Franklin County, Mississippi Eviction Risk: Low

Franklin County scores 3.7/10 on the eviction-risk index, a Low rating that places it in the middle third of Mississippi's 82 counties. At rank 47 of 82, 46 counties carry more risk for landlords and 35 are less risky, so Franklin County sits just past the midpoint toward the safer end of the state. Across its 4 incorporated places and a total county population of roughly 2,155, landlords generally face a manageable operating environment, though a poverty rate of 38.5% and an average rent of $651 per month mean collections discipline and tenant screening still matter.

The intra-county spread is narrow, running from 3.5 to 3.9, which tells investors that no single community inside Franklin County is dramatically riskier than the others. A renter share of 34.8% of households keeps absolute rental-unit volume modest, and an average rent-burden figure of 28.6% of renter income is below the conventional distress threshold, a modest cushion for on-time rent collection in an otherwise low-income market.

The cities inside Franklin County

Bude, the county's largest community at 947 residents, carries the highest risk score at 3.9/10. Crosby (population 245) follows at 3.8/10, and Roxie (population 428) comes in at 3.7/10, matching the county average. Even at the top end, a 3.9 is still a Low-tier score, so no city in Franklin County tips into moderate or high risk. Risk is nonetheless hyper-local: a landlord owning units in Bude faces meaningfully different conditions than one operating in Meadville, where the score drops to 3.5/10 and the population stands at 535.

Meadville, the lowest-risk city, scores 0.4 points below Bude, a gap that can translate to real differences in tenant-pool stability, vacancy cycles, and collections outcomes at the property level. Investors comparing opportunities across the county should weight Meadville and Roxie more favorably than Bude on pure risk metrics, even though all four remain in the Low tier.

State-level laws that apply here

Mississippi eviction laws state law governs every landlord-tenant relationship in Franklin County. Under the Mississippi eviction process, a landlord must give a 3-day notice for non-payment of rent, a 14-day cure-or-quit notice for a lease violation, and a 30-day no-cause notice at end of term, all per Miss. Code SS 89-8 (Landlord and Tenant). An uncontested eviction typically resolves in 30 to 60 days; a contested case can run 60 to 120 days. Filing fees range from $75 to $150, sheriff lockout fees from $30 to $120, and attorney fees from $500 to $2,500, making total out-of-pocket costs highly variable depending on whether the tenant contests.

Mississippi eviction laws imposes no just-cause requirement for ending a tenancy and, by statute, preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so Franklin County landlords are not subject to any municipal caps on rent increases. Mississippi security deposit limits and Mississippi tenant protections under Miss. Code SS 89-8-23 (habitability) are the primary tenant-side obligations to track. Source-of-income discrimination is not a protected class under state fair-housing rules, and there is no retaliation statute on the books, though federal fair-housing obligations apply. The Mississippi eviction laws Attorney General, Consumer Protection division, is the fair-housing enforcement agency.

With a poverty rate of 38.5% and roughly 34.8% of households renting, Franklin County's rental pool is small but concentrated enough that a single high-risk tenant can meaningfully affect a small portfolio; the city-level scores in the grid above help pinpoint where that exposure is highest.