Pike County, Mississippi Eviction Risk: Low

Pike County, Mississippi eviction laws carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.5/10 (Low) across its 5 incorporated places, ranking 24th of 82 Mississippi eviction laws counties, meaning 23 counties are riskier and 58 are more landlord-friendly. That positions Pike County in the higher-risk third of the state, a meaningful signal for investors evaluating Mississippi markets. Landlords here face structural headwinds: the average renter share sits at 46.2%, average rent runs $886 per month, and the average rent burden reaches 34% of gross income, creating a renter population that is financially stretched even before any income shock.

The intra-county range, 2.1 to 2.7, tells a more nuanced story than the county average alone. A spread of that width means the market is not monolithic. Landlords comfortable operating in a 4.3 county average still need to select individual cities carefully, because risk at street level can land noticeably higher than the headline number suggests.

The cities inside Pike County

Summit leads the county in eviction risk at 2.7/10, edging out McComb, which scores 2.4/10 and is by far the county's most populous city at 12,049 residents. When a market that large sits at the county ceiling for risk, landlords with McComb exposure face the highest combined scale-times-risk profile in Pike County. Osyka scores 2.4/10, and Magnolia, with a population of 3,059, comes in at 2.5/10, a moderate but still elevated reading for a small market. Risk is genuinely hyper-local here: a landlord owning rentals across Summit and McComb is operating in a materially different environment than one concentrated in Magnolia.

Fernwood is the clear outlier on the lower end, scoring 2.1/10, the only city in the county that falls meaningfully below the county average. Its population of just 57 makes it a negligible share of the county's 18,027 total residents, so the low score does little to pull the county average down in practice. Investors who need the full city-by-city breakdown will find each profile linked in the grid above.

State-level laws that apply here

Every Pike County landlord operates under Mississippi eviction laws state law, specifically Miss. Code § 89-8 (Landlord and Tenant). For non-payment of rent, the required notice is just 3 days. A lease violation with an opportunity to cure requires 14 days. A no-cause or end-of-term notice requires 30 days. Uncontested cases can resolve in 30 to 60 days from filing, while contested matters typically run 60 to 120 days. Understanding the Mississippi eviction laws eviction process in full is essential before committing capital here, because even an uncontested timeline can stretch two months. Total out-of-pocket cost to landlords ranges from roughly $605 (filing fee $75, sheriff fee $30, attorney fee $500) to $2,770 (filing fee $150, sheriff fee $120, attorney fee $2,500) depending on complexity and whether the case is contested. A detailed breakdown of Mississippi eviction costs is available in the statewide guide. Mississippi eviction laws does not require just cause for eviction and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so Pike County landlords are not subject to rent caps, which is a meaningful structural advantage relative to many other states.

With a poverty rate of 28.8% and nearly half of residents renting, Pike County's financial pressure on tenants is real, making city selection critical; the grid above breaks down risk scores for all 5 cities so you can pinpoint where that pressure is concentrated.