Mississippi County, Arkansas Eviction Risk: Low

Mississippi County carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.7/10 (Low) across its 19 cities, which tells landlords that the county is not a high-pressure environment by national standards. That said, rank 8 of 75 in Arkansas eviction laws places it in the higher-risk third of the state, meaning 7 counties carry more risk and 67 are measurably more landlord-friendly. Investors evaluating Mississippi County should understand they are entering a market where operating conditions are workable, but the elevated poverty rate and renter share require disciplined tenant screening and lease enforcement.

The intra-county range of 1.8 to 3 is worth taking seriously. A 1.0-point spread across a single county averages the city you choose matters as much as the county itself. With an average rent of $811 and an average rent burden of 31.6%, tenants are paying a meaningful share of income toward housing, which can translate to more frequent late-pay situations during any economic softness. Arkansas state law gives landlords clear statutory tools to respond quickly, but understanding the local dynamics city by city is still essential.

The cities inside Mississippi County

Joiner is the highest-risk city in the county at 3/10, the only location that reaches the top of the county's score range. With a population of 6,688, it is the county's second-largest city and the one that warrants the closest scrutiny before deploying capital. Manila, Gosnell, Keiser, and Joiner all score 2.1/10, matching the county average. Blytheville, the county seat and largest city at 12,790 residents, scores 2.3/10, as do Leachville and Caraway, placing them among the more landlord-favorable markets in the county.

Risk is genuinely hyper-local here. Wilson, with a population of 1,023, scores just 2.1/10, the lowest in the dataset, while Osceola scores 0.5 points higher. Investors assembling a portfolio in northeastern Arkansas should model each city independently rather than treating the county as a uniform market.

State-level laws that apply here

Every rental unit in Mississippi County operates under the Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act (Ark. Code § 18-17). For non-payment of rent, the notice period is 3 days. Lease-violation notices require 14 days to cure, and end-of-term no-cause terminations require 30 days. Uncontested evictions run 30 to 60 days from filing to writ; contested cases can stretch 90 to 150 days. Court filing fees range from $165 to $250, sheriff lockout fees from $40 to $120, and attorney fees from $500 to $2,500 depending on case complexity. The full Arkansas eviction process and Arkansas eviction costs are covered in the statewide guides linked on this site.

Arkansas does not require just cause for termination and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so there is no patchwork of municipal rent caps to navigate. Source-of-income is not a protected class under state fair-housing rules administered by the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission. These are meaningful structural advantages for landlords who plan and document their leases carefully.

With a poverty rate of 22.6% and a renter share of 44.1% across the county, the city-level scores in the grid above are the most reliable guide to where operating risk concentrates inside Mississippi County.