Best PlacesAttala County, MS Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Attala County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Attala County ranks 2,543rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Long commutes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on quiet.

#2,543
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Attala County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Attala County area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

Attala County's strengths and weaknesses

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Attala County with other counties.

Where Attala County ranks high

  • QuietBetter than 87% of counties
  • Cheap childcare$535 a month, better than 85% of counties
  • Local economyBetter than 85% of counties
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of counties
  • Tree shadeBetter than 84% of counties

Where Attala County ranks low

  • Short commute34.2 minutes each way, better than only 5% of counties
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 5% of counties
  • BikingBetter than only 11% of counties
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of counties
  • Household income$52,655 median, better than only 12% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Attala County

A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Attala County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $52,655, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$29,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$666
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $112,817 home
Median rent
$839
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$575
Property tax$53
Homeowners insurance$38

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Attala County's effective rate of 0.56%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Attala County

Attala County's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
40
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
20%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.6
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1824%
18 to 3421%
35 to 4918%
50 to 6418%
65 and older20%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Attala County.


Who works in Attala County, and how

Work in Attala County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
5%
below the national average
Unemployment
4.2%
below the national average
Job growth
+6.9%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing20%
Health care & social15%
Education11%
Retail trade9%
Construction8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 92%
  • Work from home 5%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in Attala County

Attala County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Attala County and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
52
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 29.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 11% of counties
Parkland
73 acres
about 4.1 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 48% of counties

Is Attala County growing, and who is moving in?

Attala County has lost about 8% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Alcorn County, MS.

Population growth
-8%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
17,222
down from 18,820
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

Alcorn County, MS126 / yr
Jackson, MS101 / yr
Wilkinson County, MS87 / yr
McNairy County, TN72 / yr
Fayetteville, NC57 / yr

Where people leaving Attala County go

Jackson, MS83 / yr
Winston County, MS55 / yr
Montgomery County, MS51 / yr
Choctaw County, MS32 / yr
Bolivar County, MS31 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Attala County, month by month

Attala County sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January57°46°37°
April77°65°55°
July93°82°74°
October80°66°55°

Flying in and out of Attala County

The nearest airport, Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International, is about 59 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 138 miles away.

Nearest airport
JAN
Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International, about 59 miles
Airport size
Small hub
131st-busiest in the US, 33 nonstop destinations
Average drive
85 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Attala County

Schools across Attala County average a C, better than 30% of counties.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Attala County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Attala County measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Attala County against the other 3,143 counties.


Common questions about living in Attala County

Is Attala County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Attala County ranks 2,543rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, affordable childcare, and a strong job market, and lowest on long commutes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Attala County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $112,817. The overall cost of living runs about 26% below the national average. Set against a $52,655 median income, cost of living beats 31% of counties.

Is Attala County safe?

Attala County is safer than 39% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $207 per resident a year.


Compare Attala County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Attala County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Attala County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

Attala County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Attala County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Attala County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Attala County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Attala County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Attala County detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.