Jury Duty Pay in Mississippi

About Jury Duty in Mississippi

Mississippi pays $25 to $40 per day for regular trial jurors — set by county boards of supervisors — not the widely-cited $5/day rate that appears in many secondary sources. The $5 figure applies only to a narrow category: jurors serving on mental health inquisitions and coroner’s inquests. Regular petit and grand jurors receive substantially more.

How Jury Pay Works

County boards of supervisors set juror compensation within a $25–$40/day range for circuit, chancery, county, and eminent court jurors under Miss. Code § 25-7-61. Mileage reimbursement typically follows the federal GSA rate but varies by county. A full week of regular jury service pays $125–$200.

The $5 Myth

The $5/day rate appears in some state comparison tables and has been widely repeated, but it applies only to inquisition jurors — those empaneled to determine mental health commitments or investigate deaths via coroner’s inquest. These are special proceedings, not regular trials. For the vast majority of Mississippi jurors, the rate is $25–$40/day.

The Human Impact

At $25–$40/day, Mississippi’s juror pay is modest but not the extreme outlier it’s often portrayed as. A minimum-wage worker ($7.25/hour) loses $58 in wages and receives $25–$40 — a net loss of $18–$33 per day, which is still significant but far better than the $53/day net loss implied by the inaccurate $5 figure. The real compensation picture is meaningfully better than commonly reported.

Employer Obligations

Mississippi employers are not required to pay wages during jury service. The state’s anti-retaliation protections exist but are less robust than those in Alabama or Maryland. Employers cannot fire an employee explicitly for jury service, but proving retaliation is difficult and remedies are limited.

Reform Efforts

2025 bills (HB 123 and SB 2454) proposed raising rates to $60–$100/day, but both died in committee in February 2025. Mississippi’s jury pay remains a topic of periodic legislative attention, though no increase has been enacted.

How Mississippi Compares

At $25–$40/day, Mississippi’s juror pay is in the middle of the national range — below Alabama’s $25/day with employer mandate and Louisiana’s $25/day, but competitive with other Southern states. The contrast with neighboring Alabama is still notable, but the gap is $15/day (not the $35/day the $5 figure would suggest). Federal jurors in Mississippi’s Northern and Southern Districts receive $50/day. The state’s true compensation picture is significantly better than the outdated $5/day figure suggests.

Statute: Miss. Code Ann. § 25-7-61 — Official source