Best PlacesHarrison County, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Harrison County, 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.
Harrison County ranks 1,835th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 8 minutes away. Its strengths are fast internet and good schools. The cost shows up in disaster risk, state infrastructure, and summer heat.
The best neighborhoods in Harrison County
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 Harrison County
The parts of Harrison County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
D'Iberville
Local pay stretches further, prices have run up less, and tree cover is thicker.
Saucier
It is quieter and crime runs lower.
Biloxi
Biking is better, though more homes sit empty.
Gulfport
Heat risk is lower.
Long Beach & Pass Christian
Scores across Harrison County run from about the 2nd to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Harrison County's strengths and weaknesses
Harrison County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Fast internet, good schools, and cell coverage carry most of that.
The one real hole is disaster risk, near the bottom of the country. State infrastructure and summer heat also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Harrison County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 82% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 76% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 75% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 70% of counties
Where Harrison County ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 5% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 11% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 11% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Harrison County
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harrison County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,827, 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 Harrison County's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Harrison County
Harrison County'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 Harrison County.
Who works in Harrison County, and how
Work in Harrison County 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 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Harrison County
Harrison County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. The coast is about 8 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Harrison County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Harrison County growing, and who is moving in?
Harrison County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Gulfport, MS metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Harrison County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Harrison County, month by month
Harrison County sees roughly 108 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 Harrison County
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 78 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harrison County
Schools across Harrison County average a B+, better than 82% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Bayou View Elementary SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Pineville Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Lizana Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ocean Springs Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Long Beach Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Biloxi Junior HighA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Ocean Springs High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Diberville Senior High SchA− · 67% proficient
- Biloxi High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harrison County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harrison 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 Harrison County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Harrison County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Harrison County
Is Harrison County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harrison County ranks 1,835th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, good schools, and cell coverage, and lowest on disaster risk and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harrison County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $216,538. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $64,827 median income, cost of living beats 48% of counties.
Is Harrison County safe?
Yes, Harrison County is safer than 75% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $174 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Harrison County?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 44. That works out to about 108 pleasant days a year, more than 66% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Harrison County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are D'Iberville, Saucier, and Biloxi. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Harrison County good for families?
Schools beat 82% of counties, crime safety beats 75%, and childcare runs $662 a month.
Is Harrison County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 48% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 92% of counties. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Harrison County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harrison County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harrison 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.
Harrison County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harrison County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harrison County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harrison County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harrison County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harrison County 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.