Mississippi County, Arkansas

Mississippi County is a county in Arkansas, United States, on the state’s eastern edge about
75 miles north of Memphis, Tennessee. It had a population of 40,685 at the 2020 census, an
estimated 39,126 by 2024, and covers 901 square miles (2,330 km2) of land centred near
35°47′N 90°03′W.

Blytheville is the county seat, and Osceola is the county’s second seat; the postal code is 72315 for Blytheville.
The county holds 9 cities, 8 incorporated towns and 1 census-designated place, and
it runs on Central Time.

Towns & Villages in Mississippi County

Mississippi County has 18 named places on record: 17 incorporated cities and towns and 1
census-designated place with no local government of its own. CDP stands for census designated
place.

Gosnell sits directly against Blytheville’s southern edge and shares its 72315 ZIP code, so
the two are easy to mistake for one city on a map even though Gosnell has run its own government
since 1962. Birdsong is served out of the Tyronza, Arkansas post office (ZIP 72386) rather than a
ZIP of its own, since Tyronza is closer to it than any Mississippi County post office.

ZIP Codes

• 72315 — Blytheville (also serves neighboring Gosnell)
• 72316 — Blytheville (post office box ZIP)
• 72370 — Osceola
• 72442 — Manila
• 72438 — Leachville
• 72358 — Luxora
• 72395 — Wilson
• 72351 — Keiser
• 72350 — Joiner
• 72330 — Dyess
• 72310 — Armorel
• 72428 — Etowah
• 72426 — Dell
• 72321 — Burdette
• 72313 — Bassett
• 72386 — Tyronza (also serves Birdsong)

Marie and Victoria have no ZIP code of their own; both were built as R.E.L. Wilson cotton-company
settlements too small to ever get a dedicated post office, and mail there runs through the nearest
Mississippi County town’s code.

Geography

Mississippi County occupies the northeastern corner of Arkansas, the state’s most eastern
county, in the flat alluvial farmland of the Arkansas Delta. Of its 920 square miles, 901 are land
and 19 are water, about 2.1 percent, mostly the Mississippi River itself along the county’s
entire eastern boundary and Big Lake, an oxbow lake and national wildlife refuge in the
northwest corner formed by the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes.

Craighead County lies to the west and Poinsett County to the southwest, both in Arkansas.
Crittenden County, Arkansas, borders it to the south. Across the Mississippi River, Dunklin
County and Pemiscot County, Missouri, lie to the north, and Dyer County, Lauderdale County and
Tipton County, Tennessee, lie to the east. Craighead County,
Poinsett County,
Dunklin County,
Pemiscot County,
Dyer County,
Lauderdale County and
Tipton County all have their own
pages here; Crittenden County, Arkansas does not yet have one.

Demographics

Mississippi County had a population of 40,685 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts
the county near 39,126 residents, a decline typical of the Delta region as farm mechanization has
shrunk rural employment for decades. Blytheville and Osceola are by far the two largest
communities, together holding roughly half the county’s population. Median household income
runs $52,548, well below Arkansas’s statewide figure of $58,700. Population density works
out to roughly 45 people per square mile of land, low even for a rural Delta county, reflecting
how much of the land is farmed rather than settled.

Economy & Local Life

Manufacturing employs the most workers in the county, about 4,216 people, followed by retail
trade at 2,177 and educational services at 1,735. Steel production drives most of that
manufacturing count: Nucor-Yamato Steel opened its Blytheville-area mill in 1987, and U.S. Steel
followed with its Big River Steel mill near Osceola in 2014, together representing more than $2.1
billion in investment and making the county one of the largest steel-producing counties in the
country. Cotton, soybeans and rice remain the dominant crops on the county’s farmland outside
the mill towns. The county’s biggest annual event is the Delta Jubilee in Blytheville each
September, a downtown festival built around a barbecue cook-off.

History

Arkansas organized Mississippi County on 1 November 1833 and named it for the Mississippi
River, which runs the length of its eastern border. Osceola was designated the original county
seat that same year and was incorporated in 1843. American settlers had begun arriving as early
as 1828, on land the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes had reshaped a generation earlier —
their epicenter lay near present-day Blytheville, and local tradition held the ground had sat
higher and drier before the quakes hit.

In 1901 the state legislature split the county into two judicial districts, Osceola in the
south and Chickasawba in the north, giving Blytheville its own courthouse and making it the
county’s second seat. The federal government built the Dyess Colony resettlement project in the
county’s northwest in 1934 as a New Deal farm program for displaced tenant families; the Cash
family moved there in 1935, and their son Johnny Cash grew up in Dyess before his music career.
Blytheville Air Force Base ran Strategic Air Command bomber alert duty from 1959 until it closed
in 1992.

Getting There

Interstate 55 crosses the county’s eastern side through Blytheville. US Highways 61 and 62
run through the county, along with Arkansas Highways 18, 77 and 148.

• Memphis, Tennessee — about 65 miles south
• Jonesboro — about 45 miles west
• Paragould — about 55 miles northwest
• Kennett, Missouri — about 30 miles north

Memphis International Airport, roughly 70 miles south of Blytheville, is the nearest major
commercial airport. Arkansas Aeroplex, the former Blytheville Air Force Base runway, now handles
general aviation, cargo testing and flight training. No Amtrak line runs through the county; the
nearest station is in Newbern, Tennessee, about 55 miles east.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Mississippi County located?
It sits in Arkansas’s northeastern corner, the state’s most eastern county, bordered by the
Mississippi River and by counties in Missouri and Tennessee across the water.

What is the population of Mississippi County?
40,685 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate near 39,126.

How big is Mississippi County?
920 square miles (2,330 km2) in total, of which 901 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Mississippi County?
Blytheville is the county seat for the northern Chickasawba district; Osceola is the seat for
the southern district, a two-seat arrangement dating to 1901.

How many towns and cities are in Mississippi County?
Nine cities and eight incorporated towns, plus the census-designated place of Armorel.

What ZIP codes does Mississippi County use?
72315 and 72316 for Blytheville, 72370 for Osceola, and separate codes for each smaller town,
listed above.

What is Mississippi County known for?
Steel manufacturing at the Nucor-Yamato and Big River Steel mills, and Dyess, the New Deal
farm colony where Johnny Cash grew up.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Arkansas.