Best PlacesCarriere, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carriere, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Carriere ranks 27,707th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Carriere
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.
Carriere's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carriere ranks high
- Cheap childcare$523 a month, better than 90% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 78% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 76% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 70% of towns
Where Carriere ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 13% of towns
- Short commute34.2 minutes each way, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carriere
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carriere home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,878, 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 Carriere's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Carriere
Carriere runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Carriere.
Who works in Carriere, and how
Work in Carriere centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Carriere
Carriere has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of towns. The coast is about 56 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Carriere and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Carriere, month by month
Carriere sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 52° | 42° |
| April | 80° | 67° | 57° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 84° | 69° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Carriere
The nearest airport, Gulfport-Biloxi International, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 57 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carriere
Schools across Carriere average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pearl River Central ElementarB+ · 51% proficient
- Sixth Ward Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- West Hancock Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hancock Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Middle School Of PoplarvilleB+ · 49% proficient
- Pearl River Central Junior HighB+ · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Poplarville Jr Sr High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Pearl River Central High SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Hancock High SchoolB · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carriere school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carriere 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 Carriere against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carriere
Is Carriere a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carriere ranks 27,707th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low crime, and a strong job market, and lowest on disaster risk and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carriere expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $217,115. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $74,878 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Carriere safe?
Yes, Carriere is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $116 per resident a year.
Compare Carriere with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carriere. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carriere 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.
Carriere detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carriere: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carriere: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carriere: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carriere: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carriere 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.