Tippah County

Tippah County comes in at a median home price of $149,392, making it one of the more affordable entry points in Mississippi and nationally, where its affordability index scores 98 out of 100. Year-over-year home price growth is essentially flat at 0.12%, so appreciation is not the story here. The overall score of 65 places Tippah in the 68th percentile nationally across 1,000 counties, which is a respectable position, but the cash flow score of 0 is a hard stop for investors running numbers on a conventional buy-and-hold. With the investment estimate data returning zeroes on monthly mortgage, estimated expenses, estimated cash flow, cap rate, and cash-on-cash return, the tool is flagging incomplete rental income data for this county rather than a calculated break-even. That gap in the dataset matters: a $149,392 purchase at 6.85% on an 80% LTV loan carries a principal-and-interest payment in the neighborhood of $790 per month before expenses, so an investor needs to independently source rental comps before underwriting this market.

Given the flat appreciation (0.12% YoY) and an appreciation score of 51, this is not a market where you bank on price gains to carry the deal. The affordability index of 98 suggests that relative to local incomes, homes are accessible, which typically compresses yield because local buyers can purchase rather than rent. Whether cash flow works at all depends entirely on rental rates that aren't captured in this dataset. An investor who can source rents independently and acquire significantly below the $149,392 median, through foreclosure, estate sale, or distress, may find value-add angles that pencil. A pure appreciation buyer has no numerical basis to make that case here.

No economic anchor data was provided for Tippah County, so any characterization of the employment base or major employers would be speculation. What the population figure of 21,769 does tell you is that this is a small rural county. Tenant pools in markets this size tend to be shallow, which tightens the margin for error on vacancy. Lease-up after a turnover can take longer than in a metro submarket, and a single vacant month on a modest rent level has an outsized impact on annual returns.

The combined monthly tax and insurance burden comes to $163, which is composed of $1,210 in annual property tax at the 0.81% state-average effective rate and $747 in annual insurance. The 0.81% rate carries a normal flag, so it is not a headwind that needs special underwriting treatment, but the insurance figure is worth attention. Mississippi sits in a high-wind and hail exposure zone, and while the $747 annual figure here reflects a state-average estimate, actual quotes on specific properties can run materially higher depending on age of roof, construction type, and carrier appetite. Get real insurance quotes before closing, not after. The note accompanying this data is honest: the tax rate is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024, and county and township rates in Tippah may differ from that figure.

The primary risks here are concentration and liquidity. A 21,769-person county with a single-digit number of rentable properties under your control means one problem tenant, one capital expenditure event, or one prolonged vacancy hits your portfolio return hard. There is no data in this dataset on vacancy rates or regulatory environment, so those risks cannot be quantified, but the small-market dynamic is structural. Resale liquidity is the other consideration: buyers for investment properties in rural Mississippi are fewer than in metro markets, so your exit options are constrained if you need to sell on a timeline.

Compared to its neighbors, Tippah is the cheapest entry point at $149,392, below Simpson County's $145,629 being the only county with a lower median home price among those listed. Union County at $197,435, Tishomingo at $186,177, Madison at $329,801, and Jackson at $210,656 all carry higher price tags. Jackson County is the standout for investors who have rental income data to work with: its rent-to-price ratio of 0.0796 is meaningfully higher than Madison County's 0.0621, suggesting better yield potential at a price point of $210,656. If you are choosing between Tippah and Jackson County and can source rents in both, Jackson's documented rent-to-price ratio gives it a clearer cash-flow underwriting path. Tippah's lower median price is an advantage only if local rents hold up proportionally, and that data is missing here. Choose Tippah when you have a specific property with verified rents that produce a cap rate justifying the rural illiquidity premium, not because the sticker price is low.