Best PlacesHatley, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hatley, 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.
Hatley ranks 27,051st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Air quality pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Hatley
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.
Hatley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hatley ranks high
- Cheap childcare$532 a month, better than 89% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 78% of towns
- Short commute22.3 minutes each way, better than 78% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 76% of towns
Where Hatley ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 13% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hatley
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hatley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,341, 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 Hatley's effective rate of 0.42%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hatley
Hatley runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hatley.
Who works in Hatley, and how
Work in Hatley centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Hatley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hatley.
What the weather is like in Hatley, month by month
Hatley sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 43° | 34° |
| April | 76° | 62° | 51° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 79° | 64° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Hatley
The nearest airport, Tupelo Regional, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hatley
Schools across Hatley average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top high schools
- Hatley High SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Smithville High SchoolA− · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hatley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hatley 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 Hatley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hatley
Is Hatley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hatley ranks 27,051st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low property taxes, and walkability, and lowest on air quality and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hatley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $173,673. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $61,341 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Hatley safe?
Yes, Hatley is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $143 per resident a year.
Compare Hatley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hatley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hatley 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.
Hatley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hatley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hatley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hatley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hatley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hatley 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.