Best PlacesPetal, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Petal, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Petal ranks 12,892nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Petal
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.
Petal's strengths and weaknesses
Where Petal ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 88% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 83% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 83% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 80% of towns
Where Petal ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 13% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Petal
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Petal home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,028, 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 Petal's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Petal
Petal's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Petal.
Who works in Petal, and how
Work in Petal centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Petal
Petal has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Petal and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Petal, month by month
Petal sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 49° | 40° |
| April | 79° | 66° | 56° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 82° | 68° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Petal
The nearest airport, Hattiesburg/Laurel Regional, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 112 miles away.
The best schools in and around Petal
Schools across Petal average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Petal ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Moselle Elementary SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Dixie Attendance CenterB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Petal Upper Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Petal Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Perry Central Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Petal High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- South Jones High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Richton High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Petal school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Petal 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 Petal against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Petal suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 5% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Petal
Is Petal a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Petal ranks 12,892nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, good schools, and low crime, and lowest on state infrastructure and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Petal expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $187,390. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $77,028 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Petal safe?
Yes, Petal is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $129 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Petal?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 62 with lows near 40. That works out to about 89 pleasant days a year, more than 58% of towns.
Is Petal good for families?
Schools beat 88% of towns, crime safety beats 83%, and childcare runs $666 a month.
Compare Petal with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Petal. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Petal 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.
Petal detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Petal: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Petal: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Petal: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Petal: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Petal 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.