Best PlacesWalnut, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Walnut, 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 ranks 41,425th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Low incomes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Walnut
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's strengths and weaknesses
Where Walnut ranks high
- Cheap childcare$537 a month, better than 88% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 82% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 72% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 72% of towns
Where Walnut ranks low
- Household income$39,289 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Walnut
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Walnut home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $39,289, 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's effective rate of 0.46%, 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 4 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
Walnut runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Walnut.
Who works in Walnut, and how
Work in Walnut centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Walnut
Walnut has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Walnut and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Walnut, month by month
Walnut sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 42° | 34° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 51° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Walnut
The nearest airport, McKellar-Sipes Regional, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 63 miles away.
The best schools in and around Walnut
Schools across Walnut average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kossuth Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Chalybeate Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Middleton ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kossuth Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Kossuth High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Biggersville High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Ashland Middle-high SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Walnut school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Walnut 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Walnut
Is Walnut a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Walnut ranks 41,425th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low property taxes, and a stable housing market, and lowest on low incomes and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Walnut expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $107,510. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $39,289 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Walnut safe?
Yes, Walnut is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $161 per resident a year.
Compare Walnut with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Walnut. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Walnut 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Walnut: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Walnut: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Walnut: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Walnut: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Walnut 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.