Census-designated place · Neshoba County, Mississippi

Pearl River, Mississippi

Pearl River is a census-designated place in Neshoba County, Mississippi. It has 4,047 residents. Pearl River, Mississippi has a quality-of-life score of 7 out of 100 (very low), ranking #14,597 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Mississippi it ranks #109 of 194 cities and towns. It ranks best on home price to income ratio (low), effective property tax rate (low) and time spent in the emergency room (low). It ranks worst on adult smoking (high), flu vaccinations (low) and life expectancy (low).

7Very low

Quality-of-life score: #14,597 of 15,651 cities and towns
Mississippi: #109 of 194 in MS
Population: 4,047 (2020-2024)
Land area: 31 mi²
Density: 130.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 2855930

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 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.

Safety26#11,640/15,637
Economy10#14,004/15,631
Housing59#6,165/14,977
Health7#14,449/15,609
Healthcare17#13,024/15,650
Environment54#7,119/15,453
Education15#13,352/15,649
Infrastructure7#14,576/15,650
Community3#15,179/15,651
Leisure & amenities16#13,108/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Pearl River, Mississippi ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Neshoba 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

Home price to income ratio · low1.2×
100/100Mississippi 3.0×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Effective property tax rate · low0.20%
99/100Mississippi 0.58%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Time spent in the emergency room · low96 min
97/100Mississippi 138 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesNeshoba County value
Job growth · high3.5%
95/100Mississippi -0.2%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataNeshoba County value
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100Mississippi 0United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteNeshoba County value
Average commute time · low16.5 min
85/100Mississippi 25.6 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013

Weaknesses

Adult smoking · high28.4%
1/100Mississippi 19.7%United States 16.1%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Flu vaccinations · low20.0%
1/100Mississippi 38.0%United States 44.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteNeshoba County value
Life expectancy · low68.6 yrs
1/100Mississippi 72.5 yrsUnited States 77.6 yrs2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteNeshoba County value
Lack of reliable transportation · high21.1%
2/100Mississippi 12.4%United States 8.3%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high33.7%
2/100Mississippi 12.1%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Premature death · high17,506 /100k
2/100Mississippi 12,827 /100kUnited States 8,123 /100k2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteNeshoba County value

Trends

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

Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
30.0% (2015-2019) → 91.1% (2020-2024)
+61 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
20.8% (2015-2019) → 38.1% (2020-2024)
+17 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
67.6% (2015-2019) → 79.7% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Home price to income ratioImproving
2.0× (2015-2019) → 1.2× (2020-2024)
−41%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Uninsured residents (under 65)Worsening
26.2% (2015-2019) → 33.7% (2020-2024)
+7.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Median household incomeImproving
$37,155 (2015-2019) → $50,922 (2020-2024)
+37%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604

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, Pearl River, Mississippi improved on 2 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 10 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.

Improved2

Price / income−0.8×2.0× → 1.2×
Household income+37%$37,155 → $50,922

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Pearl River, Mississippi between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	12.9 min2015-2019	16.5 min2020-2024	+3.6 min	Within the margin of error	16%
Bachelor's degree or higher	7.1%2015-2019	12.4%2020-2024	+5.4 points	Within the margin of error	70%
Broadband subscriptions	67.6%2015-2019	79.7%2020-2024	+12 points	Within the margin of error	69%
Child poverty rate	35.8%2015-2019	31.4%2020-2024	−4.4 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Effective property tax rate	0.27%2015-2019	0.20%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	29%
High school diploma or higher	71.4%2015-2019	75.2%2020-2024	+3.8 points	Within the margin of error	74%
Home price to income ratio	2.0×2015-2019	1.2×2020-2024	−0.8×	Improved	97%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4432015-2019	0.4092020-2024	−0.034	Within the margin of error	76%
Median household income	$37,1552015-2019	$50,9222020-2024	+37%	Improved	69%
Poverty rate	26.7%2015-2019	24.6%2020-2024	−2.1 points	Within the margin of error	63%
Unemployment rate	11.9%2015-2019	7.4%2020-2024	−4.5 points	Within the margin of error	95%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	26.2%2015-2019	33.7%2020-2024	+7.5 points	Within the margin of error	5%

“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 Pearl River, Mississippi five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Pearl River, 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, Pearl River, Mississippi itself moved +5.2 points in standing on average over the same 8 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

4,047 residents (±567)

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

1,321 households (±232)

Pearl River, Mississippi
Mississippi share

Under $25k23%†306
$25k–50k25%†325
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

1,321 households (±232)

Pearl River, Mississippi
Mississippi share

Own84%1,114
Rent16%†207

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Rent (−11.3 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

1,734 workers (±265)

Pearl River, Mississippi
Mississippi share

Drive alone78%1,359
Carpool14%†238
Public transit0.0%0

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 Neshoba County, the county holding most of Pearl River's residents.

Neshoba County has 495 employer establishments, 172 for every 10,000 residents (0.69× the US rate of 248; 0.84× Mississippi's), with 10,665 paid employees at an average annual pay of $58,271. The Census Bureau also counts 2,119 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 495; 2,119 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 172; US 248 · Mississippi 205
Paid employees: 10,665
Average annual pay: $58,271; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	42	14.6	0.79×Fewer than typical	736	$13,102	6
Religious organizations	34	11.8	2.13×More than typical	163	$17,859	—
Ambulatory health care services	32	11.1	0.53×Fewer than typical	289	$45,958	115
Limited-service restaurants	22	7.6	0.95×About typical	551	$13,532	—
Specialty trade contractors	17	5.9	0.38×Fewer than typical	524	$88,624	233
Banks and credit unions	16	5.6	1.72×More than typical	193	$58,819	—
Truck transportation	16	5.6	1.10×About typical	110	$50,918	58
Clothing and accessories stores	15	5.2	1.44×More than typical	88	$16,989	38
Full-service restaurants	14	4.9	0.63×Fewer than typical	155	$12,348	4
Offices of other health practitioners	14	4.9	0.80×Fewer than typical	49	$55,878	29
Construction of buildings	13	4.5	0.60×Fewer than typical	1,537	$117,382	88
Legal services	13	4.5	0.84×About typical	34	$45,765	7

Rank places for an industry Open Neshoba County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 28,808 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 $43.1K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Pearl River, Mississippi: $10.66 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $43.1K; −28% vs FY2025
Per resident: $10.66; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; 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

Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education$43.3K100%

Top recipients

IKBI, INCORPORATED$43.3K100%
W. G. YATES & SONS CONSTRUCTION COMPANY-$2070.0%

Spending by fiscal year

182.1KFY2017
426.1KFY2018
529.6KFY2019
227.9KFY2020
84KFY2021
30.5KFY2022
75.9KFY2023
17KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Nonresidential building construction · 2362$36.9K86%
Other specialty trade contractors · 2389$6,25314%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 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 Pearl River, Mississippi, so they do not add up across cities.

Pearl River, Mississippi's figures are part of those of Neshoba County, MS ($511.3K in FY2026), never added to them: 8.4% of that total.

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

See federal money in Neshoba 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.

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

House

Michael GuestR-MS-3 · 100% of residentsWith party 98%Missed 1.3%

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.

Neshoba County16100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Neshoba 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
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/2855930

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends