Best PlacesPearl, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pearl, 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.
Pearl ranks 1,698th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pearl
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.
Pearl's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pearl ranks high
- Cheap childcare$650 a month, better than 93% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 86% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 84% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 81% of cities
Where Pearl ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 2% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 7% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Pearl
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pearl home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,345, 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 Pearl's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pearl
Pearl runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pearl.
Who works in Pearl, and how
Work in Pearl centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Pearl
Pearl has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pearl and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pearl, month by month
Pearl sees roughly 75 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 Pearl
The nearest airport, Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 157 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pearl
Schools across Pearl average a B+, better than 65% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Highland Bluff ElementaryA · 62% proficient
- Oakdale ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
- Northwest Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brandon Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
- Northwest Rankin Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
- Florence Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Brandon High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Pearl High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Northwest Rankin High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pearl school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pearl 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 Pearl against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Pearl suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 6% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Pearl
Is Pearl a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pearl ranks 1,698th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low property taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on state infrastructure and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pearl expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $181,493. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $69,345 median income, cost of living beats 30% of cities.
Is Pearl safe?
Pearl is safer than 41% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $193 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pearl?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 36. That works out to about 75 pleasant days a year, more than 37% of cities.
Is Pearl good for families?
Schools beat 65% of cities, crime safety beats 41%, and childcare runs $650 a month.
Compare Pearl with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pearl. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pearl 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.
Pearl detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pearl: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pearl: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pearl: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pearl: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pearl 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.