Best PlacesGulfport, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Gulfport metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Gulfport ranks 304th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Its strengths are fast internet and affordable childcare. The cost shows up in state infrastructure, disaster risk, and state finances.
The best neighborhoods in the Gulfport metro
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.
The best areas in Gulfport
The towns and districts of the Gulfport metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Diamondhead
More residents vote, health care is easier to reach, and more adults hold degrees.
Downtown Gulfport
Fewer homes sit empty and tree cover is thicker.
Moss Point & Vancleave
Prices have run up less and crime runs lower.
Ocean Springs, Gautier & Gulf Hills
Fewer households have young kids and heat risk is higher.
Saucier, Wiggins & Kiln
It is quieter, though commutes are longer.
Pascagoula
Homes cost less.
Long Beach, Bay St. Louis & Waveland
Scores close to Pascagoula, except that big-city amenities are closer here.
Biloxi
Biking is better, though local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Gulfport run from about the 1st to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Gulfport's strengths and weaknesses
Gulfport ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Fast internet, affordable childcare, and good schools carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: state infrastructure, disaster risk, and state finances all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Gulfport ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$664 a month, better than 84% of metro areas
- School gradeB+, better than 80% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 76% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 75% of metro areas
Where Gulfport ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 12% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Gulfport
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gulfport home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,248, 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 Gulfport'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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gulfport
Gulfport'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 Gulfport.
Who works in Gulfport, and how
Work in Gulfport centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Gulfport
Gulfport has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Gulfport and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Gulfport growing, and who is moving in?
Gulfport has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Jackson, MS.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Gulfport go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Gulfport, month by month
Gulfport sees roughly 106 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 52° | 44° |
| April | 78° | 69° | 60° |
| July | 91° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 82° | 72° | 63° |
Flying in and out of Gulfport
The nearest airport, Gulfport-Biloxi International, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gulfport
Schools across Gulfport average a B+, better than 80% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Bayou View Elementary SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Lizana Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- North Woolmarket Elementary And MidA+ · 72% proficient
Top middle schools
- Long Beach Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Biloxi Junior HighA · 59% proficient
- Biloxi Upper ElementaryA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Biloxi High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- Pass Christian High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- West Harrison High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gulfport school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gulfport 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 Gulfport against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Gulfport suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 63% of metro areas and it is quieter than 75%.
Common questions about living in Gulfport
Is Gulfport a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gulfport ranks 304th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on fast internet, affordable childcare, and good schools, and lowest on state infrastructure and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gulfport expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $211,705. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $68,248 median income, cost of living beats 34% of metro areas.
Is Gulfport safe?
Yes, Gulfport is safer than 72% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $168 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Gulfport?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 44. That works out to about 106 pleasant days a year, more than 63% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Gulfport?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Diamondhead, Downtown Gulfport, and Moss Point & Vancleave. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Gulfport good for families?
Schools beat 80% of metro areas, crime safety beats 72%, and childcare runs $664 a month.
Is Gulfport good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 34% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 86% of metro areas. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Gulfport with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gulfport. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gulfport 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.
Gulfport detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gulfport: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gulfport: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gulfport: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gulfport: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gulfport 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.