Best PlacesCanaan, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Canaan, 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.
Canaan ranks 42,796th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Canaan
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.
Canaan's strengths and weaknesses
Where Canaan ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Cheap childcare$682 a month, better than 68% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 62% of towns
- QuietBetter than 57% of towns
Where Canaan ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 12% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Canaan
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Canaan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,248, 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 Canaan's effective rate of 0.39%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Canaan
Canaan runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Canaan.
Who works in Canaan, and how
Work in Canaan 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 97%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Canaan
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Canaan.
What the weather is like in Canaan, month by month
Canaan sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 51° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Canaan
The nearest airport, McKellar-Sipes Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around Canaan
Schools across Canaan average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Chalybeate Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Ashland Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Ashland Middle-high SchoolD− · 17% proficient
- Middleton High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Canaan school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Canaan 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 Canaan against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Canaan
Is Canaan a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Canaan ranks 42,796th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, low property taxes, and affordable childcare, and lowest on state infrastructure and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Canaan expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $110,967. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $60,248 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Canaan safe?
Canaan is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $206 per resident a year.
Compare Canaan with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Canaan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Canaan 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.
Canaan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Canaan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Canaan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Canaan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Canaan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Canaan 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.