Best PlacesPorterville, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Porterville, 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.
Porterville ranks 48,785th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Porterville
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.
Porterville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Porterville ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap childcare$540 a month, better than 88% of towns
Where Porterville ranks low
- Household income$41,469 median, better than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 4% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Porterville
A household needs to earn about $20,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Porterville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $41,469, 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 Porterville's effective rate of 0.38%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Porterville
Porterville'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 Porterville.
Who works in Porterville, and how
Work in Porterville centers on wholesale trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Porterville
Porterville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Porterville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Porterville, month by month
Porterville sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| April | 78° | 65° | 53° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 80° | 66° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Porterville
The nearest airport, Key Field, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 186 miles away.
The best schools in and around Porterville
Schools across Porterville average a D−, better than 4% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Lauderdale Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- York West End Junior High SchoolF · 9% proficient
- Livingston Junior High SchoolF · 9% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kemper County Upper ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Kemper County High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Porterville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Porterville 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 Porterville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Porterville
Is Porterville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Porterville ranks 48,785th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, clean air, and a stable housing market, and lowest on low incomes and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Porterville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $81,504. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $41,469 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Porterville safe?
Porterville is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $378 per resident a year.
Compare Porterville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Porterville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Porterville 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.
Porterville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Porterville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Porterville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Porterville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Porterville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Porterville 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.