Mississippi property tax by county

Property tax rate by county in Mississippi

Effective rate = median real estate taxes paid divided by median home value. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2020-2024), tables B25103 and B25077.

Why county rates vary so much

Property tax is set locally, not by the state, so the rate depends on the county, city, school district, and special districts where a home sits, and on how those local budgets compare to local home values. A county with low home values can still have a high effective rate if its local budgets are large, and a wealthy county can have a low effective rate. The effective rate shown here is the median tax bill divided by the median home value, which is the standard way to compare places; your own bill depends on your assessment and any exemptions.

For Mississippi's income and retirement taxes, see Mississippi income tax and Mississippi retirement taxes.

How does Mississippi assess homes for property tax?

Mississippi assesses homes at 10% of market value, the same in every county. Mississippi does not use one ratio for everything. The constitution sorts property into five classes and taxes each at a different share of true market value. A single-family home you own and live in is Class I, assessed at 10%, so a $200,000 house has an assessed value of $20,000. Other real property such as rentals, land and second homes is Class II at 15%, business personal property is 15%, utility property is 30% and motor vehicles are 30%.

County assessors must revalue real property at least once every four years, and taxable personal property every year. There is no single statewide reappraisal year, so your county sets when the next update lands. The Department of Revenue audits county appraisal work and must certify a countywide residential revaluation before new values take effect.

Is there a homestead exemption in Mississippi?

The regular homestead benefit is a credit subtracted from your tax bill, not an exemption of value, which is why no amount of value is shown. A sliding table gives $6 of tax relief for every $150 of assessed value and tops out at $300 once assessed value reaches $7,351. In practice almost every homeowner with a house worth roughly $74,000 or more gets the full $300. Apply once with the county tax assessor between January 1 and April 1 and it renews automatically.

Other state relief for homeowners:

• Seniors and disabled owners: At 65, or on becoming totally disabled, the $300 credit is replaced by a real exemption: the first $7,500 of assessed value is exempt from all ad valorem taxes, which at the 10% Class I ratio is the first $75,000 of market value. There is no income test. It also carries a growth feature that exempts later increases in assessed value caused by a countywide revaluation, though not increases from your own renovations. Turning 65 means reapplying in the next January 1 to April 1 window to move up to this tier.
• Disabled veterans: This is a complete exemption, not a fixed amount. Honorably discharged veterans with a service-connected total disability, and their unremarried surviving spouses, owe no ad valorem tax at all on a qualifying homestead. The same full exemption reaches unremarried surviving spouses of service members who died on active duty, honorably discharged veterans who reached 90 by January 1 of the claim year, and from January 2026 the unremarried surviving spouses of those 90-year-old veterans and of totally disabled homeowners. The homestead is still capped at 160 acres.
• Mississippi has no separate owner-occupancy credit, because the regular homestead benefit is itself the owner-occupancy break and is already a credit rather than an exemption of value. A qualifying homestead is limited to 160 acres, and the benefit can be lost retroactively, meaning you repay it, if you fall out of compliance with Mississippi income tax or vehicle tag rules.

Mississippi sets these rules and each county's property tax office applies them, which is where the application, the filing deadline and the form come from. Some counties add programs of their own; where we have checked a county, its page lists them.

When are property taxes due in Mississippi?

Property is assessed to whoever owns it on January 1, the bill goes out that November or December, and the full amount is due by February 1. If February 1 falls on a weekend or holiday you can pay the next Monday without penalty. A county or self-collecting municipality may vote to accept partial payments, splitting the year into one half by February 1 and one quarter each by May 1 and July 1, but that is a local option rather than a statewide right.

That is the state rule. Each county issues and collects its own bill, so the dates printed on your statement are the ones that bind you.

How do you appeal a property assessment in Mississippi?

You contest the assessed value with the the county Board of Supervisors. The filing deadline is typically the first Monday in August preceding the due date of the taxes. Start by asking your county tax assessor to correct the value, then request a hearing with the Board of Supervisors. Bring evidence of what the property is actually worth: recent sales of comparable homes, a recent appraisal, or photos of condition problems, because the legal standard is true value. The Department of Revenue does not hear individual homeowner value appeals, so the county board is where a disputed assessment gets decided first.

Mississippi property-tax rules from primary state sources (revenue department and statute), reviewed September 7, 2026. Exemption amounts and credits change; confirm the current figures with your county assessor. Sources: assessment, exemptions, due dates, appeals.