Forest, Mississippi.
Typical home $115,819 (+4.6% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$286 (+89%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $5,060 +5%
- $110,759$115,819 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $2,476 +2%
- $113,343$115,819 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Forest$608
- Mississippi$1,021
- United States$1,922
Typical home values in Forest, MS rose 4.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Forest, Scott County, Mississippi
Forest is a city of 5,430 people in Scott County. Half its households earn more than $49,724 a year and half less, against $48,786 across Scott County; 34% of its people live below the poverty line. 51% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 49% are rented. Unemployment in Scott County was 2.7% in August 2026, and the county had 0.8% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in manufacturing, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Forest is a small city and the seat of Scott County, in the pine country of central Mississippi. Household incomes sit a little above the county's, though a large part of the population lives below the poverty line, and owners and renters live in town in roughly equal numbers. A four-year degree is held by a minority of adults, and typical home values are modest.
Work. Many residents work in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, and in the building trades. Among the largest workplaces in Forest are Tyson Farms and Koch Foods, both poultry processors, along with the Forest Municipal School District. Unemployment across Scott County is lower than it was a year ago, and the county has added a few more jobs. The typical commute is short, and almost no one works from home.
Things to do. Bienville National Forest is a protected area a short drive away, and Moore Lookout Tower, a tourist attraction, is also a short drive from town. Harrell Prairie Botanical Area, a protected area in or beside town, is close at hand for a walk. Winters are mild and cool, with January the coldest month, and summers are hot, with July the warmest.
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- 1,682households
- 20%of adults have a degree
- 34%below the poverty line
- 20 mintypical commute
- 0%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Scott County had 13,651 jobs in 2025, 0.8% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 58° and lows near 34°; warmest in July, with highs near 91° and lows near 68°.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Forest weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Forest
- Tyson FarmsPoultry processing1,385
- Koch Foods- Forest DebonePoultry processing842
- Forest Municipal School DistSchool district236FTE
- S.e. Lackey Memorial HospitalCritical access hospital195FTE
- QSIJanitorial services100
- Forest Distribution CenterRefrigerated warehousing and storage72
- Koch Foods- MS Live OperationsBroiler chicken production63
- Tyson BreedersSupport activities for animal production61
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 10 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,672 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- HailVery high
- Strong windVery high
- TornadoesVery high
- LightningVery high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Forest’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Scott County.
Forest home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Forest$115,819
- Mississippi$194,531
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Forest listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Forest30.76%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Forest28
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Forest6
Zip codes with a Forest address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Forest — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.