Best PlacesHattiesburg, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Hattiesburg metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Aaron Manning, CC BY 3.0, via commons
Hattiesburg ranks 246th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on state infrastructure and state finances. It does better on tree cover, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Hattiesburg 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 Hattiesburg
The towns and districts of the Hattiesburg 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.
Sumrall
Tree cover is thicker, local pay stretches further, and fewer homes sit empty.
Petal
It is quieter and prices have run up less.
Purvis & Lumberton
More households have young kids, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Downtown Hattiesburg
Biking is better, though schools score lower.
Hattiesburg shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 4%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Hattiesburg's strengths and weaknesses
Hattiesburg lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Tree cover, a stable housing market, and quiet carry most of that.
The one real hole is state infrastructure, near the bottom of the country. State finances and air quality also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Hattiesburg ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$661 a month, better than 85% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 75% of metro areas
Where Hattiesburg ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than only 15% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Hattiesburg
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hattiesburg home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,512, 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 Hattiesburg's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Hattiesburg
Hattiesburg runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hattiesburg.
Who works in Hattiesburg, and how
Work in Hattiesburg centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Hattiesburg
Hattiesburg has more late-night spots per resident than 88% of metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Hattiesburg and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Hattiesburg growing, and who is moving in?
Hattiesburg has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Gulfport, MS.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Hattiesburg go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Hattiesburg, month by month
Hattiesburg sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 49° | 40° |
| April | 79° | 66° | 56° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 82° | 68° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Hattiesburg
The nearest airport, Hattiesburg/Laurel Regional, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 106 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hattiesburg
Schools across Hattiesburg average a B−, better than 62% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Sumrall Elementary SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Longleaf ElementaryA · 62% proficient
- Seminary Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sumrall Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Oak Grove Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Purvis Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Sumrall High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Oak Grove High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- South Jones High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hattiesburg school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hattiesburg 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 Hattiesburg against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Hattiesburg suits
Common questions about living in Hattiesburg
Is Hattiesburg a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hattiesburg ranks 246th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on tree cover, a stable housing market, and quiet, and lowest on state infrastructure and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hattiesburg expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $194,521. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $67,512 median income, cost of living beats 30% of metro areas.
Is Hattiesburg safe?
Yes, Hattiesburg is safer than 75% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $163 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hattiesburg?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 62 with lows near 40. That works out to about 89 pleasant days a year, more than 52% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Hattiesburg?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Sumrall, Petal, and Purvis & Lumberton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Hattiesburg good for families?
Schools beat 62% of metro areas, crime safety beats 75%, and childcare runs $661 a month.
Is Hattiesburg good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 30% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 53% of metro areas. About 5% of workers already work from home.
Compare Hattiesburg with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hattiesburg. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hattiesburg 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.
Hattiesburg detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hattiesburg: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hattiesburg: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hattiesburg: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hattiesburg: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hattiesburg 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.