The city is adjacent to a large auto manufacturing facility owned by Nissan.

Although not a major battle site during the Civil War, Canton was important as a rail and logistics center.

Many wounded soldiers were treated in or transported through the city, and as a consequence it has a large Confederate cemetery.

The courthouse square is a historic shopping district and host to the Canton Flea Market.

The picturesque Georgian courthouse is particularly notable and often appears in photographic exhibits of the South.

Canton is in central Madison County 24 miles (39 km) northeast of Jackson.

Mississippi Highway 16 passes through the city center on East Peace Street and North Liberty Street, leading east 31 miles (50 km) to Carthage and northwest 30 miles (48 km) to Yazoo City.

MS 22 has its eastern terminus in the center of Canton and leads west 18 miles (29 km) to Flora.

[6] As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 10,948 people, 4,774 households, and 2,953 families residing in the city.

Elmore James, a blues singer and a familiar figure in Canton, learned electronics by working in a radio repair shop on Hickory Street.

Other noted blues performers associated with Canton include Grady Champion, Little Brother Montgomery, William "Do-Boy" Diamond, Boyd Rivers and Johnny Temple.

In his dedication of Hickory Street, Governor Haley Barbour said, With his innovative contributions to the electric slide guitar style, legendary Elmore James is among the many reasons Mississippi is truly the birthplace of America's music.

Like so many others, Elmore's work was greatly influenced by his childhood home in Canton, where he joined the ranks of musicians like B.B.