Best PlacesCopiah County, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Copiah County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Copiah County ranks 2,778th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. State infrastructure pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a stable housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Copiah County
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.
The best areas in Copiah County
The parts of Copiah County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Wesson
Crystal Springs
Fewer homes sit empty, though heat risk is higher.
Hazlehurst
Crime runs higher and it is noisier.
Scores across Copiah County run from about the 2nd to the 39th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Copiah County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Copiah County ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 78% of counties
- TransitBetter than 72% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 72% of counties
Where Copiah County ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 5% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 14% of counties
- Household income$54,521 median, better than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Copiah County
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Copiah County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,521, 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 Copiah County's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Copiah County
Copiah County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Copiah County.
Who works in Copiah County, and how
Work in Copiah County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Copiah County
Copiah County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 82% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Copiah County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Copiah County growing, and who is moving in?
Copiah County has lost about 5% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Jackson, MS metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Copiah County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Copiah County, month by month
Copiah County sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| April | 77° | 65° | 54° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 80° | 66° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Copiah County
The nearest airport, Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 132 miles away.
The best schools in and around Copiah County
Schools across Copiah County average a D+, better than 14% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Crystal Springs ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- Hazlehurst Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Crystal Springs Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Hazlehurst Middle SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Crystal Springs High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
- Hazlehurst High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Copiah County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Copiah County 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 Copiah County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Copiah County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 5% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Copiah County
Is Copiah County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Copiah County ranks 2,778th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on a stable housing market, tree cover, and fast internet, and lowest on state infrastructure and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Copiah County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $129,331. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $54,521 median income, cost of living beats 23% of counties.
Is Copiah County safe?
Copiah County is safer than 27% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $244 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Copiah County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 59 with lows near 37. That works out to about 85 pleasant days a year, more than 46% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Copiah County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Wesson, Crystal Springs, and Hazlehurst. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Copiah County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Copiah County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Copiah County 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.
Copiah County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Copiah County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Copiah County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Copiah County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Copiah County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Copiah County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.