Jackson-Hattiesburg-Meridian-Laurel, MS area (Petal, Ellisville, Purvis: apartments, renting, low crime)

[missyboo]

Need some information. We may be moving to Mississippi in the next year or so. My husband's company will be opening a small office in Laurel and would love for him to run it. I need some information on the best places to live. We currently live in a small KS town but close enough to the KC metro area for easy shopping and entertainment. I would like to find something similar in MS. We don't mind a commute so long as its a drive we can make to Laurel in say 45 minutes or less. Smaller towns (say 15,000 or less) would be preferred but the bigger cities are fine, so long as they have some nice "small town-feeling" neighborhoods. Our son is 12 and very bright, so we are DEFINITELY looking for good schools to continue his education. I will most likely not have to be working so career opportunities for me aren't terribly important.
As a parent, I am looking for low crime and a true neighborhood atmosphere for my son. I also want a place with plenty of community sports leagues for him and a place that will be welcoming of a new kid from the midwest. We don't need a big fancy house, just something comfortable, preferably with a large yard for dogs or a small acreage (1 or 2 acres).
As you can see, I don't have too many requirements.... . Anybody who knows the area, I would love your insight! Admittedly, after checking some of the towns on here my biggest concern is the schools. My son's current school was rated 81 out of 100 on this site, and I saw some in Laurel rated 7 out of 100!!!!!
Thanks

[brickpatio]

Laurel is a beautiful, very elegant town of 18,000 people. so there's no need to commute from elsewhere. For schools you can do West Jones, which is in the Jones County school district which covers the entire county except for inside Laurel city limits. West Jones is about 5 to 10 minutes outside town and there are homes and neighborhoods all around there with normal sized, comfortable family homes on multiple acres. You can go to schooldigger.com to get more data on every school in the state.

South Jones in Ellisville is also okay, a modest small town with a sizable community college that sits between Laurel and Hattiesburg.

Nearby Petal has highly rated schools and a semi-rural atmosphere just outside Hattiesburg. There are plenty of nice subdivisions in this area. All the schools in Lamar County on the other side of Hattiesburg are fine (Oak Grove, Sumrall, Purvis), with Oak Grove being suburban and a very nice, upscale area and the other two being the more rural but charming communities further out in the county. (Bret Favre regularly works out with the Oak Grove football team, as he lives in the area.)

Meridian is a bit further (population about 40,000) but has several well rated schools (West Lauderdale on the northeast outskirts of town with several nice subdivisions) and Enterprise, to the south which is very rural.

[Rete648]

We're moving to Mississippi and will be renting in Laurel for the first six to twelve months starting this August/September. Our main interest is in Hattiesburg area, i.e. Oak Grove or even some areas of Hattiesburg itself. Our daughter and her family live in Oak Grove. I've visited Laurel two weeks ago when we checked out apartments and loved it. My grandson will be going to Sacred Heart school in September rather than the Oak Grove public school only because his Mississippi born and raised father prefers a Catholic school education.

Homes are relatively inexpensive in comparison to where we live and on a fixed retirement income a "can do" situation for us. Apartments are a bit on the expensive side both in Hattiesburg and Laurel. But still doable.

Good luck with your move.

[912]

Hattiesburg. Stay away from Laurel!

[ColdAilment]

I've lived in Meridian for about a year now. Haven't explored much of the rest of the state. I came here from Indiana, and it's a culture shock. You mentioned your son is very bright and you're looking for good schools. you may want to avoid most of the public schools then, last I checked Mississippi's public schools are some of the worst in the nation. A lot of other people I know with kids say when they moved here from Virginia or Washington, that their kids were a year ahead in their studies, that they were doing class work in 5th grade here that they did in 4th grade at their old school.

As far as shopping and a lot to do? There is nothing even comparable to Kansas City in this entire state. I suppose Jackson, a decent sized city of about 180,000 will have some shopping. But Jackson was ranked as the 11th most dangerous city in the nation, when pertaining to violent crimes. I hear Hattiesburg has a decent mall, and good shopping outlets. Meridian has a small mall, and minimal shopping outlets. Can't stress it enough, there is nothing even close to Kansas City in this whole state. You won't have a tough time finding rural areas in this state though. Wish you the best.