Best PlacesOma, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oma, 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.
Oma ranks 49,733rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oma
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.
Oma's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oma ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Cheap childcare$546 a month, better than 87% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 82% of towns
- QuietBetter than 64% of towns
Where Oma ranks low
- Short commute49.5 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$29,802 median, better than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oma
A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oma home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $29,802, 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 Oma's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Oma
Oma 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 Oma.
Who works in Oma, and how
Work in Oma centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Oma
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oma.
What the weather is like in Oma, month by month
Oma sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 47° | 36° |
| April | 80° | 65° | 52° |
| July | 94° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 83° | 68° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Oma
The nearest airport, Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 120 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oma
Schools across Oma average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Simpson Central SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Monticello Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- New Hebron Attendance CenterD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rod Paige Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Lawrence County High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Mendenhall High SchoolD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oma school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oma 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 Oma against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oma
Is Oma a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oma ranks 49,733rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, affordable childcare, and a stable housing market, and lowest on long commutes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oma expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $110,517. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $29,802 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Oma safe?
Oma is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $237 per resident a year.
Compare Oma with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oma. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oma 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.
Oma detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oma: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oma: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oma: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oma: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oma 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.