City Information

Population 166,965 (2017 census)

Restaurants Over 300 restaurants, many with convention and banquet rooms; cuisine from authentic deep Southern cooking to international fare.

Climate Winter (average) High - 62 degrees; Low - 40 degrees

Spring (average) High - 78 degrees; Low - 56 degrees

Summer (average) High - 92 degrees; Low - 72 degrees

Fall (average) High - 79 degrees; Low - 56 degrees

Location The Capital city is located centrally at the crossroads of Interstates 55 and 20, running north-south and east-west, respectively. The center of the city is a short 15-minute drive from Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International airport.

Hotels 45 properties with close to 5000 rooms, both full service and limited service properties.

Taxes 7% sales tax

4% hotel tax

2% restaurant tax

$0.75 per room night tax

Funding of Visit Jackson Visit Jackson is funded by 1% of the hotel and restaurant taxes collected in the city of Jackson. This enables the convention & visitor bureau to have the necessary means to attract, promote and facilitate tourism to and with our market and provide the complimentary services to events taking place in the city, as well as support local quality of life events and industry partners by way of sponsorships.

Fun Facts

1 Jackson, MS is the only Capital city in the United States to sit on an extinct volcano.

2 The Standard Life building, now converted into apartments and retail space, was built in 1929 in five months and five days. At the time of completion, it was the largest reinforced concrete building in the world. 7 Jackson holds the distinction of being one of only four cities worldwide to host the USA International Ballet Competition every four years. Joining Jackson in this honor are Varna, Bulgaria; Tokyo, Japan and Moscow, Russia.

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6 The Mississippi governor's mansion is the second oldest continuously occupied governor's residence in the United States.

The American eagle atop the Mississippi State capitol is eight feet tall with a fifteenfoot wingspan made of solid copper, covered in gold leaf.

The Bisland Cotton gin located on the grounds of the Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry museum is the oldest operational cotton gin in the world. 8 The first human lung transplant and the first human heart transplant both took place at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.

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10 Pascagoula Street is home to the International Museum of Muslim Cultures. The brainchild of longtime Jacksonians Okolo Rashid and Emad Al-Turk, it is the first American museum designed to show the story of Islamic culture and history.

Jackson is the home of Tougaloo College (1869), Millsaps College (1890), Belhaven University (1883), Jackson State University (1877), University of Mississippi Medical Center (1955) and two campuses of Hinds Community College (1917). Mississippi College (1826) is in nearby Clinton.

Smith Park, located in downtown Jackson, is one of the country's oldest city parks, older than Central Park in New York City. 11 Jackson is also home to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, recently acclaimed by ESPN as one of the nation's best museums for American Baseball History.