Short-Term Rentals in Forrest County, MS: Hattiesburg's New Rules

If you're buying land or a house in Forrest County to run as an Airbnb or VRBO, the single most important local fact is Hattiesburg's own short-term rental ordinance (No. 3376), passed in March 2025. It bans STRs outright in the city's main residential zones, caps the citywide total, and requires a specific permit process most out-of-state buyers don't expect. Here's what it actually requires, and where it does and doesn't apply.

This page covers what's specific to Forrest County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.

Hattiesburg's Ordinance No. 3376: real rules, not a registration formality

After studying the issue through 2024, the City of Hattiesburg's Council passed Ordinance No. 3376 in March 2025, establishing a real permitting regime for short-term rentals -- not just a registration requirement. Anyone operating a short-term rental inside Hattiesburg's city limits (Airbnb, VRBO, or any similar arrangement) must obtain a permit before renting, and that permit process has several concrete pieces: a certificate of zoning compliance, a privilege tax license, a passed fire inspection, and an identified local property manager who must actually reside in Forrest or Lamar County and be available 24/7 to respond to issues at the property. The fees are specific and modest individually but add up: a $25 application fee, a $50 fire inspection fee, a $25 certificate-of-zoning-compliance fee, a $20 privilege tax license fee, and a $130 short-term rental license fee, all renewed annually.

This is a meaningfully more involved process than the light-touch, registration-only approach some Mississippi cities take, and it reflects the same growth pressure the county hub describes: with USM driving steady rental demand and turnover, Hattiesburg moved to actively regulate the short-term rental market rather than leave it unaddressed.

The zoning restriction that changes where an STR can even go

The most consequential provision for a land buyer is zoning-based, not just procedural: short-term rentals are prohibited outright in Hattiesburg's R-1 and R-2 residential zoning districts, meaning ordinary single-family and duplex-zoned residential neighborhoods -- likely where a lot of prospective buyers first look -- are off the table entirely for this use. Short-term rentals are instead limited to the city's designated mixed-use and commercial zoning districts. On top of that, the citywide total is capped at 2.5% of all residential structures in the city, with a waiting list maintained once that cap is reached -- meaning even a property in an eligible zoning district isn't guaranteed to get a permit if the citywide cap has already been hit.

There's also a proximity restriction: properties within 500 feet of a school, church, or daycare face additional restrictions, including noise-ordinance considerations and guest-capacity limitations layered on top of the base rules. And occupancy itself is capped by a specific formula -- generally two people per sleeping room plus four per dwelling, with an additional six allowed for homes larger than 3,250 square feet -- rather than left to the host's discretion.

What this does and does not tell you about unincorporated Forrest County

Ordinance No. 3376 is a City of Hattiesburg ordinance -- it governs parcels inside Hattiesburg's city limits, full stop. As the county hub explains, this research project found no confirmed countywide zoning ordinance covering unincorporated Forrest County outside Hattiesburg and the county's other small incorporated places, and that same gap extends to short-term rental regulation specifically: this research pass found no evidence of a separate short-term rental ordinance for unincorporated Forrest County. That's an absence-of-evidence finding, not a confirmed absence of any rules -- if you're evaluating a parcel outside Hattiesburg for STR use, don't assume Hattiesburg's rules apply, and don't assume the opposite either. Confirm directly with the Forrest County Planning Department whether any regulation touches short-term rentals outside the city, since state and local short-term rental law has been an active area of legislative attention in Mississippi generally.

Practically, that means the very first question for a Forrest County short-term-rental purchase is jurisdictional: is the parcel inside Hattiesburg's city limits (where Ordinance No. 3376's zoning ban, cap, and permit process apply in full) or in unincorporated Forrest County (where the rules are less clear and should be confirmed directly)? Given how specifically Hattiesburg's ordinance restricts eligible zoning districts and caps the total permitted count, a property that looks attractive for STR use but sits in an R-1 or R-2 zone inside the city should be considered ineligible for this use as currently written, not a gray area worth testing.

Short-Term Rentals in Forrest County, Mississippi

Hattiesburg's Ordinance No. 3376: real rules, not a registration formality

The zoning restriction that changes where an STR can even go

What this does and does not tell you about unincorporated Forrest County

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