Lamar County, Mississippi Eviction Risk: Low

Lamar County's county-wide average eviction risk score of 2.5/10 (Low) places it in the middle third of Mississippi's 82 counties, with 39 counties carrying higher risk and 42 sitting below it. For landlords, that middle-tier position reflects a market that is broadly manageable but not uniformly safe. Average rent of $1,003 per month and a rent burden of 32.9% of renter income signal that a meaningful share of tenants is financially stretched, which matters when evaluating default risk across a portfolio.

Drilling into the numbers reveals a county that is more varied than its average suggests. Scores across Lamar County's seven tracked cities span 2 to 2.8, a range that should give any investor pause before treating this as a single homogeneous market. Where you buy, and which tenant base you attract, can swing your effective operating risk substantially within the same county lines.

The cities inside Lamar County

West Hattiesburg carries the county's highest risk score at 2.8/10 and is also the largest city in the county at a population of 6,715. Its concentration of renters makes it the market where tenant-financial stress is most likely to surface in your collections experience. Purvis (population 1,914) and Lumberton (population 1,320) both score 2.8/10, matching the county average, while Oak Grove (population 2,098) comes in at 2.1/10. Together these four cities account for the bulk of the county's rental stock and represent the risk tier most investors will encounter in practice.

On the lower end, Sumrall and Rawls Springs each score 2/10, and Rawls Springs posts the county's lowest figure at 2/10, though its population of just 423 limits the scale of rental opportunity there. The spread makes clear that risk in Lamar County is hyper-local: a landlord operating in West Hattiesburg eviction risk faces materially different conditions than one with units in Baxterville, even though both addresses share the same county government and the same state-level legal framework.

State-level laws that apply here

Mississippi state law governs every tenancy in Lamar County. Under Mississippi's eviction process, notice periods vary by cause: nonpayment of rent requires just a 3-day notice, a lease violation triggering a cure-or-quit runs 14 days, and a no-cause end-of-term termination requires 30 days. Once a landlord files, an uncontested case typically resolves in 30 to 60 days; a contested matter stretches to 60 to 120 days. Mississippi imposes no just-cause requirement for ending a tenancy and has preempted local rent control statewide, so no Lamar County municipality can impose a rent cap.

On the cost side, understanding Mississippi eviction costs is essential before underwriting a deal. Court filing fees range from $75 to $150, sheriff lockout fees add $30 to $120, and attorney fees for a full eviction action typically fall between $500 and $2,500, depending on complexity. A contested case can therefore push total out-of-pocket costs well past $2,500, on top of any lost rent during the proceeding. Landlords operating here should price that exposure into their vacancy and default assumptions from day one.

With an average poverty rate of 25.9% and 43% of households renting, the financial vulnerability of Lamar County's renter base is real, making city-level scores in the grid above the most reliable tool for zeroing in on where that risk is concentrated.