Jasper County

Jasper County sits at a median home price of $141,477 with a year-over-year price decline of 3.6%, landing it squarely in the affordability-first tier of Mississippi markets. The affordability score is a perfect 100, the highest possible, which tells you something: this is one of the cheapest places to acquire residential real estate in the country on a nominal basis. The overall score of 58 and a national percentile rank of 46 out of 1,000 counties put it in the middle of the pack nationally, but the internal scorecard is lopsided. The cash flow score comes in at zero and the appreciation score at 32, which means the model finds neither a reliable income stream nor a compelling price-growth thesis here at current conditions. With cap rate, cash-on-cash return, and estimated cash flow all registering at zero in the investment estimate, the numbers as modeled do not support a conventional leveraged buy-and-hold at the $141,477 price point and 6.85% financing rate. That is the honest read of the data.

Who does this market suit? Not a passive income buyer running standard leverage. The zero cash flow score is a ceiling, not a starting point, and at a 6.85% interest rate the debt service eats deeply into any gross rent this price range might generate. An all-cash buyer willing to underwrite deeply discounted acquisitions below the $141,477 median has the best shot at finding spread here, since at purchase prices well below median the rent-to-value ratio can shift meaningfully in a low-cost state. A value-add operator who can acquire distressed assets, force appreciation through renovation, and refinance at a lower effective cost basis might also find an angle, but that is an execution story, not a market story. The appreciation score of 32 and a negative price trend of -3.6% year-over-year argue against a passive appreciation hold. The stability score of 50 signals a middling risk profile, neither safe enough to park capital confidently nor volatile enough to attract contrarian distress buyers at scale.

No economic anchor data was provided for Jasper County, so employer concentration and job base depth cannot be assessed here. A population of 16,320 places this firmly in rural, small-county territory, which itself has structural implications for rental demand: the tenant pool is shallow, turnover costs hit harder as a percentage of annual rent, and vacancy exposure between tenants carries more weight than it would in a denser market. Investors used to operating in metros or mid-sized cities need to adjust their vacancy and re-leasing assumptions accordingly.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance burden comes to $154, based on a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.81% and an insurance rate of 0.50%. That $1,853 in annual carrying cost is relatively contained given the price point, and the 0.81% tax rate is flagged as normal, not a headwind. Worth noting: this is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual rates at the county or township level in Jasper County may differ, so verify the local millage before finalizing any underwrite. The insurance figure at 0.50% of value annually is worth monitoring given Mississippi's exposure to severe weather, though that rate is what the data provides.

The most pointed risk in this market is scale and liquidity. At 16,320 residents, Jasper County has a thin buyer pool, which means exit options are limited. A 3.6% price decline year-over-year in a market this small can reflect a handful of distressed sales rather than a broad trend, but it also means there are few enough transactions that each individual deal moves the needle on your personal market. Concentration risk is real: a single large employer closing or a demographic shift in a county this small can reprice the market in ways that have no parallel in larger geographies.

Among the neighboring counties, Jasper at $141,477 sits in the middle of the price range. Pike County is the cheapest of the group at $97,345 and carries the highest overall score at 61, which makes it the most interesting comparison for a buyer chasing affordability with a slightly better model score. Smith County and Neshoba County both score 59 versus Jasper's 58 at median prices of $154,816 and $140,745 respectively, so Neshoba is essentially the same price with a marginally better score. Marion County at $131,606 and a score of 57 is cheaper but lower-rated. Yazoo County at $113,234 and a score of 57 offers the second-lowest price in the peer group. The case for choosing Jasper over its neighbors comes down to on-the-ground deal availability and any specific local knowledge an operator brings. On the model numbers alone, Pike County's combination of lower entry price and higher overall score makes it the peer to investigate first. Jasper would earn the allocation over Pike only if an investor identifies specific acquisition opportunities below the county median that the aggregate data cannot capture.