Best PlacesCarnes, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carnes, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Carnes ranks 25,916th 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 Carnes
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.
Carnes' strengths and weaknesses
Where Carnes ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 79% of towns
- Household income$90,800 median, better than 78% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 71% of towns
Where Carnes ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 13% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carnes
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carnes home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,800, 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 Carnes' effective rate of 0.62%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Carnes
Carnes runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Carnes.
Who works in Carnes, and how
Work in Carnes centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Carnes
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Carnes.
What the weather is like in Carnes, month by month
Carnes sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 49° | 40° |
| April | 79° | 66° | 56° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 82° | 68° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Carnes
The nearest airport, Hattiesburg/Laurel Regional, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 90 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carnes
Schools across Carnes average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Forrest Attendance CenterB+ · 51% proficient
- Stone Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stone Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Stone High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Forrest County Agricultural Hi SchC+ · 38% proficient
- Lumberton High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carnes school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carnes 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 Carnes against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carnes
Is Carnes a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carnes ranks 25,916th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, a stable housing market, and what local pay buys, and lowest on state infrastructure and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carnes expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $181,369. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $90,800 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Carnes safe?
Carnes is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $168 per resident a year.
Compare Carnes with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carnes. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carnes 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.
Carnes detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carnes: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carnes: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carnes: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carnes: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carnes 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.