Best PlacesDixie, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dixie, 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.
Dixie ranks 14,963rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Dixie
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.
Dixie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dixie ranks high
- Short commute18.4 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 87% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 85% of towns
Where Dixie ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 13% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dixie
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dixie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,613, 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 Dixie's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Dixie
Dixie'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 Dixie.
Who works in Dixie, and how
Work in Dixie centers on construction 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 92%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Dixie
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dixie.
What the weather is like in Dixie, month by month
Dixie 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 Dixie
The nearest airport, Hattiesburg/Laurel Regional, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 101 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dixie
Schools across Dixie average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dixie Attendance CenterB+ · 55% proficient
- Purvis Upper ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Bellevue Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oak Grove Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Purvis Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Oak Grove High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Forrest County Agricultural Hi SchC+ · 38% proficient
- Purvis High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dixie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dixie 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 Dixie against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dixie
Is Dixie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dixie ranks 14,963rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, population health, and what local pay buys, 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 Dixie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $221,551. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $86,613 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Dixie safe?
Yes, Dixie is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $122 per resident a year.
Compare Dixie with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dixie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dixie 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.
Dixie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dixie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dixie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dixie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dixie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dixie 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.