Best Real Estate Markets in Mississippi 2026: PropertyIQ Scores for 10 Mississippi Metros

Mississippi's capital carries the state's name recognition. Jackson is the largest metro in the state by a wide margin, home to state government, several major hospital systems, and Jackson State University. If you assume the largest, most economically diversified market is also the strongest, the PropertyIQ Score for the best real estate markets in Mississippi in 2026 will surprise you.

Jackson scores 34 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026, an F grade and the lowest of the ten Mississippi metros PropertyIQ tracks. McComb, a metro with roughly one-eleventh Jackson's population, scores 94, an A grade and the highest in the state. That is a 60-point gap between the state capital and a market most investors outside Mississippi have never heard of.

Here is the full breakdown of how PropertyIQ scores all ten Mississippi metros as of June 2026.

Mississippi PropertyIQ Scores at a Glance

All scores and prices are as of June 30, 2026.

The range across these ten metros is dramatic: 60 points separate the highest score (McComb, 94) from the lowest (Jackson, 34). Three of the ten, Vicksburg, Laurel, and Jackson, score below 50, meaning they sit below the state's own average line. Population size is not the deciding factor here. The smallest metro in the state's top tier and the largest metro overall land on opposite ends of the ranking.

McComb: Score 94, the Highest in Mississippi

McComb scores 94 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026, the highest PropertyIQ Score of any Mississippi metro. The median home value is $116,991, the most affordable market anywhere near the top of this dataset.

The 94 score caps one of the sharpest three-month runs PropertyIQ has recorded in Mississippi: McComb sat at 22 in March 2026, then climbed to 50 in April, 72 in May, and 94 in June. The driver is Zillow's ZHVI momentum reading for the metro, up 12.5% year-over-year and 7.2% over the trailing three months, even as Realtor.com's listing-price series shows a milder, slightly negative near-term move. PropertyIQ's score is built on ZHVI momentum rather than asking price, which is why the two series can diverge this much.

McComb, near the Louisiana border in far southern Mississippi, is also PropertyIQ's second-most undervalued market in the state: the valuation model puts it 20.3% below what local income levels would support. With just 170 active listings as of June 2026, it is also one of the thinnest markets in this roundup, and small transaction counts can move the numbers quickly.

Tupelo: Score 80

Tupelo scores 80 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026, a B- and the second-highest score in Mississippi. The median home value is $198,139, up 11.2% year-over-year per Realtor.com. The score is up 14 points from 66 in March 2026.

Tupelo is northeast Mississippi's largest metro, with a population of about 132,000 and a median household income of $63,188, the highest of any market in this dataset. PropertyIQ's valuation model puts it only 10.4% below its income-supported value, one of the more fairly priced markets in the group.

Inventory is up 13.1% year-over-year and days on market sits at 73, both consistent with a market absorbing new supply without much friction. At a 7.5% gross yield, Tupelo pairs one of the stronger score profiles in the state with cash flow characteristics closer to the middle of the pack.

Brookhaven: Score 79, Up 30 Points in Three Months

Brookhaven scores 79 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026, a C+ grade. The median home value is $172,994. The score is up 30 points from 49 in March 2026, one of the larger three-month gains in this dataset.

Brookhaven is a small metro along I-55 between Jackson and McComb, with roughly 34,800 residents. Home sales are up 62% year-over-year, and the pending ratio of 0.68 is the highest of any Mississippi metro PropertyIQ tracks, meaning a large share of active listings already have accepted offers. Price cuts are also the lowest in the state at just 7.4% of listings, versus 18%-plus in several other metros here.

Those are the hallmarks of a tight, fast-absorbing market. The tradeoff is scale: with only 60 active listings as of June 2026, Brookhaven is one of the thinnest markets in this roundup, and a handful of transactions can move its numbers meaningfully month to month.

Corinth: Score 77, Down 20 Points After a Five-Month Peak

Corinth scores 77 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026, a C+ grade. The median home value is $184,306. Unlike most of the state, Corinth's score is moving the wrong way: down 20 points from 97 in March 2026, after holding at or above 89 for five straight months from December 2025 through April 2026.

Corinth sits in Mississippi's far northeast corner near the Tennessee border, a small metro of about 34,500 people built around two historic rail lines and Shiloh National Military Park. Inventory has actually contracted 11.3% year-over-year, which would normally support a market's score, but new listings are up 25% and the price-reduced share has climbed to 15.2%, both signs that recent supply is landing softer than the market expected.

Corinth is a useful reminder that PropertyIQ scores move monthly. A market that spent five straight months above 89 can still cool quickly once new listings start outpacing absorption.

Hattiesburg: Score 60

Hattiesburg scores 60 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026, a D- grade. The median home value is $221,059. The score is up 15 points from 45 in March 2026.

Hattiesburg, nicknamed the Hub City for its rail-crossroads history, is home to two universities, the University of Southern Mississippi and William Carey University, and is the second-largest metro in this dataset behind Jackson, with a population of about 154,600. Days on market is the fastest of any Mississippi metro at just 53 days, and PropertyIQ's underlying demand score (50.2) is roughly balanced against a weaker supply score (38.5), suggesting more absorption capacity than the headline score implies.

The drag on Hattiesburg's score is price cuts: 17.8% of active listings have taken a reduction, among the highest readings in the state, and Realtor.com's listing-price series is down 3.4% year-over-year even as Zillow's longer-run ZHVI momentum stays modestly positive.

Starkville: Score 56

Starkville scores 56 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026, an F grade. The median home value is $258,320, the second-highest in this dataset. The score is down 3 points from 59 in March 2026.

Starkville is a Mississippi State University college town, and the census data shows it: median age is 27.4, the youngest of any Mississippi metro PropertyIQ tracks, and the homeownership rate is 52.45%, the lowest in the state. Median household income is $46,930, but PropertyIQ's affordability model calculates it would take income of $107,634 to comfortably buy the median home here, an overvaluation gap of 57.3%, the widest in this dataset.

That combination, a renter-heavy population with income well below what local home prices require, is what caps Starkville's score even as home values keep rising, up 5.2% year-over-year. New listings are up 42.3% year-over-year, adding supply into a market where the entry price is already stretched relative to local wages.

Oxford: Score 54, the Most Expensive Market in the State

Oxford scores 54 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026, an F grade. The median home value is $412,643, nearly double the next-highest market in Mississippi and by far the most expensive metro in this dataset. The score is down 21 points from 75 in March 2026, the largest three-month decline of any Mississippi metro.

Oxford is home to the University of Mississippi, and its price level reflects that: PropertyIQ's valuation model puts the metro 91.3% overvalued relative to what local income would support, the largest gap in the dataset. It would take an estimated $130,498 in household income to comfortably afford the median home here, more than double the metro's actual $61,617 median income.

The decline lines up with a supply surge: for-sale inventory is up 43.5% year-over-year, the sharpest increase of any Mississippi metro, while new construction sales continue adding units. A market already priced well above what local wages support is not well positioned to absorb that much new supply without further softening.

Vicksburg: Score 42

Vicksburg scores 42 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026, an F grade. The median home value is $150,946. The score is up 20 points from 22 in March 2026.

Vicksburg, the Mississippi River city known for the Civil War siege that split the Confederacy in 1863, is PropertyIQ's most undervalued market in the state: the valuation model puts it 23.9% below what local income levels would support, even more undervalued than McComb. Realtor.com's listing-price series shows home values up 26.4% year-over-year, the largest gain of any Mississippi metro, though the milder Zillow ZHVI reading that actually feeds the score puts three-month momentum at 3.4%.

What is holding Vicksburg's score below 50 is friction elsewhere in the funnel: 18.5% of listings have taken a price cut and the median listing sits on market for 77 days, both among the higher readings in this dataset. The affordability is real; the market just has not converted it into faster sales yet.

Laurel: Score 36

Laurel scores 36 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026, an F grade. The median home value is $156,031. The score is up 17 points from 19 in March 2026.

Laurel, familiar to HGTV viewers as the setting for Home Town, is a market of about 83,000 people with the highest homeownership rate in this dataset at 75.7%. Home values are essentially flat, down 0.5% year-over-year per Realtor.com, and 18% of active listings have taken a price cut.

PropertyIQ's valuation model puts Laurel 10.6% undervalued relative to local income, a real affordability edge, but the momentum inputs that drive the score, ZHVI year-over-year and three-month change, are both among the weakest in the state at 1.9% and 1.6% respectively. Laurel is a market where price has stayed low and stable rather than moving in either direction, which keeps its PropertyIQ Score depressed without the outright deterioration seen in Jackson.

Jackson: Score 34, the Lowest in Mississippi

Jackson scores 34 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026, an F grade and the lowest PropertyIQ Score of any Mississippi metro, despite being the state capital and by far its largest market. The median home value is $215,622. The score is down 5 points from 39 in March 2026 and has been drifting lower for most of 2026.

Jackson's population of roughly 616,000 is more than eleven times McComb's, and the metro carries state government, several major hospital systems, and Jackson State University as anchor employers. None of that has translated into a strong PropertyIQ Score. For-sale inventory sits at 1,880 units, by far the largest in this dataset, and PropertyIQ's underlying supply score of just 13.4, against a demand score of 59.2, shows the problem clearly: adequate buyer demand meeting a decisively oversupplied listing pipeline.

Realtor.com's listing-price series is down 7.5% year-over-year, and PropertyIQ's five-year home-value growth estimate for Jackson, 1.5%, is the weakest of any Mississippi metro in this dataset. Scale has not been an advantage here.

What the Mississippi Scores Tell You

The single most important takeaway from this dataset is that population size and PropertyIQ Score move in opposite directions in Mississippi. Jackson, the largest metro by a wide margin, has the lowest score. McComb, one of the smallest metros in the state's top tier, has the highest. The eight markets between them show no consistent relationship between population and momentum.

What does correlate is the supply-demand imbalance PropertyIQ's model tracks underneath the headline number, and the imbalance looks different in every F-grade market. Jackson's problem is oversupply: a supply score of just 13.4 against 1,880 active listings. Oxford's problem is overvaluation: prices 91.3% above what local income supports. Starkville's problem is an affordability gap: median income of $46,930 against a $107,634 income-to-buy threshold. Three F-grade markets, three different root causes.

The three college towns in this dataset, Oxford, Starkville, and Hattiesburg, all show weaker scores than their price and inventory data alone would suggest, each dragged by a version of the same problem: home prices that have run ahead of what local, non-university household income can support.

The swings can be dramatic within a single quarter, too. McComb moved 72 points in three months. Corinth moved 20 points in the other direction after five months above 89. Oxford dropped 21 points as new-construction and resale inventory both surged at once. PropertyIQ scores are updated monthly for a reason: in markets this size, three data points can be the difference between an F and an A.

How PropertyIQ Scores Mississippi Markets

PropertyIQ scores markets on a 0-100 scale where 50 represents the state average. A score above 50 means above-average market conditions compared to the Mississippi baseline. Seven of the ten metros in this dataset score above 50; the three that do not, Vicksburg, Laurel, and Jackson, include the state's capital and largest metro.

The score is updated monthly and is built from a market's demand signal -- home-value momentum, pending ratios, inventory trends, days on market, and the share of listings cutting price, drawn from Zillow and Realtor.com data. It is a forward-looking estimate of how a market is likely to perform over roughly the next three years relative to its state, where 50 equals the state average.