Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,670, settled in 1837.
Houston earns a D, 72nd of 99 graded towns in Mississippi, mostly because of health and incomes. Residents are less healthy than 97% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. The median household income is $44K, and 26% of residents live below the poverty line. What it does well: its schools outperform 87% of the state's. 34% of working residents work locally in Houston, above both the Mississippi town median (19%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). On hazard risk, just 7 of Mississippi’s 187 towns do better. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 86% of U.S. towns.
Where Houston beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Houston Lower Elementary School | PK–2 | 472 |
| Houston Upper Elementary | 3–5 | 387 |
| Houston Middle School | 6–8 | 352 |
Where Houston’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Mississippi), ordered by how far Houston is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 400 in 1870, 3,797 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1845 and 3 maps from 1953 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Houston. Close and well known come first.
3 mi ParkwayNatchez Trace Parkway8.0M visitors a year
33 mi Stadium & arenaDavis Wade Stadium
31 mi MuseumElvis Presley Birthplace
29 mi National BattlefieldTupelo National Battlefield686 visitors a year
31 mi MuseumTupelo Automobile MuseumNatchez Trace Parkway: Carol M. Highsmith (1946–), Public domain · Davis Wade Stadium: Nateb2003, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Elvis Presley Birthplace: Markuskun at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Tupelo National Battlefield: Chris Light (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Tupelo Automobile Museum: James Case from Philadelphia, Mississippi, U.S.A., CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Houston, 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 Houston.
Houston draws workers from Tupelo and beyond, has home values falling while Mississippi’s rise and has a longer frost-free season than most of the country, though not than most of Mississippi.
32% of adults worry about having enough food in Houston. Houston beats the Mississippi average on 0 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 13. 41% of adults get no exercise outside work in Houston.
| Houston | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 24% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 36% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 27% | 19% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 48% | 45% | 35% |
| What stands out | Houston | MS |
|---|---|---|
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 16.4% | 11.2% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 31.7% | 22.4% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 16.7% | 11.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Chickasaw County School District. Two of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Houston High School, with 529 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Houston Lower Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–2 | Grades PK–2 | 472 | – |
| Houston High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 529 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MS on state tests
2,873 jobs are based in Houston, 2.1 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 17.4 minutes, against 25.6 across Mississippi.
About one in 3 of Houston’s working residents works in town. Houston’s average trip to work is 17 minutes. Since 2013, Houston has lost 359 jobs, to 2,873 in 2023.
| Houston | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 17 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $44,000 | $50,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Values fell 2.2% in the past year while the Mississippi typical home rose 2.2%.
The typical Houston home is worth about $145,000, 25% below the Mississippi typical home. The median rent in Houston is $727 a month.
| Houston | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 55% | 62% | 73% |
| Median rent | $727 a month | $909 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Adults 35 to 64 are 28% of residents (37% statewide); children under 18 are 29% of residents (23% statewide). 21% of Houston residents are 65 or older. Among 101 Mississippi towns, just 9 have a higher share of children under 18 than Houston.
| Houston | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 29% | 24% | 22% |
| Median age | 32.5 years | 37 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 17% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 20% | 25% | 29% |
54% women, 46% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.4 points. Across Mississippi, 51.5% of residents are women.
| Houston | MS | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 20.3% | 12.1% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.3% | 11.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 11.4% | 9.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.4% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 6.8% | 12.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 9.3% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.9% | 12.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.7% | 10.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.8% | 6.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 12.5% | 12.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 39% | 29.9% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.1% | 21.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 6.7% | 10.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 12.3% | 15.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 7.3% | 9.9% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,700, single groups can be off by several points
The Houston weather station records that the frost-free season runs about 220 days: longer than most of the country, but shorter than 85% of Mississippi places with climate records. The Houston weather station records that about 54 days a year reach 90°: more than most of the country, but fewer than 89% of Mississippi places with climate records.
Houston has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 91°, January nights drop to 33° and snow is almost unheard of.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 63% of U.S. communities. Since 1994, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Houston.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The biggest park or preserve is Joe Brigance Memorial Park, at 40 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Joe Brigance Memorial Park | — | 40 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Houston; the nearest are
About 5 of every 100 Houston residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Mississippi.
3 places in Houston on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in Houston.
City in Mississippi, United States
Houston is a city and one of two county seats of Chickasaw County, in northeastern Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, Houston had a population of 3,797.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Houston grades D overall, better than 10% of U.S. towns and #72 of 99 in Mississippi. It grades D− for health and A for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D−.
That is 3.3 years of the area's median household income ($43,586 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
7 notable people were born here, including Bukka White and Chris Jones.
