Best PlacesDerma, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Derma, 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.
Derma ranks 41,731st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Education levels pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Derma
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.
Derma's strengths and weaknesses
Where Derma ranks high
- Cheap childcare$537 a month, better than 88% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- QuietBetter than 80% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 74% of towns
Where Derma ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Household income$42,294 median, better than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Derma
A household needs to earn about $22,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Derma home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $42,294, 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 Derma's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Derma
Derma runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Derma.
Who works in Derma, and how
Work in Derma centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Derma
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Derma.
What the weather is like in Derma, month by month
Derma sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 43° | 35° |
| April | 75° | 62° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 76° | 69° |
| October | 77° | 64° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Derma
The nearest airport, Tupelo Regional, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 91 miles away.
The best schools in and around Derma
Schools across Derma average a C−, better than 24% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Calhoun City Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Vardaman High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Calhoun City High SchoolC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Derma school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Derma 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 Derma against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Derma
Is Derma a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Derma ranks 41,731st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, walkability, and a stable housing market, and lowest on education levels and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Derma expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $87,369. The overall cost of living runs about 26% below the national average. Set against a $42,294 median income, cost of living beats 11% of towns.
Is Derma safe?
Derma is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $193 per resident a year.
Compare Derma with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Derma. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Derma 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.
Derma detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Derma: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Derma: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Derma: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Derma: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Derma 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.