QoL Rank
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Mississippi

Mississippi has a quality of life score of 39/100 (D, below average) and ranks #38 of 51 states. Its strongest category is cost of living (59) and its weakest is quality of life (10). Its top-rated larger counties are Lamar County, Rankin County, Lafayette County.

  • Safety: 29
  • Cost of living: 59
  • Education: 56
  • Quality of life: 10

Key figures: violent crime 226.9 per 100,000 people a year (US 345.2); median rent $954 a month; median home value $169,800; median household income $54,386; life expectancy 71.9 years.

Counties in Mississippi, best first

  1. Choctaw County 60
  2. Lamar County 58
  3. Rankin County 58
  4. Lafayette County 58
  5. Madison County 58
  6. Union County 56
  7. DeSoto County 53
  8. Itawamba County 53
  9. Prentiss County 51
  10. Webster County 51
  11. Pontotoc County 50
  12. Jackson County 49
  13. Tippah County 49
  14. Forrest County 47
  15. Alcorn County 47
  16. Tishomingo County 46
  17. Kemper County 46
  18. Smith County 46
  19. Jasper County 45
  20. Franklin County 45
  21. Lee County 45
  22. Newton County 44
  23. Oktibbeha County 44
  24. Harrison County 43
  25. Hancock County 42
  26. Chickasaw County 42
  27. Monroe County 42
  28. Scott County 41
  29. Stone County 41
  30. Attala County 40
  31. Benton County 40
  32. Lowndes County 39
  33. Pearl River County 39
  34. Neshoba County 39
  35. Grenada County 38
  36. Warren County 38
  37. Carroll County 38
  38. Marion County 38
  39. Simpson County 37
  40. Jones County 37
  41. Winston County 36
  42. Calhoun County 36
  43. George County 36
  44. Lauderdale County 36
  45. Tate County 36
  46. Clarke County 35
  47. Covington County 34
  48. Clay County 34
  49. Lincoln County 34
  50. Walthall County 34
  51. Greene County 33
  52. Adams County 32
  53. Jefferson County 32
  54. Hinds County 31
  55. Copiah County 31
  56. Panola County 31
  57. Perry County 31
  58. Leake County 31
  59. Wayne County 30
  60. Yalobusha County 30
  61. Quitman County 29
  62. Claiborne County 29
  63. Pike County 29
  64. Tallahatchie County 28
  65. Sunflower County 28
  66. Amite County 27
  67. Lawrence County 27
  68. Coahoma County 26
  69. Marshall County 26
  70. Montgomery County 25
  71. Wilkinson County 24
  72. Sharkey County 23
  73. Tunica County 23
  74. Washington County 23
  75. Leflore County 23
  76. Bolivar County 22
  77. Jefferson Davis County 22
  78. Humphreys County 20
  79. Holmes County 19
  80. Yazoo County 19
  81. Noxubee County 18
  82. Issaquena County –

Your priorities

Choose how much each category counts toward the overall score. The map, rankings and every place’s overall score update as you go.

About the data

Every county is compared with every other US county, and every state with the other states.

Each measure becomes a percentile from 0 to 100, where 100 is always best. For crime, deaths, disaster risk, costs and commutes, the lowest value is best. A category score averages its measures’ percentiles and is then scaled so all four categories have the same spread around 50, so each counts equally. The overall score is the average of the four. 50 is a typical place, and most land between 35 and 65. Your priorities lets you weight the categories differently.

Grades: A 65 and up, B 55–64, C 45–54, D 35–44, F under 35.

Each category lists a county’s own figures next to its state’s and the US figures. Under the state and US columns, Difference shows whether the county is higher or lower, as a share of that figure (hover for the exact gap). Rank shows where it ranks instead: “ranked 75%” means it does better than 75% of the counties in its state, or in the US. A green arrow or dot means the county does better, red means worse.

Compare puts any two places side by side, counties or states, in any state. The better value in each row is highlighted.

A county gets an overall score only if all four categories have data and at least 60% of the measures are present. Small counties often have suppressed data, and without this rule they rank at the top on just a few numbers. Top 10 lists only include counties with at least 10,000 people.

What’s measured

Limitations

Sources