Best PlacesRainey, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rainey, 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.
Rainey ranks 44,607th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rainey
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.
Rainey's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rainey ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$527 a month, better than 90% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 77% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 97 pleasant days a year, better than 66% of towns
Where Rainey ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$38,491 median, better than only 3% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rainey
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rainey home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $38,491; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Rainey's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 Rainey
Rainey runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rainey.
Who works in Rainey, and how
Work in Rainey centers on retail trade and wholesale trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Rainey
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rainey.
What the weather is like in Rainey, month by month
Rainey sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| April | 78° | 65° | 54° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 81° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Rainey
The nearest airport, Hattiesburg/Laurel Regional, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 119 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rainey
Schools across Rainey average a B, better than 65% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Moselle Elementary SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- South Jones Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- South Jones High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rainey school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rainey 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 Rainey against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rainey
Is Rainey a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rainey ranks 44,607th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, tree cover, and affordable childcare, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rainey expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,837. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $38,491 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Rainey safe?
Rainey is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $171 per resident a year.
Compare Rainey with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rainey. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rainey 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.
Rainey detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rainey: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rainey: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rainey: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rainey: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rainey 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.