Best PlacesPanola County, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Panola County, 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.
Panola County ranks 2,791st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. State infrastructure pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Panola 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.
Panola County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Panola County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$526 a month, better than 86% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 83% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 71% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 70% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 57% of counties
Where Panola County ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 5% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 12% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 13% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Panola County
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Panola County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,215, 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 Panola County's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Panola County
Panola County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Panola County.
Who works in Panola County, and how
Work in Panola County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Panola County
Panola County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Panola County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Panola County growing, and who is moving in?
Panola County has lost about 5% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Memphis, TN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Panola County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Panola County, month by month
Panola County sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 51° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Panola County
Memphis International sits about 48 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.4 million passengers in 2025, with 78 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Panola County
Schools across Panola County average a C−, better than 23% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Pope Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Batesville Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Strayhorn Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Batesville Junior High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- North Panola Middle SchoolF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- South Panola High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- North Panola High SchoolF · 6% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Panola County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Panola 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 Panola County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Panola County suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Panola County
Is Panola County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Panola County ranks 2,791st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, tree cover, and a stable housing market, 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 Panola County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $135,322. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $55,215 median income, cost of living beats 18% of counties.
Is Panola County safe?
Panola County is safer than 24% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $251 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Panola County?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 33. That works out to about 80 pleasant days a year, more than 39% of counties.
Is Panola County good for families?
Schools beat 23% of counties, crime safety beats 24%, and childcare runs $526 a month.
Compare Panola County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Panola County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Panola 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.
Panola County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Panola County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Panola County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Panola County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Panola County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Panola 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.