Oktibbeha County, Mississippi Eviction Risk: Low

Oktibbeha County carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.6/10 (Low) across its 5 incorporated cities, placing it in the middle third of Mississippi counties: 30 of the state's 82 counties score higher, and 51 score lower. For landlords and investors, that ranking signals a market where risk is real but not outsized, with operating conditions shaped heavily by a large renter population and a poverty rate that demands careful tenant screening up front.

The internal spread tells a more nuanced story. Risk runs from 2.7 at the low end to 4.3 at the high end, a 1.6-point gap across a county with a total population of 31,946. Average rent sits at $905 per month, but an average rent burden of 38% of income means a meaningful share of tenants are already stretched thin, which is the kind of structural pressure that drives late payments and eventual filings. Where you buy within the county matters as much as whether you buy in Oktibbeha County at all.

The cities inside Oktibbeha County

Starkville is the county seat and by far the largest city, with a population of 25,721 and the highest risk score in the county at 4.3/10. Nearly all of the county's rental activity is concentrated here, including the student-adjacent rental market near Mississippi eviction laws State University. A high renter-share environment with a significant poverty rate creates above-average delinquency exposure, and landlords operating in Starkville eviction risk should budget for occasional filings as a routine cost of doing business rather than an exception.

Maben and Sturgis both score 2.8/10, representing mid-tier risk for smaller markets with limited rental inventory. At the lower end of the range, Longview scores 1.8/10 and Mississippi State scores 2.8/10, with the latter's small population of 4,655 and institutional-adjacent character contributing to a more stable tenant pool. Risk is genuinely hyper-local here: a landlord operating in Mississippi State faces conditions meaningfully different from one two miles up the road in Starkville.

State-level laws that apply here

Mississippi eviction law under Miss. Code § 89-8 (Landlord and Tenant) gives landlords relatively direct tools. Non-payment of rent requires only a 3-day notice before filing; a lease violation or cure notice runs 14 days; and a no-cause or end-of-term termination requires 30 days. Mississippi does not require just cause for termination and has statewide preemption of local rent control, so landlords in Oktibbeha County face no local rent caps or additional cause requirements layered on top of state law. Understanding the full Mississippi eviction process, from notice through writ of possession, is essential before placing a tenant in any of these markets.

On the cost side, court filing fees run $75 to $150 and sheriff lockout fees run $30 to $120. Attorney fees for a contested matter range from $500 to $2,500, and uncontested cases typically resolve in 30 to 60 days, with contested matters stretching to 60 to 120 days. Reviewing Mississippi eviction costs in detail before underwriting a deal here will help investors model worst-case scenarios accurately. Source-of-income discrimination is not a protected class under Mississippi state law, which gives landlords somewhat broader screening flexibility than in states with stronger tenant statutes.

With an average poverty rate of 32.2% and a renter share of 65.4%, Oktibbeha County's fundamentals reward landlords who screen rigorously and price to the local rent base; the city grid above breaks down exactly where that exposure is highest and lowest across all 5 cities.