Best PlacesHinds County, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Hinds County, 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.
Hinds County ranks 2,624th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on state infrastructure and crime. It does better on fast internet, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Hinds 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 Hinds County
The parts of Hinds 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.
Bolton
Crime runs lower, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Clinton
More adults hold degrees and more households have young kids.
Terry, Raymond & Utica
It is quieter and fewer homes sit empty.
Jackson
Biking is better and commutes are shorter.
Byram
Heat risk is lower, though health care is harder to reach.
Hinds County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 8%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Hinds County's strengths and weaknesses
Hinds County ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Fast internet, transit, and biking carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: state infrastructure, crime, and air quality all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Hinds County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of counties
- TransitBetter than 90% of counties
- BikingBetter than 77% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 76% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 74% of counties
Where Hinds County ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 5% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Hinds County
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hinds County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,493, 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 Hinds County's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hinds County
Hinds County runs younger 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 Hinds County.
Who works in Hinds County, and how
Work in Hinds County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Hinds County
Hinds County has less late-night activity than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Hinds County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Hinds County growing, and who is moving in?
Hinds County has lost about 14% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Jackson, MS metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Hinds County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Hinds County, month by month
Hinds County sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 48° | 39° |
| April | 77° | 65° | 55° |
| July | 92° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 81° | 68° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Hinds County
The nearest airport, Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 160 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hinds County
Schools across Hinds County average a C, better than 35% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Barack H Obama Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Eastside ElemA · 65% proficient
- Northside ElemA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clinton Jr Hi SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Bailey Middle Apac SchoolA · 61% proficient
- Lovett Elem SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Raymond High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Terry High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Clinton High SchoolC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hinds County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hinds 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 Hinds County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Hinds County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Hinds County
Is Hinds County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hinds County ranks 2,624th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, transit, and biking, and lowest on state infrastructure and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hinds County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $162,034. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $58,493 median income, cost of living beats 40% of counties.
Is Hinds County safe?
Hinds County is safer than 7% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $377 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hinds County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 59 with lows near 39. That works out to about 85 pleasant days a year, more than 46% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Hinds County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Bolton, Clinton, and Terry, Raymond & Utica. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Hinds County good for families?
Schools beat 35% of counties, crime safety beats 7%, and childcare runs $660 a month.
Is Hinds County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 40% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 90% of counties. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Hinds County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hinds County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hinds 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.
Hinds County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hinds County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hinds County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hinds County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hinds County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hinds 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.