Jackson, MS
Jackson, MS Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Jackson, MS Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Jackson ranks 225th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 248th for income. A household earns $64,835 a year while median rent runs $1,100/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 11% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is home prices (41st of 300), while household income is the soft spot (248th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 84th and home prices 41st among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Jackson, your take-home is worth about $65,756 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 248th of 300↑23.7%$64,835
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 42nd of 30089 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $72,809
- Per-capita income
- $34,748
- Full-time pay
- $40,523
Housing
- Median rent
- 84th of 300↑27.5%$1,100/mo
- Home value
- 41st of 300↑36.5%$210,000
- Property tax
- $1,428/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 7.06%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 189th of 3004.8%
- Bachelor's+
- 163rd of 30032.5%
- Avg commute
- 182nd of 30024.9 min
People
- Population
- 605,803
- Population change
- +1.8%
- Median age
- 39.0 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 3.2%
- Broadband
- 91.2%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 177th of 30048
- Natural-hazard loss
- 218th of 300$16/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 246th of 30022.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 11%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — jackson hawkins fld.
What jobs pay in Jackson
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $200,500
- Pharmacists
- $132,080
- IT managers
- $128,800
- Financial managers
- $119,580
- General & operations managers
- $114,190
- Lawyers
- $104,460
- Civil engineers
- $100,170
- Software developers
- $96,990
- Web developers
- $83,160
- Registered nurses
- $82,630
- Accountants & auditors
- $70,720
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $58,100
- Plumbers
- $57,160
- Electricians
- $52,310
- Secondary school teachers
- $50,980
- Elementary school teachers
- $50,240
- Carpenters
- $49,330
- Police officers
- $49,160
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $44,890
- Customer service reps
- $37,850
- Construction laborers
- $37,850
- Retail salespersons
- $29,070
- Janitors
- $28,820
- Cashiers
- $28,000
- Waiters & waitresses
- $21,440
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Jackson metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Mississippi are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Louisiana1,240
- Texas1,185
- Alabama1,037
- Tennessee957
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Jackson
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Jackson metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Jackson metro?
- Median gross rent across the Jackson, MS Metro Area is $1,100 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Jackson.
- What is the median household income in the Jackson metro?
- A typical household in the Jackson, MS Metro Area earns $64,835 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Jackson expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Jackson, MS Metro Area runs about 11% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Jackson metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $72,809 (versus its face value of $64,835). CityLedger rates the Jackson, MS Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Jackson metro?
- The median home value across the Jackson, MS Metro Area is $210,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Jackson metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Jackson, MS Metro Area is 4.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).