Tippah County is a county located on the northern border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,815. Its county seat is Ripley. The name "Tippah" is derived from a Chickasaw language word meaning "cut off." It was taken from the creek of the same name that flows across much of the original county from northeast to southwest before emptying into the Tallahatchie River.