Leake County

Leake County sits at a median home price of $160,336 with 6.44% year-over-year appreciation, which is the headline number that explains its top ranking: first in Mississippi and 7th nationally out of 1,000 counties tracked. The affordability index of 96 confirms prices remain accessible relative to income, which matters because cheap entry and rising prices is the combination appreciation buyers hunt for. Cash flow and cap rate figures are not provided in the underlying data, so the investment case here has to be built around the price trajectory and entry cost rather than a yield spread. What the data does make clear is where Leake sits on the spectrum: this is an appreciation play at an affordable price point, not a yield machine.

That framing determines exactly who belongs here. An appreciation-oriented buyer who wants to get into a market before prices normalize will find a $160,336 median purchase price with nearly 6.5% annual price growth hard to ignore at this scale, particularly with a 20% down payment of just $32,067 required to control the asset. A value-add operator who can buy distressed inventory below that median and force appreciation through renovation will have the tailwind of a rising market working alongside the improvement equity. The cash-flow buyer looking to run the numbers on gross yield needs to proceed carefully: without rent data for Leake itself, there is no basis to assume yields are strong, and the appreciation-heavy profile of the market suggests they may not be. Investors who need a deal to pencil on cash flow from day one should treat this as a market to underwrite conservatively and confirm local rent comps before committing.

Leake County has a population of 21,335, which makes it a small, rural market. The data does not include economic anchors or an employer breakdown, so no claim can be made here about job base depth or institutional demand drivers. What population size does tell an investor is that tenant demand is thin relative to most metros, and absorption of new inventory is slow. A single large employer hiring or laying off can move vacancy materially in a market this size. That concentration risk is worth pricing in.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance figure is $175, based on a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.81% and an insurance rate of 0.50%, with the honest caveat that the 0.81% is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data and actual Leake County or township rates may differ. At that $175 per month, carry is not a heavy burden at this price point, and the tax rate is flagged as normal, meaning it carries no particular penalty. Mississippi's insurance environment, particularly for windstorm and weather-related perils, is worth verifying independently, but the 0.50% rate built into the model is not alarming. For a full underwrite, an investor should pull a county-specific tax assessment and get a binding insurance quote before finalizing projections.

The primary risks here are concentration and scale. A county of 21,335 people has limited liquidity: if you need to exit, your buyer pool is narrower than in any metro market. Population trends are not included in the data, but rural Mississippi counties broadly have faced outmigration pressure, and that headwind can work against even strong near-term appreciation if it persists. Regulatory data is not provided, but small markets often lack the tenant-protection ordinances that complicate operations in larger cities, which is generally favorable for landlords. The appreciation score of 90 out of 100 is a system output, not a guarantee, and in a small market a few distressed sales can skew reported medians meaningfully in any given quarter.

Against its neighbors, Leake's $160,336 median sits in the middle of the range, above Scott County ($123,939, overall score 76) and Hinds County ($125,430, overall score 76) and well above Holmes County ($84,259, overall score 76), but below Lee County ($196,256, overall score 75). The neighbor with the most useful data point is Hinds County, which shows a rent-to-price ratio of 0.1285, indicating meaningful gross yield potential relative to price. Lee County, by contrast, shows a rent-to-price ratio of only 0.0777 despite a higher median price and a lower overall score. Leake scores higher overall than all five neighbors, which is the quantitative argument for choosing it. An investor should pick Leake over Hinds if appreciation is the primary objective and yield is secondary. An investor who needs cash flow to service debt and cover carry should look harder at Hinds first, given its documented rent-to-price ratio at a lower entry price, and then verify whether operating in Jackson carries the regulatory and vacancy risks that a smaller county avoids.