Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Louisville gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $152K for a typical one, or 2.9 years of the county’s $53K median household income. It grades C− overall, 56th among Mississippi's 99 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $37K, and 39% of residents live below the poverty line, and CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 98% of the country. 39% of residents live below the poverty line in Louisville, where Mississippi’s towns sit at 21% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Louisville has 5 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Legion State Park and Benjamin Franklin Smyth House. Louisville's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 88% of U.S. towns.
Where Louisville beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Census counts: 385 in 1870, 6,072 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 1815 and 2 maps from 1972 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Mississippi), ordered by how far Louisville is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Louisville, 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 Louisville.
Louisville trades lower home prices for longer drives to work, draws workers from Starkville and beyond and is healthier than towns with similar incomes.
Against the 1,624 U.S. towns with household incomes like Louisville’s, it is less healthy than 82%, so that grade isn’t only a matter of income.
Among 101 Mississippi towns, just 8 have a higher share of adults who smoke cigarettes than Louisville. The share of adults in Louisville who worry about having enough food: 37%. This Mississippi town does better than the Mississippi average on 3 of 31 CDC measures and worse on 16. In Louisville, 9.7% of adults binge drink, and 54% have high blood pressure.
| Louisville | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 16% | 12% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 9.7% | 13% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 54% | 45% | 35% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 24% | 14% |
| What stands out | Louisville | MS |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 9.7% | 13.6% |
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 82.7% | 79.7% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 19.2% | 11.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Two of the 6 schools are below, and why each made the list. The largest public high school is Louisville High, with 475 students. The public schools here belong to the Louisville Municipal School District.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–2 | Grades PK–2 | 350 | – |
| Louisville HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 475 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MS on state tests and graduation
4,039 jobs are based in Louisville, 1.9 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 17.5 minutes, against 25.6 across Mississippi.
The top destinations are Starkville (6%), Philadelphia (4%) and Jackson (2%). Roughly one working resident in three has a job in Louisville itself. Jobs based in Louisville grew to 4,039 in 2023, 927 more than in 2013. The average trip to work for Louisville comes to 18 minutes.
| Louisville | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 18 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $37,000 | $50,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Homes are within reach (about $152K for the typical one, A− for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 24 miles.
A typical home in Louisville is worth about $152,000, up 7.2% in a year, 22% below the Mississippi typical home. Its typical rent stands at $617 a month. In Louisville, 62% of households own their home.
| Louisville | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $617 a month | $909 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 62% | 62% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
July afternoons average 90.8°: hotter than most of the country, but cooler than 76% of Mississippi places with climate records; January nights average 33.7°.
Louisville’s typical July afternoon high comes in at 91°F.
| Louisville | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 34°F | 36°F | 22°F |
| July high | 91°F | 91°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
39.3% of residents live below the poverty line, against 18.9% across Mississippi, which weighs on its D− for jobs and income.
For residents in Louisville, the share who are 65 or older is 22%. Among 101 Mississippi towns, just 5 have a higher median age than Louisville. Since 2020, Louisville has lost 2.5% of its people, to 5,921 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. Mississippi has a quarter of adults 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more; here it is 16%.
| Louisville | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 22% | 17% | 18% |
| Median age | 43.6 years | 37 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 16% | 25% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 23% | 24% | 22% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.4 points. Across Mississippi, 51.5% of residents are women.
| Louisville | MS | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10% | 12.1% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.1% | 11.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 10.7% | 9.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 7.2% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.7% | 12.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 9.7% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.2% | 12.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13% | 10.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9.4% | 6.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 14.2% | 12.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 44.5% | 29.9% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.8% | 21.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 6.4% | 10.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 12.1% | 15.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 4% | 9.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Louisville's reported crime rate is well above Mississippi's. In Louisville, the violent offense rate is 4.9 per 1,000 residents. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts.
| Louisville | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.9 per 1,000 residents | 2.2 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 18.4 per 1,000 residents | 16.5 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
FEMA puts 32% of Louisville’s expected hazard losses down to tornadoes, and 22% to inland flooding. Storm and flood damage is expected to run higher than in 50% of U.S. communities. Flood insurance has paid out on 13 claims locally since 1979.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
None within 15 miles of Louisville; the nearest are
About 5 of every 100 Louisville residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Mississippi.
Where Louisville’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
5 places in Louisville on the National Register of Historic Places.
11 notable people were born in Louisville.
Town in Winston County
Louisville (pronounced LEW-iss-vill) is a city in and the county seat of Winston County, Mississippi. The population was 6,072 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Louisville grades C− overall, better than 17% of U.S. towns and #56 of 99 in Mississippi. It grades D− for health and B for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a D−.
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−.
11 notable people were born here, including Van Chancellor and Marcus Thames.
