Lamar, Mississippi.
Typical home $173,465 (+9.0% in a year). Memphis, TN-MS-AR metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$390 (+75%) since Feb 2021.
- 1 year
- Up $14,281 +9%
- $159,184$173,465 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $9,975 +6%
- $163,490$173,465 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.
- Lamar$910
- Mississippi$1,021
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 59 years.
Typical home values in Lamar, MS rose 9.0% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Lamar, Benton County, Mississippi
Lamar, in Benton County, had 39 people in the 2020 census. Unemployment in Benton County was 3.3% in August 2026, and the county had 2.6% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Benton County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Haiku 5.5 wrote this on 22 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Lamar is a small community in Benton County in north Mississippi, where the population is so modest that neighbors tend to know one another. Winters are mild compared with much of the country, with January the coldest month, and summers are hot, with August the warmest. Rain and melted snow arrive heavily through the year, so wet weather is a steady part of daily life.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, or in manufacturing and the building trades, with other service jobs also common. Jobless rates in Benton County are lower than a year earlier and the county added jobs over the most recent year. Home values here are generally modest compared with much of the country, and incomes in the county sit around the county median.
Things to do. Davis' Mills Battle Site, an archaeological site, is a short drive away and is the closest place to visit. A longer drive takes you to Wall Doxey State Park, a protected area, and to the Boling-Gatewood House, a museum.
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What people in Benton County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Benton County had 1,065 jobs in 2025, 2.6% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 50° and lows near 29°; warmest in August, with highs near 89° and lows near 66°. About 55 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Holly Springs North weather station, 9 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Benton County
- Benton CO School DistSchool district175FTE
- Vanguard Healthcare ServicesNursing homes89
- TCI AutomotiveAutomotive parts, new, merchant wholesalers70
- #589 Food GiantSupermarkets and other grocery stores35
- Chairs AmericaChairs, upholstered household-type, manufacturing28
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 222 people in all across the county; Lamar has none of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); 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
- TornadoesVery high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- EarthquakesRelatively moderate
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Lamar’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 Benton County and the Memphis, TN-MS-AR metro.
Lamar home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Lamar$173,465
- Mississippi$194,531
- United States$366,157
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
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Lamar7
Zip codes with a Lamar address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Lamar — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.