Best PlacesWay, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Way, 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.
Way ranks 40,387th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. State infrastructure pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a strong job market.
The best neighborhoods in Way
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.
Way's strengths and weaknesses
Where Way ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 73% of towns
- Cheap childcare$651 a month, better than 73% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 62% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 61% of towns
Where Way ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Way
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Way home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $63,760, 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 Way's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 Way
Way runs older 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 Way.
Who works in Way, and how
Work in Way centers on construction and finance & insurance. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Way
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Way.
What the weather is like in Way, month by month
Way sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 47° | 36° |
| April | 80° | 65° | 52° |
| July | 94° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 83° | 68° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Way
The nearest airport, Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 160 miles away.
The best schools in and around Way
Schools across Way average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Camden ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
- Jimmie M. Goodloe Elementary SchoolD · 19% proficient
- Linwood Elementary SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top middle schools
- Shirley D. Simmons Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Huey L. Porter Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Nichols Middle SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Velma Jackson High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Canton Public High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Way school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Way 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 Way against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Way
Is Way a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Way ranks 40,387th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, low property taxes, and affordable childcare, and lowest on state infrastructure and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Way expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $387,201. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $63,760 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Way safe?
Way is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $268 per resident a year.
Compare Way with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Way. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Way 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.
Way detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Way: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Way: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Way: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Way: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Way 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.