Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,472.
Bay Springs’ best subject grade is an A+ for cost of living; its weakest is a D for incomes. Only 7 of Mississippi’s 184 towns score higher on cost of living. Bay Springs's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 96% of U.S. towns. Bay Springs has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Bay Springs beats most towns.
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Mississippi), ordered by how far Bay Springs is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 836 in 1910, 1,670 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 2007 and 3 maps from 1974 on.
Explore the history →Who provides power, water and the rest in Bay Springs, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Bay Springs.
About one in 4 of Bay Springs’s working residents works in town. Jobs based in Bay Springs fell to 2,016 in 2023, 671 fewer than in 2013. 16% of residents live below the poverty line in Bay Springs, below the Mississippi town median (21%) but above the median of U.S. towns (9.6%).
| Bay Springs | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 25% | 19% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 21% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $50,000 | $50,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the West Jasper School District. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bay Springs Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 370 | B+ |
| Bay Springs High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 241 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MS on state tests and graduation
Bay Springs beats the Mississippi average on 4 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 51% of adults have high blood pressure in Bay Springs, where Mississippi’s towns sit at 45% and U.S. towns at 35%. 11% of Bay Springs adults binge drink.
| Bay Springs | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 51% | 45% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 16% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 12% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 36% | 25% |
| What stands out | Bay Springs | MS |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 10.7% | 13.6% |
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 83.6% | 79.7% |
| More adults who have had a stroke | 5.7% | 4.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The typical Bay Springs home is worth about $134,000, down 2.6% in a year, 31% below the Mississippi typical home.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Bay Springs has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. Bay Springs’ July high is 92°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 63% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Bay Springs since 2005.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The median age in Bay Springs is 45.1 years. Bay Springs has lost 11% of its people since 2020, down to 1,472 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 20% of residents are 65 or older in Bay Springs.
| Bay Springs | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 45.1 years | 37 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 15% | 25% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 20% | 17% | 18% |
55% women, 45% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±8.7 points. Across Mississippi, 51.5% of residents are women. Among residents 18 to 24, 100% are men (MS 50%).
| Bay Springs | MS | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 5.4% | 12.1% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.1% | 11.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.3% | 9.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.9% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.8% | 12.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 17.7% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.8% | 12.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9% | 10.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.9% | 6.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 10.8% | 12.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 44.5% | 29.9% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.8% | 21.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.6% | 10.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 8.2% | 15.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 7.1% | 9.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,500, single groups can be off by several points
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
| Bay Springs | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.5% | 2.8% | 4.3% |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Bay Springs; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Bay Springs residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Mississippi.
Where Bay Springs’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
4 notable people were born in Bay Springs.
City in Mississippi, United States
Bay Springs is a city in and the western county seat of Jasper County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,670 at the 2020 census, down from 1,786 at the 2010 census. State highways 15 and 18 intersect at the city. It is part of the Laurel, Mississippi (in Jones County) micropolitan area. The area was settled in the 1880s by Joe Blankenship, who built the sawmill for the yellow pine timber industry that comprised the town's industrial base. The city was incorporated about twenty years later after railroads were constructed through it. That access attracted other industry and business, and the city was designated as the second county seat. Its population has declined slightly si…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A+.
