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Place dossier plate
SheetMS-PICAYUNE-MS · Picayune, MS 11,839 pop · income 6th pct · 18 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Picayune
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Picayune on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Canton · lowest
34,812
Canton · lowest
34,812 median HH income
41.5% of the leader · rank #1
West Point · near
37,260
West Point · near
37,260 median HH income
44.5% of the leader · rank #2
East Liverpool · near
37,262
East Liverpool · near
37,262 median HH income
44.5% of the leader · rank #3
Seminole · near
37,267
Seminole · near
37,267 median HH income
44.5% of the leader · rank #4
Picayune · this city
37,270
Picayune · this city
37,270 median HH income
44.5% of the leader · rank #5
Twin City · near
37,271
Twin City · near
37,271 median HH income
44.5% of the leader · rank #6
South Lyon · highest
83,822
South Lyon · highest
83,822 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Picayune on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 11,839.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Picayune - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Picayune places in the 6th percentile for household income and the 17th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
6th
percentile, household income
26th
percentile, home value
0th
percentile, median rent
17th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Picayune, MS
Mississippi's Picayune is a small town, with 11,839 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Picayune report a median income of $37,270 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 23.0%. Picayune's housing stock carries a median value of $146,500, and the median resident age is 39.3 years. About 14.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 52.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 51 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 155% from five years earlier. Picayune's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 2883.6 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, above the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 66.4°F with 66.7 inches of precipitation per year.
Living costs in Mississippi run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Mississippi at 87.0 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $924 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Mississippi's average monthly utility costs around $223 (state average). Commute times here average 31.7 minutes, with 79.8% driving alone and 5.6% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 50.9 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Picayune's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from population change to housing and income to within-city variation to work and mobility to schools and households to reported crime to climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Picayune, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Is Picayune growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +149 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 51 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
How far does income reach against housing in Picayune?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 23.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
PlainCities matches 18 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
Which cities make useful reference points for Picayune?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Mississippi, the closest population matches are Brookhaven (11,656 residents, $36,269 income); Moss Point (12,066 residents, $46,684 income); McComb (12,202 residents, $40,515 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Lawrenceburg, KY (11,838 residents); Niles, MI (11,838 residents); Lantana, FL (11,845 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Picayune?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 31.7 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Drive alone
79.8%
Work from home
5.6%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 4,505 workers age 16+.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 10 public schools within the city match. 14.2% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
23.0%
Bachelor's degree+
14.2%
Matched public schools
10
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Picayune?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2883.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 26% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
2883.6
Violent rate
185.5
Property rate
2698.1
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 66.4°F, with 66.7 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Mississippi is 50.9 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
50.9
Annual precipitation
66.7 in
Mean temperature
66.4°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 23.0% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.0 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Mississippi average
F
City profile score · Picayune, MS
35/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A+
87.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime C-
186 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
14.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
23.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$37,270
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Picayune profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 97/100 (A+) · 87.0 index
Violent crime: 50/100 (C-) · 186 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 18/100 (F) · 14.2%
Poverty rate: 9/100 (F) · 23.0%
Household income: 3/100 (F) · $37,270
Where Picayune sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Picayune's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Picayune highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Picayune, MS (this city): home $146,500, crime 2,884/100k
Lawrenceburg, KY : home $185,400, crime 596/100k
Niles, MI : home $115,400, crime 2,352/100k
South Lyon, MI : home $280,900, crime 350/100k
Wallington, NJ : home $493,700, crime 1,598/100k
Petal, MS : home $161,400, crime 522/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Picayune compare to other US cities?
Picayune measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income6% higher than other cities
Home value26% pricier than other cities
Median rent0% pricier than other cities
Safety17% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Mississippi, Picayune ranks #42 of 56 Mississippi cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Picayune against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Mississippi only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Mississippi-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Picayune near the bottom of Mississippi's cities
Among the 395 Mississippi cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Picayune ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Picayune only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#239 of 345
31st percentile in Mississippi
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 395
0th percentile in Mississippi
Median Home Value
#103 of 348
70th percentile in Mississippi
Poverty Rate
#137 of 393
64th percentile in Mississippi
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#236 of 394
40th percentile in Mississippi
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Mississippi only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
6th percentile nationally for median household income · 17th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Picayune's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Picayune's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Picayune's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$146,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 74% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Picayune's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,495 of 15,516
More affordable than 32% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,923 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.9×, Picayune sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,495 of 15,516 and #1,923 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$37,270Picayune, MS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Picayune, MS median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Picayune, MS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)23.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
11,839
Median Income
$37,270
Median Home Value
$146,500
Median Age
39.3
Poverty Rate
23.0%
Labor force participation
52.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2883.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
185.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2698.1
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
66.4°F
Annual Precipitation
66.7"
Annual Snowfall
0.0"
Schools
Total Schools
10
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Picayune's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
11,870 residents
2021
11,790 residents
2022
11,857 residents
2023
11,923 residents
2024
12,019 residents
2025
12,019 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
51
housing units authorized
Single-Family
43
detached homes
Multifamily
8
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
20
12
8
$2.0M
2020
20
16
4
$2.5M
2021
28
28
0
$3.9M
2022
50
44
6
$9.4M
2023
46
40
6
$8.9M
2024
51
43
8
$9.9M
Permit volume increased 155% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
31.7 minutes
Drive Alone
79.8%
Carpool
9.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.8%
Work from Home
5.6%
Other
2.8%
Based on 4,505 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Mississippi statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $223
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Mississippi at $223 (electricity about $135 , water and sewer about $38 ).
These are Mississippi statewide averages, not a meter reading for Picayune. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Mississippi's BEA cost-of-living index is 87.0 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Picayune is $924/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Mississippi statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 50.9 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Mississippi statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Picayune sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Picayune compares to similar-size Mississippi cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.