Best PlacesStone County, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Stone County, 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.
Stone County ranks 2,249th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Stone County
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.
Stone County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stone County ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 93% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 84% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 83% of counties
- QuietBetter than 79% of counties
Where Stone County ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 5% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 9% of counties
- Short commute31.8 minutes each way, better than only 10% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Stone County
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stone County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,097, 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 Stone County'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 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 Stone County
Stone County'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 Stone County.
Who works in Stone County, and how
Work in Stone County centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Stone County
Stone County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. The coast is about 40 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Stone County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Stone County growing, and who is moving in?
Stone County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Gulfport, MS metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Stone County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Stone County, month by month
Stone County sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 52° | 44° |
| April | 78° | 69° | 60° |
| July | 91° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 82° | 72° | 63° |
Flying in and out of Stone County
The nearest airport, Gulfport-Biloxi International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stone County
Schools across Stone County average a B+, better than 83% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Perkinston Elementary SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Stone Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stone Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Stone High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stone County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stone County 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 Stone County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Stone County
Is Stone County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stone County ranks 2,249th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on tree cover, a stable housing market, and low crime, and lowest on disaster risk and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stone County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $174,570. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $66,097 median income, cost of living beats 44% of counties.
Is Stone County safe?
Yes, Stone County is safer than 84% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $163 per resident a year.
Compare Stone County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stone County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stone County 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.
Stone County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stone County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stone County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stone County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stone County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stone County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.