Jackson, the state capital · Photo: formulanone from Huntsville, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0How Mississippi stacks up
In Mississippi, On the plus side, the 5th lowest property-tax bills in the country and low crime (violent crime 32% below the national figure); on the minus side, health that trails most states. Weighed together, that earns a B− (48 of 100), 27th among the states. Only one state grew more slowly between 2010 and 2020: in Mississippi, the population fell 0.2%.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
10th of 51A−82/100 Comfortably on the safe side. The FBI’s 2025 estimate puts violent crime at 224 per 100,000 residents, the 13th lowest rate of the 50 states and D.C. County or state police cover much of it, so town crime figures reach only 56% of residents. It leads its neighbors on safety, ahead of Alabama.
Counting property crime too (property + 4 × violent, the weighting our town grades use): 13th lowest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 25 Mississippi towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally. Covers 56% of residents of Mississippi’s 10,000+ towns.
Quiet towns, busier cities
In D'Iberville, property crime rather than violence puts it in the quarter reporting the most crime; violent crime there is below the national middle. Its safest larger towns are Madison (#218), Brandon (#233) and Petal (#294), ranked against every U.S. town of 10,000+. At the other end are Hattiesburg, Biloxi and Tupelo, in the quarter of U.S. towns reporting the most crime per resident.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Mississippi | 17% | 40% |
A big gap in the town figures
Each town’s figure is built from its own department’s FBI reports, so towns with gaps sit out rather than being estimated. Here the towns counted hold 56% of residents of towns of 10,000+. Nine towns have too few years reported, among them Jackson, Gulfport and Meridian. Seven places report no crime of their own, among them Greenville, Ocean Springs and Natchez; county or state police patrol them, and their crimes aren’t counted by town. Among its neighbors, Arkansas counts the most (99%) and Louisiana the least (40%).
Schools
29th of 51C+44/100 Test scores slightly under the national middle. On the Nation’s Report Card it ranks 15th lowest, with 29% of students at Proficient or better. Even its best town, Petal, ranks #465 of 5,230 nationally.
On-time graduation, 89.4% (8th highest), weighs equally with test results in the grade.
It spends $12,392 per pupil, 5th lowest (context only; spending isn’t graded).
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 41 Mississippi towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
7th of 51A88/100 Cheaper than most states. Town by town it lands near the middle, with Vicksburg its best at #467 of 5,235. Compared with $3,119 nationally, the typical tax bill here is $1,215.
Against income, home values rank 4th lowest: 3.0 times the median household’s.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 41 Mississippi towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
47th of 51D8/100 Among the least healthy states. Only 3% of residents live in a town in the national top quarter, led by Madison. Mississippi ranks 4th highest for adults in fair or poor health, at 24%.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 41 Mississippi towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
21st of 51B60/100 Slightly more owners than average. About 7 in 10 homes are lived in by their owners (15th highest). Its larger places pull the town measure down: Jackson and Gulfport sit in the national bottom quarter.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 41 Mississippi towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
48th of 51D6/100 Nature is the big risk here. Inland flooding drives 47% of the $175 a year FEMA expects natural hazards to cost per $100,000 of buildings (9th highest). Few residents live in a top-quarter town; its best showing is Brookhaven, #1,947 nationally. It trails all of its neighbors on hazard risk.
Federal major-disaster declarations, 2015–2025: 20, 6th most.
Share of expected building damage: inland flooding 47%, hurricane 25%, tornado 11%.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 41 Mississippi towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
24th of 51B−54/100 About average time to work. At 25.6 minutes, the average commute is the 22nd longest among the states. 52% of residents live in top-quarter towns such as Laurel and Cleveland, and almost none at the bottom.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 41 Mississippi towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
44th of 51D14/100 Growing slower than most states. Builders are catching up: 23rd fewest new homes per resident last year. The population fell 0.2% between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, against 7.4% nationally (2nd slowest). It trails all of its neighbors on growth.
Building: 4.0 new homes permitted per 1,000 residents in 2025, 23rd fewest.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 41 Mississippi towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Mississippi compares to its neighbors
Mississippi beats every neighbor on safety; on natural hazards and growth, every neighbor beats it.
| Mississippi | Louisiana | Arkansas | Tennessee | Alabama | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | B− 4827th of 51 | D 847th of 51 | C− 2439th of 51 | B− 5026th of 51 | B+ 7215th of 51 |
| Safety | A− 8213th official · 17% in top towns | D 645th official · 0% in top towns | C− 1848th official · 5% in top towns | C 2847th official · 7% in top towns | C+ 4033rd official · 5% in top towns |
| Schools | C+ 4437th official · 3% in top towns | C 2636th official · 3% in top towns | B− 5046th official · 9% in top towns | A 8615th official · 32% in top towns | B+ 7245th official · 18% in top towns |
| Cost of living | A 885th official · 32% in top towns | A− 804th official · 17% in top towns | A+ 963rd official · 60% in top towns | B+ 707th official · 14% in top towns | A+ 981st official · 70% in top towns |
| Health | D 848th official · 3% in top towns | D− 348th official · 0% in top towns | D− 348th official · 0% in top towns | C− 1644th official · 9% in top towns | C− 2046th official · 13% in top towns |
| Housing | B 6015th official · 10% in top towns | B− 5225th official · 9% in top towns | C− 1636th official · 3% in top towns | C 3231st official · 8% in top towns | A− 7613th official · 10% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | D 643rd official · 0% in top towns | D 1448th official · 6% in top towns | D 842nd official · 0% in top towns | B− 4622nd official · 6% in top towns | C− 1840th official · 1% in top towns |
| Commute | B− 5430th official · 52% in top towns | B− 5032nd official · 45% in top towns | A− 8413th official · 76% in top towns | B− 4632nd official · 39% in top towns | B 5828th official · 52% in top towns |
| Growth | D 1450th official · 16% in top towns | C− 2442nd official · 13% in top towns | B− 5036th official · 40% in top towns | A− 7818th official · 57% in top towns | B 5828th official · 36% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work