Relocating to Jackson MS area (Clinton, Pearl: apartment, to rent, crime)

[dem005]

My family is relocating to the Jackson MS area. My husband will being working at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and we need to live no more than 10-15 minutes from the hospital. We have two children, 2 and 7 months. We are looking for a community that is safe and family oriented. Could someone please help? Thanks!

[brickpatio]

You can do Madison and Ridgeland, straight up I-55 North (in Madison County). Or you can do Flowood/Brandon/Reservoir area (in Rankin County), which is straight east out Lakeland Drive, aka Hwy 25. In either case you're looking at an easy 15 minute straight shot from the University Medical Center. Pretty much everything in Madison and Rankin Counties fits your profile of safe, convenient, and family oriented.

[JCrow08]

Your not gonna find anything "safe" in Jackson itself. I prefer Rankin County over Madison but they are both nice areas. Madison is a little more upscale and pricey, while Rankin is more down to earth and reasonable. It really depends on what you prefer.

[gr8 r8z]

Are you looking to buy or rent initially?

[dem005]

Thanks for the information provided thus far. We are looking to rent.

[brickpatio]

It sounds like you are wanting to rent a house, as opposed to an apartment, in a nice but also relatively affordable neighborhood.

If that's the case, Ridgeland has a very broad range of subdivisions, from million dollar homes to patio homes. In Rankin County, there are dozens of subdivisions out Lakeland Drive, just past the airport road, particularly between Lakeland Drive and the Reservoir as well as in the huge Castlewoods area.

In both counties, they have all the usual new shopping (Kroger, Target, Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Barnes and Noble, Dillards, restaurants, etc.) And both counties are equally convenient to the Reservoir, a huge lake just outside Jackson city limits.

The University Medical Center is in a wonderful area between the charming Belhaven and Fondren neighborhoods and convenient to upscale Eastover and adjacent neighborhoods east of I-55. This is by far the most convenient area to the medical center and has the mature neighborhoods with huge trees, etc. Northeast Jackson is safe enough in the sense that some of the wealthiest and most educated people in the Jackson area live in the in-town neighborhoods I listed above. BUT, it definitely does have crime, whereas Madison and Rankin Counties truly do come close to being literally crime free, if that's the atmosphere you are wanting.

[Senor Boogie Woogie]

If you have a family, I would consider an outlying area.

What about Pearl, Mississippi? Pearl reminds me of a town that Hank Hill would live in. Lee Ann Rymes is from there. Pearl is close to downtown on the highway and does have a good school district. Rankin County is good also.


Clinton is a nice town, but on the other side of Jackson.

Highway 25 in and out of Rankin County can be a bear at times.

[jacksonian]

Hopefully, by now, you know that any statement that generalizes an entire city holds little water.

Every city/town in the Jackson Metro area has desirable and undesirable areas. I suggest you look at Fondren, Belhaven, and Northeast Jackson first, as these are the only areas that you can reasonably get to/from UMMC during peak traffic hours in 15 minutes or less. During non-peak hours, you can reasonably get to some of the residential areas of Ridgeland, Flowood, and Pearl in 15 minutes or less. Madison has growing traffic problems, but it's a safe area and has good schools, both private and public. Same goes for the majority of Ridgeland, but with a little better infrastructure to deal with traffic. I'm not a fan of Pearl from a residential aspect, but there are some who do. Flowood is similar to Madison with lots of traffic, yet Flowood doesn't have near as many neighborhoods - mostly retail/services - but good surrounding public schools. I graduated from Clinton and the schools there are good, but you're not going to make it to UMMC in 15 minutes from your house unless you live very near the interstate, and that's pushing it.

Your biggest decision to make is public or private school. Almost every city/town in the metro has a choice of both - in general, private schools are equal or better than public schools, but that's not always the case. Just do your research and see which system fits your family and your budget the best.