Best PlacesWalnut Grove, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Walnut Grove, 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.
Walnut Grove ranks 37,631st 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 Walnut Grove
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.
Walnut Grove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Walnut Grove ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Cheap childcare$532 a month, better than 89% of towns
- QuietBetter than 82% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 82% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 76% of towns
Where Walnut Grove ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of towns
- Household income$49,770 median, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Walnut Grove
A household needs to earn about $24,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Walnut Grove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,770, 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 Walnut Grove's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Walnut Grove
Walnut Grove runs younger than the country, 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 Walnut Grove.
Who works in Walnut Grove, and how
Work in Walnut Grove centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Walnut Grove
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Walnut Grove.
What the weather is like in Walnut Grove, month by month
Walnut Grove sees roughly 108 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 45° | 36° |
| April | 77° | 63° | 52° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 79° | 65° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Walnut Grove
The nearest airport, Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 171 miles away.
The best schools in and around Walnut Grove
Schools across Walnut Grove average a D+, better than 12% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Leake County Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Leake County High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Walnut Grove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Walnut Grove 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 Walnut Grove against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Walnut Grove
Is Walnut Grove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Walnut Grove ranks 37,631st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, affordable childcare, and quiet, and lowest on state infrastructure and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Walnut Grove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $95,960. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $49,770 median income, cost of living beats 13% of towns.
Is Walnut Grove safe?
Walnut Grove is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $164 per resident a year.
Compare Walnut Grove with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Walnut Grove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Walnut Grove 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.
Walnut Grove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Walnut Grove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Walnut Grove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Walnut Grove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Walnut Grove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Walnut Grove 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.