Lawrence County

Lawrence County sits at the affordable end of the Mississippi market with a median home price of $127,034 and essentially flat year-over-year appreciation of 0.48%. The affordability index scores a perfect 100, which tells you entry cost is genuinely low relative to income, not just low in absolute terms. The data doesn't supply a cap rate, gross rent multiplier, or estimated cash flow figure, which means the underwriting model couldn't close the loop on rental income, so any cash-flow conclusion requires you to source local rent comps independently before committing. What the data does confirm is that at $127K median, the acquisition bar is low enough that even modest rents can pencil if expenses are controlled, and the overall score of 67 puts Lawrence in the 73rd national percentile across 1,000 counties, a better relative position than the raw price tag might suggest.

The county's score profile makes the investor type question easy to answer. The cash-flow score is 0 and the appreciation score is 55, which means the market is neither a clear cash-flow play nor a high-growth story. That profile suits a value-add operator or a patient buy-and-hold investor who is buying on price discipline rather than either income yield or price growth. The affordability score of 100 combined with a stability score of 50 suggests a market with entry-level pricing and moderate, but not exceptional, demand durability. An appreciation buyer chasing price growth should look elsewhere. A cash-flow buyer needs verified rent data before assuming the price alone creates margin. The investor most likely to win here is one who can buy below the median, force value through renovation, and hold for a market that, while slow-moving, is priced low enough to absorb typical Mississippi rental operating costs without requiring aggressive rent assumptions.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance burden runs $139 per month, or roughly $1,664 annually, based on a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.81% and an insurance rate of 0.50% on the $127,034 purchase price. The tax rate at 0.81% carries a "normal" flag, so it's not a headwind that deserves special treatment in your underwrite, but it's also not the low-tax tailwind you'd get in some other Southern markets. The insurance figure at $635 annually reflects Mississippi's elevated coastal and storm exposure in the state-average estimate, though Lawrence County is inland, so your actual quote may differ from the statewide average. As always, these are state-average estimates and county-level rates can vary materially; pull actual tax bills from the Lawrence County assessor before closing.

The data does not include economic anchors or employer names for Lawrence County, so any commentary on job base or major employers would be speculation. With a population of 11,933, Lawrence is a small rural county. That scale matters for concentration risk: thin rental demand means a portfolio of even five or six units represents a meaningful share of the active rental market, and a local economic disruption, a plant closure, a school district contraction, would move vacancy faster than in a metro area. Investors running more than a handful of units should treat this as a concentration exposure and stress-test for 20-30% vacancy rather than using metro-area vacancy assumptions.

The neighbor comparison provides useful context. Among the five neighboring counties with data, Lawrence's $127,034 median is the lowest by a wide margin. Rankin County at $261,732 and Madison County at $329,801 offer better-documented rent-to-price ratios (7.95% and 6.21% respectively) and higher overall scores (69 and 64), with Rankin carrying both a higher score and a documented gross yield close to 8%. Jackson County at $210,656 shows a 7.96% rent-to-price ratio with an overall score matching Lawrence at 67. The honest comparison: if you can verify that Lawrence rents support a gross yield anywhere near Rankin or Jackson County's documented 7.9-8.0% range, the lower entry price in Lawrence becomes a genuine edge, since you're achieving a similar yield on a smaller capital outlay. If rents in Lawrence don't reach that threshold, the documented yields in Rankin and Jackson County, at higher prices but with actual rent data attached, make those markets easier to underwrite with confidence. Choose Lawrence when you have local rent intelligence that closes the data gap and when the lower capital requirement matters, for example, if you are deploying limited equity across multiple properties. Choose Rankin or Jackson when you need a documented yield to satisfy a lender or partner and can absorb the higher basis.