Rankin County, MS Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)
Key Facts
- Zone required
- C-4 Adult Entertainment District
- Buffer from homes/schools
- 1,000 feet
- Buffer between adult uses
- 250 feet
- Applies to
- Unincorporated county only
Summary
Rankin County confines adult entertainment businesses to the C-4 Adult Entertainment Commercial District and requires them to sit at least 1,000 feet from homes, churches, schools and parks, and 250 feet from each other.
Adult arcades, adult bookstores, adult cabarets, adult motels, adult motion picture theaters, and other adult entertainment activities... no such establishment shall be located within two hundred fifty (250) feet of the property line of any other such use. Furthermore, no such establishment shall be located within one thousand (1,000) feet of the property lines of any existing residential use or any residentially zoned property, church, school... or any property zoned "S-1" Special Use district under this Ordinance.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: the cited page had not changed since it was quoted.
Full Breakdown
Section 2601 of the Zoning Ordinance permits adult arcades, bookstores, cabarets, motels and motion picture theaters only in the C-4 district, and only if the establishment sits at least 250 feet from any other adult use and 1,000 feet from any existing residential use, residentially zoned property, church, school, hospital, nursing home, cemetery, civic or charitable facility, park, playground, or S-1 Special Use district. The Board of Supervisors adopted the district citing evidence that such uses increase crime and blight. This governs unincorporated Rankin County only; Brandon, Pearl, Flowood, Richland, Florence, Puckett and Star set their own zoning.
Violations & Fines
Operating an adult entertainment use outside the C-4 district, or within the 250-foot or 1,000-foot buffers, is a zoning violation the County Zoning Administrator can cite and order corrected under Article VII.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can an adult entertainment business locate in Rankin County?
Does this rule apply inside Brandon or Pearl?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Rankin County
Compare Rankin County to another location·View the Mississippi business licensing & operations overview
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