Best PlacesStarkville, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Starkville, 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.
Starkville ranks 1,641st 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 Starkville
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.
Starkville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Starkville ranks high
- Cheap childcare$507 a month, better than 98% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of cities
- QuietBetter than 94% of cities
- Short commute20.3 minutes each way, better than 86% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 76% of cities
Where Starkville ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 2% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 2% of cities
- Household income$53,719 median, better than only 3% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Starkville
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Starkville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $53,719, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Starkville's effective rate of 0.75%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Starkville
Starkville runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Starkville.
Who works in Starkville, and how
Work in Starkville centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Starkville
Starkville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Starkville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Starkville, month by month
Starkville sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 43° | 35° |
| April | 75° | 62° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 76° | 69° |
| October | 77° | 64° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Starkville
The nearest airport, Golden Triangle Regional, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 128 miles away.
The best schools in and around Starkville
Schools across Starkville average a C, better than 24% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- East Webster Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- West Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Henderson/ward-stewart ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Overstreet ElementaryB · 46% proficient
- Socsd/msu Partnership Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
- Eiland Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- East Webster High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Choctaw County High SchoolC · 31% proficient
- West Point High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Starkville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Starkville 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 Starkville against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Starkville suits
Families
Schools land around the 24th percentile and crime safety beats 58%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Starkville
Is Starkville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Starkville ranks 1,641st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on affordable childcare, fast internet, and quiet, and lowest on state infrastructure and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Starkville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $270,468. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $53,719 median income, cost of living beats 10% of cities.
Is Starkville safe?
Yes, Starkville is safer than 58% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $172 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Starkville?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 54 with lows near 35. That works out to about 118 pleasant days a year, more than 69% of cities.
Is Starkville good for families?
Schools beat 24% of cities, crime safety beats 58%, and childcare runs $507 a month.
Compare Starkville with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Starkville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Starkville 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.
Starkville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Starkville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Starkville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Starkville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Starkville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Starkville 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.