City · Prentiss County, Mississippi

Booneville, Mississippi

Booneville is a city in Prentiss County, Mississippi, part of the Tupelo, MS metro area. It has 9,246 residents. Booneville, Mississippi has a quality-of-life score of 26 out of 100 (low), ranking #11,614 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Mississippi it ranks #41 of 194 cities and towns. It ranks best on pharmacies (high), time spent in the emergency room (low) and job growth (high). It ranks worst on average weekly wage (low), primary care shortage (high) and public EV charging ports (low).

26Low

Quality-of-life score: #11,614 of 15,651 cities and towns
Mississippi: #41 of 194 in MS
Population: 9,246 (2020-2024)
Land area: 26 mi²
Density: 359.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 2807780

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety24#11,882/15,637
Economy24#11,938/15,631
Housing92#1,193/14,977
Health15#13,214/15,609
Healthcare29#11,176/15,650
Environment48#7,971/15,453
Education71#4,461/15,649
Infrastructure8#14,403/15,650
Community14#13,496/15,651
Leisure & amenities36#10,034/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Booneville, Mississippi ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Prentiss County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Pharmacies · high3.2 /10k
97/100Mississippi 2.2 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPrentiss County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low99 min
96/100Mississippi 138 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesPrentiss County value
Job growth · high3.3%
95/100Mississippi -0.2%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataPrentiss County value
Grocery stores · high2.8 /10k
93/100Mississippi 1.3 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPrentiss County value
Rent as share of income · low22.6%
92/100Mississippi 30.7%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Students per teacher · low11.4×
91/100Mississippi 13.4×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsPrentiss County value

Weaknesses

Average weekly wage · low$834
2/100Mississippi $1,024United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPrentiss County value
Primary care shortage · high19.0
3/100Mississippi 16.2United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationPrentiss County value
Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100Mississippi 2.4 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyPrentiss County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.513
5/100Mississippi 0.482United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Arts, entertainment and recreation · low1.6 /10k
6/100Mississippi 3.1 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPrentiss County value
Voter turnout · low53.3%
8/100Mississippi 55.1%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionPrentiss County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
8,637 (2015-2019) → 9,246 (2020-2024)
+7.1%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateImproving
37.6% (2015-2019) → 6.0% (2020-2024)
−32 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
56.6% (2015-2019) → 27.5% (2020-2024)
−29 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
16.8% (2015-2019) → 28.4% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Poverty rateImproving
26.5% (2015-2019) → 15.1% (2020-2024)
−11 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
32.3% (2015-2019) → 22.6% (2020-2024)
−9.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Booneville, Mississippi improved on 6 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 8 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved6

Rent burden−29 points56.6% → 27.5%
Uninsured−9.1 points14.5% → 5.4%
Poverty−11 points26.5% → 15.1%
Rent / income−9.7 points32.3% → 22.6%
Bachelor's++12 points16.8% → 28.4%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Booneville, Mississippi between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	20.8 min2015-2019	19.6 min2020-2024	−1.3 min	Within the margin of error	63%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.8%2015-2019	28.4%2020-2024	+12 points	Improved	93%
Broadband subscriptions	76.9%2015-2019	84.3%2020-2024	+7.4 points	Within the margin of error	46%
Effective property tax rate	0.67%2015-2019	0.68%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	15%
High school diploma or higher	82.2%2015-2019	89.6%2020-2024	+7.4 points	Within the margin of error	90%
Home price to income ratio	2.9×2015-2019	2.7×2020-2024	−0.2×	Within the margin of error	87%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4862015-2019	0.5132020-2024	+0.027	Within the margin of error	28%
Median household income	$36,5132015-2019	$50,8792020-2024	+39%	Improved	73%
Poverty rate	26.5%2015-2019	15.1%2020-2024	−11 points	Improved	95%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	32.3%2015-2019	22.6%2020-2024	−9.7 points	Improved	93%
Rent-burdened households	56.6%2015-2019	27.5%2020-2024	−29 points	Improved	97%
Unemployment rate	7.4%2015-2019	3.2%2020-2024	−4.3 points	Within the margin of error	94%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	14.5%2015-2019	5.4%2020-2024	−9.1 points	Improved	95%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Booneville, Mississippi five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Booneville, Mississippi in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Booneville, Mississippi itself moved +17.9 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

9,246 residents (±26)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

3,321 households (±221)

Booneville, Mississippi
Mississippi share

Under $25k23%780
$25k–50k26%†858
$50k–75k16%†539

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

3,321 households (±221)

Booneville, Mississippi
Mississippi share

Own72%2,381
Rent28%940

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+10.5 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

3,594 workers (±402)

Booneville, Mississippi
Mississippi share

Drive alone85%3,047
Carpool11%†394
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Tupelo, MS

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Prentiss County, the county holding most of Booneville's residents.

Prentiss County has 482 employer establishments, 191 for every 10,000 residents (0.77× the US rate of 248; 0.93× Mississippi's), with 5,563 paid employees at an average annual pay of $40,716. The Census Bureau also counts 1,750 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 482; 1,750 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 191; US 248 · Mississippi 205
Paid employees: 5,563
Average annual pay: $40,716; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Prentiss County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	39	15.4	0.84×About typical	573	$15,640	24
Specialty trade contractors	34	13.5	0.87×About typical	208	$47,293	215
Ambulatory health care services	32	12.7	0.61×Fewer than typical	252	$52,528	37
Religious organizations	27	10.7	1.93×More than typical	96	$20,188	—
Building equipment contractors	19	7.5	1.25×More than typical	172	$49,244	38
Limited-service restaurants	19	7.5	0.94×About typical	382	$14,812	12
Truck transportation	18	7.1	1.41×More than typical	153	$47,647	78
Gasoline stations	16	6.3	1.95×More than typical	98	$20,112	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	15	5.9	1.18×About typical	46	$36,739	53
Lessors of real estate	14	5.5	0.45×Fewer than typical	28	$33,286	100
Offices of other health practitioners	13	5.1	0.85×About typical	58	$36,966	8
Auto parts, accessories and tire stores	12	4.8	2.72×More than typical	63	$26,175	4

Rank places for an industry Open Prentiss County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 25,254 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Booneville, Mississippi: $0 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,995
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

10.7KFY2017
517.7FY2018
-13.7FY2020
532.7FY2021
532.7FY2022

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Booneville, Mississippi, so they do not add up across cities.

Booneville, Mississippi's figures are part of those of Prentiss County, MS ($235K in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Booneville is mostly in Prentiss County.

See federal money in Prentiss County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Booneville, Mississippi is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Trent KellyR-MS-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 100%Missed 0.7%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Prentiss County27100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Tupelo, MS30

Other cities and towns in Prentiss County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/2807780

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends