Mississippi Building Code: Which Editions Are Adopted

Direct answer

No mandatory statewide building code; counties and cities choose whether to adopt one, and the State Fire Marshal applies the 2024 IBC and IFC to state-owned and public assembly buildings in Mississippi. The Mississippi Building Codes Council adopts discretionary minimum codes from the last three I-Code editions for local governments to adopt, while the State Fire Marshal's Mississippi Fire Prevention Code follows the most current IFC and IBC. Record the permit application date with it: a code change normally applies from an effective date, and an application filed before that date is usually reviewed under the previous edition. This was checked on 2026-10-01 against Mississippi Insurance Department, Office of the State Fire Marshal, which is the source that controls. The cross-state comparison further down this page comes from the ICC adoption chart dated January 2024, so where the two disagree the record above is the newer one.

Content and cited inputs reviewed by Harth team · Published 2026-09-07 · Updated 2026-10-01.

Which codes has Mississippi adopted now?

No mandatory statewide building code; counties and cities choose whether to adopt one, and the State Fire Marshal applies the 2024 IBC and IFC to state-owned and public assembly buildings.

The Mississippi Building Codes Council adopts discretionary minimum codes from the last three I-Code editions for local governments to adopt, while the State Fire Marshal's Mississippi Fire Prevention Code follows the most current IFC and IBC.

Local adoption: County boards of supervisors and municipal governing authorities may adopt, modify and enforce codes approved by the Mississippi Building Codes Council, which must come from one of the last three editions of the IBC and IRC. The Mississippi Fire Prevention Code covers state-owned buildings, public assembly buildings and high-rises, and applies in counties and municipalities that have not adopted their own fire prevention code. Commercial and public buildings must meet ASHRAE 90.1-2016 under state law, enforced by local governments and, for state buildings, by the Department of Finance and Administration.

Checked 2026-10-01 against Mississippi Insurance Department, Office of the State Fire Marshal. Confirm the edition and effective date for the specific permit jurisdiction before relying on it.

The cross-state record

For comparison across states, every I-Code the ICC Master I-Code Adoption Chart (January 2024) tracks, as it records Mississippi. Where this disagrees with the record above, the record above is newer:

Mississippi has a recorded edition year for 9 of the 17 codes: 2018 for the building, residential, fire, mechanical, plumbing, fuel gas, residential energy, commercial energy and existing buildings codes. The private sewage, property maintenance, swimming pool and spa and performance codes appear as adopted by individual state or local agencies rather than as a statewide standard, so whether they apply depends on the permit jurisdiction for the project address. No adoption at all is recorded for the green construction, wildland-urban interface, zoning and green building standard codes.

Source: ICC Master I-Code Adoption Chart (January 2024).

How Mississippi compares with its neighbours

Statewide editions in force, checked 2026-10-01; “Local” means no state adoption, “(limited)” a state adoption for some buildings only, and * a state-titled code built on that edition.

Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas differ from Mississippi on the building code alone. A practice working across that border is working to two editions, whatever the office standard says.

Where Mississippi sits in the national record

Mississippi is one of 17 jurisdictions with no statewide IBC edition in force. Adoption runs through local programmes or applies only to a subset of buildings, so there is no single answer for the state and the permit jurisdiction for the address decides.

Mississippi is one of 15 jurisdictions with no statewide residential energy code based on an IECC edition in force, so the energy question is answered by the state's own document or by the local jurisdiction.

Across all 17 codes the January 2024 ICC chart tracks, Mississippi has a recorded edition for 9, which ranked it 12th of 51. A low count is not a gap in regulation — it usually means the state legislates through its own documents, or leaves the discipline to local adoption.

What the chart does and does not tell you

The chart's own legend matters more than the numbers:

• An edition year means one or more state or local agencies adopted that edition. It does not mean every building in the state is designed to it.
• “Some jurisdictions only” is the chart's X: the code is in use somewhere in the state but is not the standard for all buildings.
• “Not adopted” is a blank cell — no state or local jurisdiction reported adopting that code.
• “State-written code” means the state publishes its own document in place of the model edition, so the model text is a reference, not the law.

ICC states plainly that not every jurisdiction notifies it of an adoption, and this chart is dated January 2024. Treat it as the starting point for a search, never as the answer.

How to confirm the edition that governs a Mississippi project

1. Open Mississippi Insurance Department, Office of the State Fire Marshal and find the currently adopted code list with its effective date.
2. Check whether the permit authority for the project address is the state or a local programme with its own adoption.
3. Read the state amendments alongside the model edition — an amended table or definition changes the requirement even when the edition matches.
4. Record the permit application date. A code change usually applies from an effective date, and applications filed before it are normally reviewed under the previous edition.
5. Get the answer in writing from the authority having jurisdiction before it drives a design decision.

Mississippi code-basis worksheet

Fill this in once per project and keep it with the drawing set. Every row is a question a plan reviewer can ask, and the answer changes with the address and the application date, not with the state.

This worksheet records a determination; it does not make one. The authority having jurisdiction decides which edition and which amendments apply.

Where can you explore related guidance?

• Explore all code adoption guidance
• Alabama Building Code: Which Editions Are Adopted
• Louisiana Building Code: Which Editions Are Adopted
• Tennessee Building Code: Which Editions Are Adopted
• Arkansas Building Code: Which Editions Are Adopted

Sources and method

Adopted editions transcribed from the ICC Master I-Code Adoption Chart (January 2024), reproduced with the chart's own legend so an “X” is not mistaken for a statewide adoption. ICC notes that not all jurisdictions report their adoptions and publishes updates at iccsafe.org/adoptions. The current edition, its effective date and the state amendments are published by Mississippi Insurance Department, Office of the State Fire Marshal, which controls.

Source links

• iccsafe.org

• iccsafe.org

• mid.ms.gov