Which Mississippi counties score best for off-grid living?

Of the 82 Mississippi counties we have scored, Yalobusha County scores highest at 98 and Sharkey County lowest at 79. Mississippi ranks 7th of 50 overall, at 91 out of 100 (Good with caveats). Buildability separates its counties most: 3 to 10 out of 10.

Updated 2026-09-27 · 82 counties · 405 spots of private rural land scored

Good with caveatsMississippi ranks 7th of 50, 91 out of 100, in the Best States ranking: the typical parcel on the state's private rural land, with each scored spot weighted by the land it stands for. On a fresh draw of counties it would rank between #7 and #14. City counties with little private rural land have no page, and any parcel can be scored, free, below.

Every scored county in Mississippi, best score first

Find a county82 counties


Yalobusha → 27 people / sq mi	98	25	20	15	14	14	10
Lafayette → 93 people / sq mi	97	25	19	15	13	15	10
Marshall → 48 people / sq mi	97	25	20	14	13	15	10
Walthall → 34 people / sq mi	97	25	20	15	12	15	10
Adams → 62 people / sq mi	96	23	20	15	14	14	10
Panola → 48 people / sq mi	96	25	20	14	13	14	10
Wayne → 24 people / sq mi	96	25	20	15	12	14	10
Covington → 44 people / sq mi	95	25	20	15	10	15	10
Hinds → 247 people / sq mi	95	23	20	14	13	15	10
Jefferson Davis → 27 people / sq mi	95	25	20	15	10	15	10
Lincoln → 59 people / sq mi	95	25	20	15	12	14	9
Montgomery → 24 people / sq mi	95	23	20	15	12	15	10
Pontotoc → 63 people / sq mi	95	24	20	14	12	15	10
Webster → 24 people / sq mi	95	23	19	15	14	14	10
Carroll → 15 people / sq mi	94	23	20	15	12	14	10
Choctaw → 19 people / sq mi	94	23	20	15	12	14	10
Claiborne → 18 people / sq mi	94	23	19	14	13	15	10
Grenada → 50 people / sq mi	94	23	19	15	14	13	10
Jefferson → 13 people / sq mi	94	24	20	14	13	13	10
Newton → 36 people / sq mi	94	25	20	15	10	14	10
Simpson → 44 people / sq mi	94	25	20	15	10	14	10
Tate → 70 people / sq mi	94	25	20	14	12	13	10
Union → 68 people / sq mi	94	24	19	14	13	14	10
Franklin → 14 people / sq mi	93	23	20	15	12	14	9
Holmes → 21 people / sq mi	93	23	20	15	10	15	10
Lee → 184 people / sq mi	93	22	20	14	13	14	10
Pike → 96 people / sq mi	93	25	20	14	11	14	9
Stone → 42 people / sq mi	93	25	20	14	11	15	8
Alcorn → 85 people / sq mi	92	23	20	14	12	14	9
Amite → 17 people / sq mi	92	23	19	14	13	14	9
Benton → 18 people / sq mi	92	25	20	14	11	13	9
Copiah → 36 people / sq mi	92	23	19	14	12	14	10
Greene → 19 people / sq mi	92	23	20	14	12	14	9
Itawamba → 45 people / sq mi	92	23	19	14	13	13	10
Lawrence → 27 people / sq mi	92	25	20	14	9	15	9
Leake → 37 people / sq mi	92	23	20	15	11	14	9
Neshoba → 51 people / sq mi	92	23	20	15	11	13	10
Tishomingo → 44 people / sq mi	92	23	20	14	12	14	9
Calhoun → 22 people / sq mi	91	20	20	15	13	13	10
DeSoto → 406 people / sq mi	91	25	20	14	12	13	7
Jones → 95 people / sq mi	91	25	20	15	8	14	9
Lamar → 133 people / sq mi	91	25	20	14	8	15	9
Marion → 45 people / sq mi	91	25	20	14	8	15	9
Monroe → 44 people / sq mi	91	24	20	15	13	12	7
Prentiss → 61 people / sq mi	91	25	20	14	11	13	8
Scott → 45 people / sq mi	91	23	19	15	11	14	9
Tallahatchie → 18 people / sq mi	91	25	20	14	13	12	7
Tippah → 47 people / sq mi	91	24	20	14	10	14	9
Winston → 29 people / sq mi	91	23	19	15	11	14	9
Coahoma → 36 people / sq mi	90	23	20	14	14	12	7
Forrest → 168 people / sq mi	90	25	20	14	10	13	8
Rankin → 207 people / sq mi	90	21	20	14	11	14	10
Sunflower → 35 people / sq mi	90	23	20	14	14	12	7
Attala → 24 people / sq mi	89	23	20	15	9	13	9
Bolivar → 33 people / sq mi	89	24	20	14	12	12	7
Clarke → 22 people / sq mi	89	23	19	15	9	13	10
Lauderdale → 100 people / sq mi	89	24	20	15	10	13	7
Lowndes → 113 people / sq mi	89	21	20	14	11	14	9
Madison → 158 people / sq mi	89	22	19	14	11	14	9
Smith → 22 people / sq mi	89	23	20	15	8	14	9
Tunica → 20 people / sq mi	89	25	20	14	11	12	7
Washington → 58 people / sq mi	89	23	20	14	13	12	7
Chickasaw → 34 people / sq mi	88	20	20	15	13	13	7
Humphreys → 17 people / sq mi	88	23	20	14	12	12	7
Kemper → 11 people / sq mi	88	23	19	15	11	13	7
Perry → 18 people / sq mi	88	23	20	14	9	15	7
Clay → 44 people / sq mi	87	20	19	15	12	14	7
Hancock → 97 people / sq mi	87	23	20	14	10	13	7
Harrison → 367 people / sq mi	87	23	20	14	9	15	6
Jasper → 24 people / sq mi	87	23	19	15	9	14	7
Leflore → 44 people / sq mi	87	23	20	14	11	12	7
Pearl River → 72 people / sq mi	87	23	19	14	11	13	7
Yazoo → 28 people / sq mi	87	20	20	14	12	14	7
Noxubee → 14 people / sq mi	85	20	20	14	11	13	7
Oktibbeha → 112 people / sq mi	85	18	20	14	13	13	7
Jackson → 203 people / sq mi	83	23	20	14	9	12	5
Quitman → 14 people / sq mi	82	25	20	14	10	10	3
Warren → 72 people / sq mi	82	25	19	14	8	13	3
Wilkinson → 12 people / sq mi	82	23	19	14	10	13	3
George → 54 people / sq mi	81	22	19	14	8	11	7
Issaquena → 3 people / sq mi	79	25	19	14	8	10	3
Sharkey → 8 people / sq mi	79	23	20	14	9	10	3

Score is out of 100: Water 25, Legal 20, Solar 15, Hazard 15, Food 15, Buildability 10. Green cells score 80% or better of their maximum; amber cells under 70%.

Where the good land is

92% of Mississippi's private rural land scores Good with caveats or better (80 or more). The strongest counties are Yalobusha, Lafayette and Marshall. The weakest are Issaquena, Sharkey and George. Where the land falls short, it is most often on building (slope, septic and land price) and hazards (flood, fire, storms and earthquakes).

What separates them

Buildability: Yalobusha County scores 10 of 10, Sharkey County 3. Slope, the septic the ground needs, footings, and the county's land price. A steep or soggy lot that fails a septic test is the dealbreaker photos hide.
Hazard: Yalobusha County scores 14 of 15, Issaquena County 8. Flood, wildfire, seismic, and severe-weather exposure: the risks that raise insurance and build cost or strand a parcel.
Food: Lafayette County scores 15 of 15, Sharkey County 10. Soil quality, frost-free growing days, and rainfall: what decides whether you can actually feed yourself and your animals.
Water: Yalobusha County scores 25 of 25, Oktibbeha County 18. Drinking, system, and irrigation water, the #1 reason off-grid and homestead plans collapse. A low score means a deep, costly well or hauled water.

Solar and Legal barely move across the sample: the counties score within two points of each other there, so those are state-level facts, not county choices.

The state's soft spot

Hazard is Mississippi's weakest dimension, at 11 of 15 for the state as a whole. Flood, wildfire, seismic, and severe-weather exposure: the risks that raise insurance and build cost or strand a parcel. Getting a parcel here off-grid runs $30k to $116k by our estimates across these counties, before the house. The full Mississippi row in the Best States ranking has the state-wide spread and how the popular off-grid guides rank it.

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Before you buy in Mississippi

The scores read the physical land. Whether you may legally live on it is a separate question, and it changes at the county line: Is it legal to live off-grid in Mississippi? covers zoning, building code, septic, and wells for the state, with the counties that opt out. For the reason water carries a quarter of the score, how you get water on off-grid land is the read. And the five-point check is the order to do it in.

Good with caveatsMississippi: 91 of 100, 7th of 50. A good state is not a good parcel. Score the one you are looking at, free, in about a minute.

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