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
37.0 median age · 32.0% married households · #32 oldest in Mississippi
Located in
Forrest County, Mississippi
Petal is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, along the Leaf River. It is part of the Hattiesburg, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 10,454 in 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.
On the map
Where the quiet settles in Mississippi
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the boring cities in the Magnolia State
You would present the following case to your friends if you were argueing with them at a bar about the most boring place to live in Mississippi. And that’s why we call it Saturday Night Science.
Because our data speaks more truth than feelings.
To figure out how boring a place is, we factored in things we generally think make people exciting, and then we figure out which cities have the least number of those exciting people.
We used the U.S. American Community Census data to gather the information presented here. Some of the things people tend to think of as making a city’s population boring include:
- % of Population Over 25 (higher is more boring)
- % of Married Household (higher is more boring)
- Average Age (higher is more boring)
- % of Households With Kids (higher is more boring)
- Population density (lower is more boring)
Then, our algorithm generates a ranking for each place in these categories. After crunching the numbers, all of the cities ranked from most boring to most exciting.
For this ranking, we used every Mississippi city with at least 5,000 residents. This keeps us from prejudicing our rankings by including very small pockets of retired people.
Grab your rocker and hold on.
We updated this article for 2026, and it’s our eleventh time ranking the most boring cities in Mississippi.
The full plate
Detailed List Of The Most Boring Cities In Mississippi For 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Boring Score | Population | Average Age | % Married | % Kids |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Byram | 15.10 | 12,799 | 41.7 | 36.0% | 30.6% |
| 2 | Amory | 15.90 | 6,500 | 42.6 | 40.0% | 28.0% |
| 3 | Brookhaven | 16.00 | 11,650 | 42.5 | 27.0% | 29.5% |
| 4 | Ripley | 16.50 | 5,377 | 42.5 | 31.0% | 25.5% |
| 5 | Louisville | 16.80 | 5,983 | 43.6 | 28.0% | 30.4% |
| 6 | Flowood | 17.80 | 10,587 | 39.5 | 34.0% | 22.6% |
| 7 | Brandon | 18.20 | 25,542 | 40.6 | 37.0% | 34.6% |
| 8 | Madison | 18.20 | 27,946 | 41.7 | 40.0% | 35.1% |
| 9 | Moss Point | 18.40 | 11,957 | 44.6 | 23.0% | 28.1% |
| 10 | Petal | 20.30 | 11,294 | 37.0 | 32.0% | 41.7% |
| 11 | Richland | 20.40 | 7,346 | 36.3 | 31.0% | 37.1% |
| 12 | Gautier | 21.40 | 19,046 | 37.9 | 23.0% | 34.5% |
| 13 | Hernando | 21.70 | 17,949 | 38.6 | 19.0% | 41.2% |
| 14 | Corinth | 22.30 | 14,323 | 41.9 | 22.0% | 27.7% |
| 15 | Bay St. Louis | 23.00 | 10,188 | 53.3 | 23.0% | 19.1% |
| 16 | New Albany | 23.10 | 7,663 | 38.4 | 22.0% | 32.5% |
| 17 | Grenada | 23.10 | 12,375 | 37.4 | 27.0% | 28.0% |
| 18 | West Point | 24.30 | 9,900 | 36.8 | 26.0% | 36.0% |
| 19 | Pearl | 24.50 | 27,737 | 36.4 | 29.0% | 31.5% |
| 20 | Tupelo | 25.10 | 37,791 | 38.3 | 28.0% | 28.8% |
| 21 | Batesville | 26.80 | 7,387 | 34.0 | 30.0% | 35.2% |
| 22 | Pontotoc | 27.20 | 5,806 | 34.0 | 25.0% | 37.3% |
| 23 | Clinton | 27.70 | 27,195 | 35.3 | 29.0% | 36.6% |
| 24 | Diamondhead | 27.75 | 9,338 | 49.1 | 17.0% | 18.7% |
| 25 | Waveland | 27.80 | 7,062 | 40.7 | 15.0% | 29.5% |
| 26 | Forest | 28.00 | 5,357 | 36.0 | 21.0% | 38.9% |
| 27 | Philadelphia | 28.90 | 6,996 | 36.7 | 26.0% | 31.9% |
| 28 | Holly Springs | 29.80 | 6,704 | 41.3 | 15.0% | 24.6% |
| 29 | Booneville | 29.90 | 9,246 | 34.0 | 27.0% | 30.2% |
| 30 | Columbia | 30.00 | 6,632 | 41.4 | 21.0% | 30.9% |
| 31 | Pass Christian | 30.60 | 6,097 | 41.2 | 15.0% | 24.8% |
| 32 | Vicksburg | 30.60 | 20,589 | 38.8 | 22.0% | 25.5% |
| 33 | Olive Branch | 30.60 | 47,019 | 38.0 | 13.0% | 36.0% |
| 34 | Ocean Springs | 30.70 | 18,646 | 43.3 | 20.0% | 27.1% |
| 35 | Picayune | 30.80 | 11,900 | 41.8 | 12.0% | 28.9% |
| 36 | Senatobia | 31.10 | 8,380 | 30.9 | 24.0% | 38.4% |
| 37 | Indianola | 31.20 | 9,062 | 35.7 | 28.0% | 33.1% |
| 38 | Natchez | 32.50 | 14,192 | 38.3 | 23.0% | 31.1% |
| 39 | Meridian | 33.20 | 34,137 | 39.4 | 21.0% | 25.0% |
| 40 | Greenville | 34.30 | 28,166 | 37.8 | 24.0% | 28.5% |
| 41 | Kosciusko | 34.60 | 6,933 | 35.2 | 27.0% | 32.8% |
| 42 | Columbus | 35.00 | 23,348 | 41.1 | 16.0% | 21.2% |
| 43 | Gulfport | 35.20 | 73,003 | 38.0 | 16.0% | 29.6% |
| 44 | Biloxi | 36.00 | 48,861 | 36.6 | 16.0% | 31.6% |
| 45 | Southaven | 36.50 | 56,226 | 36.2 | 13.0% | 38.7% |
| 46 | Ridgeland | 37.00 | 24,587 | 35.7 | 23.0% | 27.2% |
| 47 | Long Beach | 37.50 | 17,009 | 39.6 | 17.0% | 29.6% |
| 48 | Greenwood | 37.80 | 14,086 | 37.0 | 24.0% | 27.5% |
| 49 | Canton | 38.70 | 10,811 | 35.2 | 17.0% | 22.3% |
| 50 | Pascagoula | 39.70 | 21,710 | 35.9 | 20.0% | 32.2% |
| 51 | Clarksdale | 40.30 | 14,231 | 34.9 | 22.0% | 34.3% |
| 52 | D’Iberville | 40.50 | 13,203 | 35.0 | 19.0% | 34.9% |
| 53 | Laurel | 41.40 | 17,679 | 35.1 | 21.0% | 30.0% |
| 54 | Cleveland | 42.10 | 10,623 | 35.7 | 24.0% | 29.7% |
| 55 | McComb | 43.10 | 12,049 | 36.3 | 16.0% | 27.9% |
| 56 | Horn Lake | 45.20 | 26,647 | 33.5 | 18.0% | 33.2% |
| 57 | Jackson | 46.80 | 146,631 | 34.5 | 21.0% | 27.3% |
| 58 | Hattiesburg | 49.00 | 48,619 | 29.4 | 17.0% | 26.7% |
| 59 | Starkville | 52.80 | 25,721 | 26.0 | 16.0% | 20.4% |
| 60 | Oxford | 52.80 | 26,411 | 30.3 | 17.0% | 19.9% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 60 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
There You Have It – Now That You’re Asleep
On a ranking like this, there are usually no winners, but since Mississippi isn’t necessarily the most boring state in the United States, the cities on this ranking can at least take solace that there are, in fact, more boring cities in the country.
The most boring cities in Mississippi are Byram, Amory, Brookhaven, Ripley, Louisville, Flowood, Brandon, Madison, Moss Point, and Petal.
If you’re also curious enough, here are the most exciting places in Mississippi, according to science.
