Scott County

Scott County sits at a median home price of $123,544, which is low enough to warrant serious attention from anyone underwriting Mississippi buy-and-holds. The county scores 100 on affordability and ranks 13th nationally out of 1,000 counties tracked, landing in the 98th percentile overall, which puts it at the top of the state (1st out of 80 Mississippi counties). Home prices are moving, too: 8.19% year-over-year appreciation is well above what most cash-flow markets deliver, which makes this one of the rare combinations where an investor gets both an accessible entry point and price momentum. The caveat worth naming upfront is that the cash flow score comes in at 0 and no cap rate or rent data is populated in the dataset, meaning the tool does not have reliable rent comps to support a yield calculation at this time. Appreciation is scored at 85, and that is where the current evidence points.

That scoring profile tells you exactly who this market suits. An appreciation-oriented buyer who wants to get into a market before it reprices will find the $123,544 median compelling because there is room to run without needing high rents to justify the purchase. A value-add operator who can buy distressed, force equity through renovation, and refinance into a stabilized asset also fits well here: at this price point, even a modest rehab budget leaves a comfortable margin before you approach replacement cost. The buyer who should be cautious is the pure cash-flow underwriter who needs day-one yield to service debt. Without published rent-to-price ratios for Scott County specifically, you cannot size a cash-flow deal with confidence using only this data. That does not mean cash flow is unavailable, only that it requires independent rent comp work before committing.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance figure is $135, which is relatively contained for a property at this price. That breaks down to an estimated $1,001 in annual property tax (based on a 0.81% state-average effective rate) and $618 in annual insurance. Mississippi property insurance deserves a separate look in your underwrite given the state's exposure to severe weather, but at 0.50% of value the insurance rate here is not alarming at this price tier. The 0.81% tax rate is flagged as normal, meaning it is not a headwind or tailwind worth special treatment, but per the data note, this is a state-average estimate and your actual county or township levy may differ, so pull the Scott County assessor's current millage before closing.

The absence of economic anchor data in this dataset means employer-specific commentary would be fabrication, so that piece belongs in your own due diligence. What the population figure of 27,943 does tell you is that this is a small market. Small markets in Mississippi carry concentration risk: a single employer departure or a regional economic shift can move vacancy in ways that larger, more diversified metros absorb more quietly. Liquidity at exit is the other small-market discipline to build into your hold period assumptions. If you need to sell in a narrow window, buyer pools at this price point are deeper nationally than locally, which argues for staying patient on disposition timing.

Compared to the neighboring counties in the dataset, Scott's $123,544 median is the second-lowest entry point after Holmes County at $84,259, and it outscores every neighbor: 79 overall versus Hinds at 76, Holmes at 76, Lee at 75, Monroe at 73, and Pontotoc at 73. Hinds County sits at a nearly identical median of $125,430 and carries published rent data showing a 0.129 rent-to-price ratio, which is a materially better yield signal for the cash-flow buyer who needs that number in hand before underwriting. Lee County at $196,256 and Pontotoc at $214,343 both run significantly higher on price with lower overall scores. The argument for choosing Scott over its neighbors is straightforward if appreciation and affordability are your primary filters: it leads the region on both dimensions by a meaningful margin. If you need documented rent yield before proceeding, Hinds is the neighbor with the data to support that conversation.