Town · Smith County, Mississippi

Raleigh, Mississippi

Raleigh is a town in Smith County, Mississippi. It has 1,118 residents. Raleigh, Mississippi has a quality-of-life score of 12 out of 100 (very low), ranking #13,753 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Mississippi it ranks #83 of 194 cities and towns. It ranks best on violent crime rate (low), firearm deaths (low) and property crime rate (low). It ranks worst on mental health providers (low), primary care physicians (low) and arts, entertainment and recreation (low).

12Very low

Quality-of-life score: #13,753 of 15,651 cities and towns
Mississippi: #83 of 194 in MS
Population: 1,118 (2020-2024)
Land area: 5 mi²
Density: 219.4 /mi²
FIPS code: 2860840

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 71 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.

Safety71#4,494/15,637
Economy15#13,263/15,631
Housing56#6,659/14,977
Health18#12,806/15,609
Healthcare0#15,598/15,650
Environment18#12,675/15,453
Education43#8,877/15,649
Infrastructure6#14,775/15,650
Community26#11,623/15,651
Leisure & amenities4#14,975/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Violent crime rate · low21 /100k
100/100Mississippi 227 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationSmith County value
Firearm deaths · low0.0 /100k
99/100Mississippi 25.8 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100k2024Centers for Disease Control and PreventionSmith County value
Property crime rate · low195 /100k
99/100Mississippi 1,264 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationSmith County value
Drug overdose deaths · low0.0 /100k
99/100Mississippi 14.5 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataSmith County value
Effective property tax rate · low0.31%
97/100Mississippi 0.58%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090High uncertainty
Public libraries · high2.8 /10k
95/100Mississippi 0.8 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesSmith County value

Weaknesses

Mental health providers · low14 /100k
0/100Mississippi 243 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSmith County value
Primary care physicians · low7 /100k
0/100Mississippi 56 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSmith County value
Arts, entertainment and recreation · low0.0 /10k
1/100Mississippi 3.1 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsSmith County value
Pharmacies · low0.0 /10k
1/100Mississippi 2.2 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsSmith County value
Primary care shortage · high20.0
1/100Mississippi 16.2United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationSmith County value
Unemployment rate · high16.6%
2/100Mississippi 3.8%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty

Trends

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

Median household incomeImproving
$26,094 (2015-2019) → $61,667 (2020-2024)
+136%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
38.9% (2015-2019) → 62.9% (2020-2024)
+24 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
37.5% (2015-2019) → 60.9% (2020-2024)
+23 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Child poverty rateImproving
24.8% (2015-2019) → 6.3% (2020-2024)
−18 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Poverty rateImproving
26.7% (2015-2019) → 13.7% (2020-2024)
−13 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Unemployment rateWorsening
5.7% (2015-2019) → 16.6% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%

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, Raleigh, Mississippi improved on 2 of 8 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 6 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

Inequality−0.1170.500 → 0.383
Broadband+24 points38.9% → 62.9%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 8 measures

Change of every measure of Raleigh, Mississippi between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.9%2015-2019	11.2%2020-2024	−0.6 points	Within the margin of error	23%
Broadband subscriptions	38.9%2015-2019	62.9%2020-2024	+24 points	Improved	95%
High school diploma or higher	75.1%2015-2019	84.8%2020-2024	+9.7 points	Within the margin of error	95%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5002015-2019	0.3832020-2024	−0.117	Improved	97%
Poverty rate	26.7%2015-2019	13.7%2020-2024	−13 points	Within the margin of error	96%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	28.0%2015-2019	32.3%2020-2024	+4.3 points	Within the margin of error	26%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	22.3%2015-2019	31.6%2020-2024	+9.4 points	Within the margin of error	4%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 10944 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 Raleigh, Mississippi five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Raleigh, 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, Raleigh, Mississippi itself moved +9.3 points in standing on average over the same 5 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

1,118 residents (±422)

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

372 households (±138)

Raleigh, Mississippi
Mississippi share

Under $25k33%†121
$25k–50k14%†53
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

372 households (±138)

Raleigh, Mississippi
Mississippi share

Own82%†306
Rent18%†66

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† 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

376 workers (±203)

Raleigh, Mississippi
Mississippi share

Drive alone91%†341
Carpool4.3%†16
Public transit

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 Smith County, the county holding most of Raleigh's residents.

Smith County has 159 employer establishments, 113 for every 10,000 residents (0.45× the US rate of 248; 0.55× Mississippi's), with 2,123 paid employees at an average annual pay of $52,446. The Census Bureau also counts 1,001 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 159; 1,001 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 113; US 248 · Mississippi 205
Paid employees: 2,123
Average annual pay: $52,446; US $68,342

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

Religious organizations	17	12.1	2.17×More than typical	70	$14,214	—
Restaurants and other eating places	12	8.5	0.46×Fewer than typical	83	$13,771	9
Truck transportation	10	7.1	1.40×More than typical	79	$54,519	68
Ambulatory health care services	8	5.7	0.27×Too few to compare	52	$41,481	52
Full-service restaurants	8	5.7	0.74×Too few to compare	39	$13,821	3
General merchandise stores	7	5	2.81×Too few to compare	38	$25,289	6
Gasoline stations	6	4.3	1.31×Too few to compare	55	$26,818	—
Specialty trade contractors	5	3.5	0.23×Too few to compare	14	$22,786	100
Banks and credit unions	4	2.8	0.88×Too few to compare	25	$50,200	—
Construction of buildings	4	2.8	0.38×Too few to compare	17	$59,647	49
Grocery and convenience stores	4	2.8	0.96×Too few to compare	76	$20,263	—
Legal services	4	2.8	0.53×Too few to compare	16	$30,313	8

Rank places for an industry Open Smith County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 14,095 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 Raleigh, Mississippi: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
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

0FY2017
-0.1FY2018
5.5KFY2020
-1.6KFY2021
1.2KFY2023
0FY2024

What was bought

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 Raleigh, Mississippi, so they do not add up across cities.

Raleigh, Mississippi's figures are part of those of Smith County, MS ($48.5K 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: Raleigh is mostly in Smith County.

See federal money in Smith 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.

Raleigh, 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.

Smith County13100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Smith 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/2860840

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends