Amite County

Amite County sits at a median home price of $145,011, down 9.4% year-over-year, in one of the most affordable markets in the country, scoring 99 out of 100 on affordability. That price decline is a double-edged signal: entry costs are compressing further, but the appreciation score of 6 out of 100 tells you this market has not historically rewarded buyers who were counting on price growth. The cap rate and cash-on-cash return fields are both zero in the underlying data, which reflects missing rental income estimates rather than a confirmed zero-yield situation, but the absence of that data is itself a caution flag, suggesting thin or unreliable rental comparables in the market. What the numbers collectively describe is a deeply discounted, low-liquidity rural county where the investment case, if one exists at all, has to be built on yield rather than appreciation.

The overall score of 47 out of 100 and a national percentile rank of 17 place Amite near the bottom third of the 1,000 counties in this dataset, ranking 652nd nationally and 47th out of 80 Mississippi counties. That is not a market suited to a passive appreciation buyer or a stabilized cash-flow buyer who needs reliable rent comparables and tenant depth. If there is an investor type who finds utility here, it is the deep-value or distressed-asset operator willing to do the sourcing and management work in a county with a population of 12,683, accepting that exit liquidity will be limited and hold periods may be long. The affordability index of 99 means acquisition cost is almost never the barrier; the barriers are demand depth, rent support, and the ability to exit at a reasonable price when the time comes.

No economic anchors or employer data were provided for Amite County, so no claims can be made about job base, institutional demand drivers, or employer-specific rental demand. That absence is itself meaningful context for underwriting: rural Mississippi counties without identifiable anchor employers or institutional demand generators carry real concentration risk, and any investor underwriting this market should do independent diligence on local employment, commute patterns to nearby cities, and any government or healthcare facilities that might support stable tenant demand.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance estimate is $158, based on Mississippi's state-average effective property tax rate of 0.81% and an insurance rate of 0.50%, producing an annualized tax burden of $1,175 and insurance of $725. The 0.81% rate is flagged as normal, so it does not represent a significant headwind or tailwind relative to national norms, but insurance at 0.50% of value annually in Mississippi, a state with meaningful catastrophic weather exposure, is worth validating against actual quotes before finalizing any underwrite. The state-average rate used here is an estimate, and county or township-level rates may differ, per the data source note.

The primary risks in Amite County are demographic and liquidity-driven. A population of 12,683 is small enough that vacancy in a given submarket can shift materially with the loss of a single employer or the closure of a local institution. The 9.4% year-over-year home price decline indicates either forced selling, a lack of buyer demand, or both, none of which support assumptions of near-term value recovery. Investors should not assume rental demand tracks national trends; at this population level, even modest outmigration meaningfully contracts the renter pool.

Compared to the five neighboring counties in the dataset, Amite at $145,011 is priced higher than Adams ($116,847), Bolivar ($121,420), and Sunflower ($93,259), while sitting nearly even with Yalobusha ($144,720) and just below Jones ($149,816). Every neighboring county carries an overall score of 46, one point below Amite's 47, suggesting the entire peer group is similarly challenged. Sunflower County at $93,259 offers the lowest entry price in the peer set, which could matter to a buyer prioritizing capital efficiency over all else, while Jones County at $149,816 is the highest-priced neighbor and likely benefits from the Laurel, MS metro area. An investor would choose Amite over these neighbors only if specific on-the-ground diligence, a deal at a meaningful discount to the $145,011 median, or a specific property opportunity justified the additional basis, not on the basis of county-level scores alone, where the differences are functionally negligible.