Best PlacesGoss, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Goss, 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.
Goss ranks 24,993rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Goss
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.
Goss' strengths and weaknesses
Where Goss ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap childcare$530 a month, better than 89% of towns
Where Goss ranks low
- Short commute52.0 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Goss
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Goss home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,720, 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 Goss' effective rate of 0.57%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Goss
Goss runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Goss.
Who works in Goss, and how
Work in Goss centers on transportation & warehousing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Goss
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Goss.
What the weather is like in Goss, month by month
Goss sees roughly 96 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.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| April | 78° | 65° | 54° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 81° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Goss
The nearest airport, Hattiesburg/Laurel Regional, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 97 miles away.
The best schools in and around Goss
Schools across Goss average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Jefferson Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Columbia High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Goss school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Goss 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 Goss against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Goss
Is Goss a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Goss ranks 24,993rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, a stable housing market, and low crime, and lowest on long commutes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Goss expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $141,600. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $78,720 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Goss safe?
Yes, Goss is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $97 per resident a year.
Compare Goss with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Goss. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Goss 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.
Goss detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Goss: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Goss: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Goss: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Goss: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Goss 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.