Mississippi Free Public Records Directory

The state of Mississippi is located in the southern United States. It has a land area of 48,430 sq. miles and 82 counties, ranking it as the 32nd state in the U.S. in size. Mississippi is bordered by Tennessee on the north, Alabama on the east, Louisiana on the south, a narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico, and across the Mississippi River on the west, by Louisiana and Arkansas.

There are a number of major rivers in Mississippi including the Mississippi River. The state is composed entirely of lowlands. The coastal plain is composed of low hills, the northeast region is fertile black earth, and the northwest region has rich soil made up of silt deposited by the flood waters of the Mississippi River. Mississippi has long, hot and humid summers, and short mild winters. The temperature varies very little in the summer; however in the winter, it can be significantly colder in the inland portion of the state. Heavy snowfall is possible across the state. As in the other Deep South states, thunderstorms are common. Seasonal flooding is also common and is an integral part of Mississippi’s history.

Native American tribes of Mississippi’s culture include the Chickasaw and Choctaw. The first major European expedition into Mississippi was by a Spanish explorer. The area was ruled by Spanish, French, and British colonial governments through the 18th century. After the American Revolutionary War, Britain ceded this area to the U.S. and it became the 20th state admitted to the Union on December 10, 1817. On January 9, 1861, Mississippi was the 2nd state to secede from the Union and was one of the founding members of the Confederate States. Mississippi returned to the Union on February 23, 1870.

Mississippi’s capital and largest city is Jackson with a population of approximately 175,000 people. The cities of Gulfport, Hattiesburg and Biloxi are also major cities within Mississippi. The state has a population of 2,988,726, ranking it the 32nd most populous state in the U.S.

Mississippi is a largely rural state with agricultural areas dominated by industrial farms. Mississippi is ranked as one of the poorest states in the U.S. due to a number of factors both environmental and political. The State’s 1890 Constitution discouraged corporate industrial development in favor of rural agriculture, a legacy that would slow the state’s progress for years. In 1990, Mississippi’s legislature legalized casino gambling along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast thereby increasing revenues and economic gains for the state. As a result, Mississippi has experienced increased tourism in the gambling towns along the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River. A public-private partnership called “Momentum Mississippi,” adopted in 2005, is dedicated to the development of economic and employment opportunities in Mississippi. Today, Mississippi has some major automotive factories including Toyota and Nissan.^[1]

The selection of Mississippi public records listed below are sorted by category for easy access.

Abbreviation	MS, Miss.
Capital	Jackson
Population	2,988,726 (2016 est.)
Area size	48,430 sq. mi.
Demonym	Mississippian
Primary languages spoken	English
Governor	Phil Bryant
Lieutenant Governor	Tate Reeves
U.S. Senators	Roger Wicker, Cindy Hyde-Smith
U.S. House Delegation	3 Republicans, 1 Democrat
Time Zone	Central: UTC -6/-5

*The map and data in the table are from Wikipedia.

Browse by Public Record Category

There are two types of public records; 1) personal public records that document major life milestones such as birth certificates, death certificates, divorce records, and marriage records, etc.; and 2) government records that are made public such as property tax records, recorded land records, voter records, crime data, jail inmate records, and court records. The Freedom of Information Act is a national law that releases government agency public records and makes it possible to view most public records.^[2] The Mississippi Public Records Act (Mississippi Code Ann. 25-61-1 et seq.) is a series of laws designed to guarantee that the public has access to public records of government bodies at all levels.^[3]

Since there are a multitude of records available, it can be difficult to know how or where to access them. When you are ready to start your search, you’ll find our Public Records Directory website easy to use since all of the records can be searched by federal, state, county, city, town or type of record. The links provided will connect you to the best website for the record search, provide details about the record, or provide contact information for those records without search capabilities.