What salary do you need to live in Jackson, MS?

Rent, home values and prices in Jackson

Median gross rent, meaning contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities, runs $918, $1,057 and $1,158 a month for one, two and three bedrooms across Jackson, MS. The largest of those is 26% more than the smallest.

The median value of owner-occupied homes in the metro is $200,500. That is only 3.3× the area's median household income of $61,644, a low ratio by national standards.

BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 89.0, where 100 is the US average. In plain terms, the full basket of goods, services and housing costs 11.0% less than average, so $100,000 here buys roughly what $112,299 would at average US prices.

The salary lines for a two-bedroom in Jackson

The salary lines for a two-bedroom household land at $25,000 for Tight, $50,000 for Okay and $101,000 for Comfortable. The gap between the Okay and Comfortable lines alone is $51,000, which says how much extra income it takes to make housing feel roomy here rather than merely workable.

Royal, the top band, starts at $288,000. At that income rent is 4% of pay and the median home 0.7× income.

Nothing here is a separate rule of thumb; plug any of these incomes into the calculator with two bedrooms and Jackson shows the matching grade.

Jackson at four common salaries

Choosing a bigger place in Jackson at $75,000 trims the score from 59 to 55 without leaving Okay.

The two-bedroom column turns Comfortable at the $150,000 row. One row up, $100,000 scores 65.

Where Jackson falls nationally

Ranked against all 387 metros, Jackson sits 310th on overall price level and 247th on the two-bedroom rent median, counting from the most expensive. Its median home value ranks 302nd.

Next to Jackson on the national rent ranking: Evansville, IN ($1,057) and Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA ($1,055).

Jackson next to Mississippi and similar metros

Compared with Mississippi as a whole, two-bedroom rent in Jackson is 16% higher ($1,057 vs. $913) and the median home is 18% higher ($200,500 vs. $169,800).

Run Mississippi's statewide medians through the same score and Comfortable begins at $83,000; Jackson's line is +22% from that.

The nearest matches in Mississippi, judged on rent and price parity together, are Hattiesburg, MS, Gulfport-Biloxi, MS, and Memphis, TN-MS-AR.

Does the typical Jackson income clear the bar?

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $61,644, which grades Okay (51) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. Reaching Comfortable would take $39,356 more than the median household earns. Statewide, the Mississippi median household ($56,447) grades Okay on the state's own medians. Keep in mind a household median often combines two incomes.

Treat every number here as a pre-tax, public-data estimate rather than financial advice.