Best PlacesBruce, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bruce, 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.
Bruce ranks 42,861st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Low incomes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Bruce
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.
Bruce's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bruce ranks high
- Cheap childcare$537 a month, better than 88% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 83% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 80% of towns
- BikingBetter than 69% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 65% of towns
Where Bruce ranks low
- Household income$41,641 median, better than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 12% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bruce
A household needs to earn about $23,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bruce home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $41,641, 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 Bruce's effective rate of 0.66%, 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.
Who lives in Bruce
Bruce's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Bruce.
Who works in Bruce, and how
Work in Bruce centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Bruce
Bruce has more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Bruce and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bruce, month by month
Bruce sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 51° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Bruce
The nearest airport, Tupelo Regional, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 80 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bruce
Schools across Bruce average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lafayette Upper Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Bruce Elementary SchoolD− · 16% proficient
- Coffeeville Elementary SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lafayette Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- South Pontotoc Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Lafayette High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Bruce High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Water Valley High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bruce school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bruce 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 Bruce against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bruce
Is Bruce a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bruce ranks 42,861st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a stable housing market, and walkability, and lowest on low incomes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bruce expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $89,700. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $41,641 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Bruce safe?
Bruce is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $204 per resident a year.
Compare Bruce with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bruce. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bruce 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.
Bruce detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bruce: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bruce: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bruce: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bruce: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bruce 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.