Best PlacesBarlow, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Barlow, 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.
Barlow ranks 38,276th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Barlow
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.
Barlow's strengths and weaknesses
Where Barlow ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 72% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 70% of towns
Where Barlow ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute36.4 minutes each way, better than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Barlow
A household needs to earn about $22,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Barlow home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $48,872, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Barlow's effective rate of 0.56%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Barlow
Barlow runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Barlow.
Who works in Barlow, and how
Work in Barlow centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Barlow
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Barlow.
What the weather is like in Barlow, month by month
Barlow sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 48° | 39° |
| April | 77° | 66° | 56° |
| July | 92° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 81° | 68° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Barlow
The nearest airport, Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 128 miles away.
The best schools in and around Barlow
Schools across Barlow average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hazlehurst Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hazlehurst Middle SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Hazlehurst High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Barlow school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Barlow 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 Barlow against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Barlow
Is Barlow a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Barlow ranks 38,276th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, quiet, and tree cover, and lowest on state infrastructure and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Barlow expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $87,362. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $48,872 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Barlow safe?
Yes, Barlow is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $157 per resident a year.
Compare Barlow with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Barlow. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Barlow 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.
Barlow detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Barlow: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Barlow: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Barlow: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Barlow: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Barlow detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.