Overview

Welcome to Rankin County, a thriving location that is at the center of “the crossroads of the South.” As part of metropolitan Jackson, Rankin County enjoys all the benefits of living in a metropolitan area without all the headache that comes with big-city life. Being one of the fastest growing counties in Mississippi, Rankin County will continue to offer all the best in community life, education, employment, housing, and quality of life. The time is right and all the resources are in place to continue to move Rankin County to becoming the best place to live in Mississippi and one of the best places to be in the South!

Rankin County is centrally located in Mississippi. Just nine miles east of Jackson, the capital city, Rankin County is part of the metropolitan Jackson area. With I-20 and I-55 intersecting just outside its borders, Rankin County has easy access to most major cities in the South and Sunbelt regions of the U.S. In fact, Rankin County is within 200 miles of New Orleans and Memphis, Tennessee, and within 400 miles of Atlanta and Dallas.

Rankin County has equal access to all points in Mississippi as well. Residents of Rankin County can be in northern Mississippi or enjoying Mississippi’s Gulf Coast within 2 hours of leaving home. Other points of interest and points of history are even closer, giving Rankin County citizens access to their state where they can really get to know the Mississippi they live in.

Rankin First Economic Development Authority

The purpose of RANKIN FIRST is to combine the economic development efforts of Rankin County to create a comprehensive economic development organization with broad powers to be utilized in the effort to create a higher quality of life for the residents of Rankin County. Another purpose of RANKIN FIRST is to improve and better Rankin County as a place to live and earn a living. The organization is a comprehensive economic development authority that involves itself in areas generally categorized in the economic development profession as the “Four Building Blocks of Economic Development”: Business Development, Workforce Development, Social Infrastructure Development, and Physical Infrastructure Development. Within these four areas, RANKIN FIRST engages in such activities as:new industrial, wholesale, retail, and technological development; development of industrial sites and parks including spec buildings, incubators, build-to-suit facilities, and sell or lease facilities; support services to existing business or industry; assistance to agencies, groups, or institutions which provide workforce or other social infrastructure preparation; tourism development; marketing of the County’s resources; and other such activities which can enhance Rankin County as a place to live and do business.

Rankin County Business Climate