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Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Real talk: "Affordable" for students means: can rent fit a part-time paycheck? Are groceries reasonable? We analyzed 1 cities in Mississippi, weighting rent and food highest. Jackson takes the top spot.
#1 Ranked: Jackson — cost index 84, rent $1,283/mo, income $43,238
Student-budget scoring: rent $1,283/mo, food index 83, cost index 84 — survival-level affordability
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
Real talk: "Affordable" for students means: can rent fit a part-time paycheck? Are groceries reasonable? We analyzed 1 cities in Mississippi, weighting rent and food highest. Jackson takes the top spot.
Student affordability boils down to three survival metrics: rent under $1,200/month (25pts), overall cost index (20pts), and food costs (10pts). Jackson leads at $1,283/month rent with a food index of 83 — 17% below the national food cost baseline.
The #1 spot goes to Jackson, and the breakdown explains why. Renters here pay $1,283/month — which, honestly, is lower than you'd expect here — — saving renters $7,344 per year compared to the national average. Meanwhile, Housing is the standout at index 61, making it one of the cheapest in the country for that category. The weak spot? Healthcare at 87. The 36% rent-to-income ratio is a pressure point — for median earners, housing takes more than recommended.
If you only look at rent, it's perfect. Zoom out and it's complicated. In Jackson, the healthcare index sits at 87 — not a dealbreaker, but worth knowing about.
What to do with this data: use the ranking as a shortlist, then dig into the city profiles for trend lines and category breakdowns. The difference between #1 and #5 is often smaller than the difference between "good on paper" and "actually fits my life." Compare your top picks with our calculator to see real take-home numbers.
143,709 residents · Mississippi
A closer look at Jackson: the cost index of 84 breaks down to a Housing index of 61 (strongest category) and a Healthcare index of 87 (weakest). Median rent is $1,283/month — 32% below the national median — while household income sits at $43,238, meaning locals spend about 36% of income on rent. That exceeds the recommended 30% threshold — affordability here depends on earning above the median (not adjusted for inflation, but still telling).
Our persona scoring model weights cost of living, income, rent, healthcare costs, tax burden, and population size differently based on what matters most to students. Each factor contributes 10-25 points to a 0-100 composite score. Cities with the highest composite rank first. All data is sourced from federal agencies and verified research institutions. Cost of living indices are normalized to 100 (national median) using Zillow rent as the primary signal, with sub-category adjustments derived from regional BLS price data. Rankings are updated monthly as new data is released.
Jackson ranks #1 in Mississippi for this analysis with a cost index of 84 and median income of $43,238.
Jackson scores highest for students due to its below-average cost of living, median rent of $1,283/mo, and competitive median income of $43,238.
Our cost of living index uses real Zillow rent data as the foundation, indexed to 100 (national median). Sub-categories (housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare) are derived from the overall index with regional adjustments. Data is updated monthly.
City data is refreshed monthly from Census Bureau population estimates, Zillow rent and home price indices, BLS salary data, and Tax Foundation tax rates. Last updated: 2026.
The median 1-bedroom rent in Jackson is $1,283/month as of 2026, based on Zillow's Observed Rent Index. This is $612 below the national median of $1,895/month.
The median home price in Jackson is $86,017, which is 2.0× the local median income. That's within the standard 3.5× affordability rule for most local earners. The national median home price is $467,370.
Mississippi has a 5% state income tax rate. Combined state and local sales tax averages 7.07%, and the effective property tax rate is 0.63%.
This ranking was generated using data current as of early 2026. Population and income data comes from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (5-year estimates). Rent and home price data is from Zillow's monthly releases. Tax rates are from the Tax Foundation's 2025 edition. Rankings are refreshed monthly.