Best PlacesFranklin County, MS Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Franklin County, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Franklin County ranks 2,659th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.

#2,659
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Franklin County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Franklin County area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Franklin County's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%Tree cover
Top 3%A stable housing market
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Franklin County with other counties.

Where Franklin County ranks high

  • Tree shadeBetter than 99% of counties
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of counties
  • Cheap childcare$536 a month, better than 85% of counties
  • QuietBetter than 83% of counties
  • Low property taxBetter than 73% of counties

Where Franklin County ranks low

  • BikingBetter than only 1% of counties
  • WalkabilityBetter than only 5% of counties
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 5% of counties
  • Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
  • Short commute33.3 minutes each way, better than only 6% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Franklin County

A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Franklin County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,081, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$29,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$671
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $113,673 home
Median rent
$937
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$580
Property tax$53
Homeowners insurance$38

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 Franklin County's effective rate of 0.56%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Franklin County

Franklin County runs older than the country.

Median age
43
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
22%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.5
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1822%
18 to 3419%
35 to 4918%
50 to 6419%
65 and older22%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Franklin County.


Who works in Franklin County, and how

Work in Franklin County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
3%
below the national average
Unemployment
4.8%
about the national average
Job growth
−1.7%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social15%
Education14%
Manufacturing12%
Mining & oil & gas11%
Retail trade8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 94%
  • Work from home 3%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 3%

Life in Franklin County

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Franklin County.


Is Franklin County growing, and who is moving in?

Franklin County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Lincoln County, MS.

Population growth
-3%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
7,516
down from 7,775
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

Lincoln County, MS58 / yr
Baton Rouge, LA33 / yr
Adams County, MS27 / yr
Jackson, MS25 / yr
New Orleans, LA12 / yr

Where people leaving Franklin County go

Pike County, MS126 / yr
Lincoln County, MS124 / yr
Lake Charles, LA122 / yr
Jones County, MS60 / yr
Oktibbeha County, MS28 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Franklin County, month by month

Franklin County sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January61°48°38°
April78°65°53°
July92°81°73°
October82°68°56°

Flying in and out of Franklin County

The nearest airport, Baton Rouge Metro, Ryan Field, is about 67 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 108 miles away.

Nearest airport
BTR
Baton Rouge Metro, Ryan Field, about 67 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
154th-busiest in the US, 21 nonstop destinations
Average drive
96 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Franklin County

Schools across Franklin County average a B−, better than 67% of counties.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Franklin County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Franklin 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 Franklin County against the other 3,143 counties.


Common questions about living in Franklin County

Is Franklin County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Franklin County ranks 2,659th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on tree cover, a stable housing market, and affordable childcare, and lowest on biking and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Franklin County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $113,673. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $54,081 median income, cost of living beats 28% of counties.

Is Franklin County safe?

Franklin County is safer than 34% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $215 per resident a year.


Compare Franklin County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Franklin County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Franklin 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.

Franklin County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Franklin County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Franklin County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Franklin County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Franklin County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Franklin County detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.