Updated for September 2026
The Best Zoos in Mississippi
How this list is ordered: by how complete our listing is — how much we hold on opening hours, ticket prices, accreditation, photographs, animals and facilities. It is a measure of our own coverage, not a judgement of the venue. We hold no visitor scores or conservation assessments, so “best” here means every zoo in Mississippi that qualifies for the list, fullest entry first.
Listed alphabetically
-
Playground
Hattiesburg Zoo
Zoo in Hattiesburg
The zoo takes up about 12 acres of a 40-acre park and is run by the Hattiesburg Convention Commission, whose executive director in 2019 was Rick Taylor.
-
Jackson Zoo
Zoo in Jackson
The zoo sits within a 110-acre park and draws about 85,000 visitors a year, from the state and those neighbouring it, along with some 20,000 pupils across the school year. It has had trouble with both visitor numbers and money.
-
Animal feeding experiencePetting zoo
Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo
Zoo in Tupelo
At 210 acres it is the biggest zoo in the state, and its buffalo herd grew into one of the largest in the region.
More in Mississippi
View all Mississippi listingsOur ranking methodology
This is not a ranking. The 3 venues above are listed alphabetically by name, the same order used throughout this site. We do not collect visitor reviews, star ratings, ticket-sales figures or a conservation-impact score, so none of those exist here to rank by — “best” in this page’s title means every venue that qualifies for this list, not first-to-last by quality. If we ever add a data source robust enough to support an honest ranking, this note and the order above will change together.