Prentiss County, Mississippi Eviction Risk: Very Low
7 incorporated cities and unincorporated areas. The county Eviction Risk Score is held aloft by the city of Booneville (2.4) and a small number of dense urban cores. Rent-control coverage varies by city.
Ranked #82 of 82 MS counties
11k residents · 7 cities · 8 tracts
Prentiss County eviction risk score history
Key metrics
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Tenant beats landlord12.4%/ 100 outcomesIn court-decided eviction outcomes for Prentiss County, MS, tenants prevail in roughly 12.4% of contested cases. A higher number means landlords face stronger tenant defenses and longer calendars.
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Timeline29dfiling → judgmentFrom the moment an unlawful-detainer notice is filed in Prentiss County, MS until a money judgment is entered, a contested eviction takes about 29 days on average. Longer timelines mean more lost rent for landlords.
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Cost range$0.8–2.6klegal + lost rentA typical eviction in Prentiss County, MS costs landlords $848 to $2,613 all-in, covering court filing fees, process-server costs, attorney time, and lost rent.
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Average rent$63923% stretched on rentAverage gross rent in Prentiss County, MS is $639 per month per the U.S. Census American Community Survey. 23% of renter households here spend more than 30% of pre-tax income on rent.
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Renters28.4%of households28.4% of occupied housing units in Prentiss County, MS are renter-occupied. A higher renter share usually correlates with more eviction filings and a more active rental market.
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Poverty14.2%3.4% unemp.14.2% of Prentiss County, MS residents live below the federal poverty line, and unemployment runs at 3.4%. Both feed the economic-stress sub-score in our Eviction Risk Score model.
Scrub 50 years
How Prentiss County ranks in Mississippi
Landlord guides for Mississippi
| City↕ | Population↕ | Risk↕ | % income on rent↕ | Average rent↕ | Lean↕ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Booneville | 9,246 | 2.0 | 22.6% | $645 | Rep |
| 002 | Wheeler | 524 | 1.7 | 24.1% | $638 | Rep |
| 003 | Jumpertown | 360 | 2.2 | 28.4% | $625 | Rep |
| 004 | Kirkville | 356 | 2.0 | 24.1% | $638 | Rep |
| 005 | Marietta | 195 | 2.2 | 35.0% | $400 | Rep |
| 006 | Jacinto | 167 | 1.7 | 24.1% | $638 | Rep |
| 007 | New Site | 120 | 2.4 | 24.1% | $638 | Rep |
County heatmap
One county, multiple regulatory regimes.
Prentiss County, Mississippi eviction laws earns an average eviction-risk score of 3/10, placing it in the Low risk tier and ranking it 75th of 82 Mississippi eviction laws counties, meaning 74 counties carry more landlord risk. That standing puts Prentiss County squarely in the lower-risk third of the state, a meaningful advantage for buy-and-hold investors sizing up northeast Mississippi markets. Across the county's 7 cities, average rent runs $639 per month, rent burden sits at 23.2% of income, and the renter share is a modest 28.4%, all conditions that generally support steady occupancy and lower eviction pressure.
The intra-county spread, from a low of 1.9 to a high of 3.3, is narrow enough that no individual city stands out as a serious outlier, but the gap is still wide enough to shift portfolio math. Landlords who want predictability will find the lower end of that range genuinely attractive, while the upper end remains well below the state average for high-risk markets. Knowing exactly which jurisdiction your property sits in is essential before committing capital.
The cities inside Prentiss County
The highest-risk address in the county is Jumpertown, scoring 3.3/10, followed by Booneville at 3.1/10 with a population of 9,246, making it by far the largest community and the one where most rental transactions actually occur. Marietta rounds out the upper tier at 3/10. These scores are still solidly in Low territory, but landlords there should expect more friction than the county average suggests.
The lower end of the range belongs to Jacinto and New Site, both scoring 1.9/10, alongside Kirkville at 2.2/10. Wheeler falls in the middle at 2.7/10. The spread underscores that risk is hyper-local even within a single county: Jumpertown runs nearly twice the risk score of Jacinto despite being just a few miles away. Investors targeting the least-friction market in Prentiss County should weight Jacinto and New Site accordingly.
State-level laws that apply here
Every landlord operating in Prentiss County works under Mississippi eviction laws state law, specifically Miss. Code § 89-8 (Landlord and Tenant). For nonpayment of rent, the required notice period is 3 days. A lease-violation cure notice requires 14 days, and a no-cause end-of-term notice requires 30 days. If a tenant contests the action, the full process typically runs 60 to 120 days from filing; an uncontested case resolves in 30 to 60 days. Understanding the Mississippi eviction laws eviction process from notice through writ is critical before assuming a fast turnaround.
On the cost side, court filing fees range from $75 to $150, sheriff lockout fees from $30 to $120, and attorney fees from $500 to $2,500, for a total out-of-pocket range of roughly $605 to $2,770 depending on how contested the case becomes. Mississippi eviction costs are relatively contained compared to many states, but a fully litigated case still represents real money against a $639 average monthly rent. Mississippi eviction laws does not require just cause for eviction and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance, leaving landlords with strong statutory flexibility. Mississippi security deposit limits and Mississippi tenant protections are otherwise governed by the same Miss. Code § 89-8 framework reviewed here.
With a poverty rate of 14.2% and a renter share of 28.4%, Prentiss County's rental base is relatively small and moderately stressed, which helps explain the subdued eviction pressure reflected in the city scores above.