Best PlacesLake, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lake ranks 41,828th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. State infrastructure pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Lake
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.
Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake ranks high
- Cheap childcare$529 a month, better than 89% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 82% of towns
- Short commute21.7 minutes each way, better than 81% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 76% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 74% of towns
Where Lake ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lake
A household needs to earn about $25,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,489, 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 Lake's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 Lake
Lake runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lake.
Who works in Lake, and how
Work in Lake centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lake.
What the weather is like in Lake, month by month
Lake sees roughly 108 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 45° | 36° |
| April | 77° | 63° | 52° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 79° | 65° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Lake
The nearest airport, Key Field, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 171 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lake
Schools across Lake average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Newton County Elementary SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Raleigh Elementary SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Lake Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lake Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Hawkins Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- N H Pilate Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Raleigh High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Lake High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Forest High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake 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 Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lake
Is Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake ranks 41,828th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low property taxes, and short commutes, and lowest on state infrastructure and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $98,516. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $50,489 median income, cost of living beats 16% of towns.
Is Lake safe?
Lake is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $173 per resident a year.
Compare Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake 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.
Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake 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.