Petal, Mississippi.
Typical home $220,339 (+2.6% in a year), asking rent $1,404 . Hattiesburg, MS metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$556 (+93%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $5,535 +3%
- $214,804$220,339 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $34,006 +18%
- $186,333$220,339 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.
- Petal$1,157
- Mississippi$1,021
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 21 years.
Typical home values in Petal, MS rose 2.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Petal, Forrest County, Mississippi
Petal is a city of 11,010 people in Forrest County. Half its households earn more than $74,750 a year and half less, against $53,640 across Forrest County; 11% of its people live below the poverty line. 70% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 30% are rented. Unemployment in Forrest County was 3.0% in August 2026, and the county had 1.0% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Petal is a small city in Forrest County, Mississippi, where most homes are lived in by their owners and household incomes run well above the county's. Fewer residents live below the poverty line than you might expect in a place this size, and a good number of adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are mild and brief, summers are hot, and the year brings plenty of rain.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, and in restaurants, hotels and entertainment. The largest workplaces in town include the Petal School District, Walmart and Bedford Care Center of Petal. Most people commute a moderate distance, and few work from home. Across Forrest County, jobs slipped a little over the past year, while unemployment eased.
Things to do. The Hattiesburg Zoo and the All-American Rose Garden are both a short drive away, and the African American Military History Museum is close by as well. For time outdoors under the trees, De Soto National Forest is a longer drive away.
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- 4,022households
- 28%of adults have a degree
- 11%below the poverty line
- 22 mintypical commute
- 5%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Forrest County had 38,996 jobs in 2025, 1.0% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 60° and lows near 38°; warmest in August, with highs near 92° and lows near 72°. About 59 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Hattiesburg Chain Municipal Airport weather station, 5 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Petal
- Petal School DistSchool district660FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters261
- Bedford Care Center of PetalSkilled nursing facilities73
- Roberts CompanyGrocery stores71
- Ergon Trucking, Inc. - PetalTanker trucking, long-distance43
- PetalMail and parcel delivery38
- Dixie Electric Power Association (Petal)Electric power distribution systems20
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 6 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 506 people in all. 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
- LightningRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- HurricanesRelatively moderate
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
- HailRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Petal’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. 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 Forrest County and the Hattiesburg, MS metro.
Petal home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Petal$220,339
- Mississippi$194,531
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Petal listings, and the typical home goes pending in 39 days — 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.
- Petal29.45%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Petal39
- United States27
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Petal98
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Petal26
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Petal$235,483
- United States$371,553
Sale-to-list ratio
Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Petal address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Petal — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.