Best PlacesFair River, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fair River, 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.
Fair River ranks 40,817th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. A weak job market pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Fair River
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.
Fair River's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fair River ranks high
- Cheap childcare$525 a month, better than 90% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 82% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- QuietBetter than 68% of towns
Where Fair River ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 13% of towns
- Household income$51,609 median, better than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fair River
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fair River home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $51,609, 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 Fair River's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fair River
Fair River'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 Fair River.
Who works in Fair River, and how
Work in Fair River centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Fair River
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fair River.
What the weather is like in Fair River, month by month
Fair River sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 61, 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 | 61° | 49° | 40° |
| April | 78° | 66° | 56° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 73° |
| October | 82° | 69° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Fair River
The nearest airport, Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International, is about 54 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 108 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fair River
Schools across Fair River average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Monticello Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lipsey SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Rod Paige Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Brookhaven High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Lawrence County High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fair River school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fair River 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 Fair River against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fair River
Is Fair River a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fair River ranks 40,817th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a stable housing market, and tree cover, and lowest on a weak job market and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fair River expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $128,816. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $51,609 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Fair River safe?
Yes, Fair River is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $132 per resident a year.
Compare Fair River with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fair River. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fair River 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.
Fair River detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fair River: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fair River: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fair River: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fair River: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fair River 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.