Mississippi by the numbers
In Mississippi, the median worker earns $39,070 a year, the typical home is worth $161,400 and carries $1,189 of property tax, and the average household pays $169 a month for electricity at 16.16¢ per kilowatt-hour.
South MISO Regulated monopoly
Energy
Mississippi's generation is dominated by natural gas, with the Grand Gulf nuclear station supplying a large block of low-cost baseload. Gas is abundant and close, and the state has no clean-energy mandate driving early retirements. That combination keeps the rate below the national average.
The complication is usage. Mississippi has a hot, humid climate, an older and less efficient housing stock than the national average, and a high share of homes heated with electric resistance. Average residential consumption per household is among the highest in the country, so a low rate still yields a high bill and a high energy burden relative to income.
Grand Gulf has had a long history of outage and cost disputes, and its cost allocation across Entergy's system has been contested at FERC for years.
Averaged across the twelve months to May 2026, Mississippi households used 1,159 kilowatt-hours a month and paid $169. At the state median wage that is about 9 hours of work a month to keep the lights on. For heating, a heat pump costs less to run than gas here, by about $0.73 per million BTU.
Work and pay
The median Mississippi worker earned $39,070 in 2024, 21.1% below the national median. What distinguishes a state's labour market is rarely its biggest occupations, which are retail and food service everywhere, but what it has disproportionately.
| Occupation | Concentration | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Upholsterers | 15.68× | $46,900 |
| Psychiatric Aides | 9.47× | $30,660 |
| Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products | 6.54× | $31,660 |
| Logging Equipment Operators | 6.23× | $47,910 |
| Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers | 6.1× | $34,600 |
Property tax
The median Mississippi homeowner pays $1,189 a year on a home worth $161,400, an effective rate of 0.74% against a national 0.98%. Nobody sets that rate. It is what falls out of county, city, school district and special district levies applied to an assessed value, so the state figure is a weighted average of 80 counties rather than a posted number.
Cost of living
Prices in Mississippi run at 87.0 where the national average is 100, ranking it #50 of 51. Goods sit at 96.2, which is close to national almost everywhere because most goods are shipped and priced nationally. Rents sit at 56.5, and that is where states actually separate from one another. A median wage of $39,070 therefore buys what $44,908 buys nationally.
Metro areas priced separately: Memphis (92.2) , Gulfport-Biloxi (90.0) , Jackson (89.0) , Hattiesburg (87.6) .
Housing
House prices in Mississippi rose 0.6% over the year to 2026 Q2, against a median across all states of +2.7%. Over ten years the index is +72.5%. Prices are at or near their record level.
Metro areas tracked here: Memphis (-0.7%) .
Who supplies the power
39 utilities report residential service in Mississippi, together serving 1.3 million customers. Regulated monopoly.
Mississippi: common questions
What does it cost to live in Mississippi?
Prices overall run at 87.0 against a national average of 100, with rents at 56.5. The typical home is worth $161,400 and carries $1,189 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.74% against a national 0.98%. Electricity averages $169 a month at 16.16¢ per kilowatt-hour. Against that, the median wage is $39,070.
What is the property tax rate in Mississippi?
The effective rate is 0.74% of home value, from a median bill of $1,189. It is set locally rather than by the state, so the figure is a weighted outcome across 80 counties. County by county rates.
Does a salary go further in Mississippi?
The median wage of $39,070 buys what $44,908 buys nationally, once local prices are taken out. A state paying above the national median while charging above it for housing can leave a household no better off, and this is the arithmetic that shows which side of that line Mississippi falls on.
Is Mississippi expensive for electricity?
It ranks #29 of 51 jurisdictions on price at 16.16¢ per kilowatt-hour, -12.4% against the U.S. average. On the actual bill it ranks 9 of 51, because households there use 1,159 kWh a month against a national 871.
What is the median salary in Mississippi?
$39,070 across all occupations, about $18.78 an hour, covering 1,159,710 wage and salary workers as of 2024.
Who supplies electricity in Mississippi?
39 utilities report residential service, the largest being Entergy Mississippi LLC with 384,611 customers. Regulated monopoly.
Electricity May 2026, gas 2024, utilities 2024, wages 2024. All figures from federal statistical agencies. Methodology · Sources