Best PlacesWiggins, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wiggins, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wiggins ranks 41,228th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Disaster risk pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on fast internet.
The best neighborhoods in Wiggins
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.
Wiggins' strengths and weaknesses
Where Wiggins ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 85% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 79% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 77% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 73% of towns
Where Wiggins ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 13% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wiggins
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wiggins home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $53,643, 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 Wiggins' effective rate of 0.60%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wiggins
Wiggins'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 Wiggins.
Who works in Wiggins, and how
Work in Wiggins centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Wiggins
Wiggins has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of towns. The coast is about 41 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Wiggins and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wiggins, month by month
Wiggins sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 49° | 40° |
| April | 79° | 66° | 56° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 82° | 68° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Wiggins
The nearest airport, Gulfport-Biloxi International, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 90 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wiggins
Schools across Wiggins average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Perkinston Elementary SchoolA · 62% proficient
- South Forrest Attendance CenterB+ · 51% proficient
- Stone Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stone Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Perry Central Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Stone High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Forrest County Agricultural Hi SchC+ · 38% proficient
- Perry Central High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wiggins school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wiggins 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 Wiggins against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wiggins
Is Wiggins a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wiggins ranks 41,228th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, a stable housing market, and walkability, 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 Wiggins expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $141,586. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $53,643 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Wiggins safe?
Wiggins is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $218 per resident a year.
Compare Wiggins with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wiggins. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wiggins 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.
Wiggins detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wiggins: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wiggins: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wiggins: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wiggins: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wiggins 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.