Biloxi, Mississippi

Area Profile

48,861 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Biloxi, in Harrison County.

62out of 100
Area Score
Top 46% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 42% of 3,904 published cities60
SchoolsTop 17% of 2,668 published cities77
GrowthTop 28% of 2,973 published cities63
Housing affordability2261st of 4,223 published cities78
ClimateTop 20% of 4,223 published cities78
Physical resilience3418th of 4,182 published cities23
Access3099th of 4,226 published cities83
Economic stability3169th of 4,226 published cities46
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.7% and median household income $57,204, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

394 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 10% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane, coastal flooding and wildfire.

At a glance

Population
48,861
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$57,204
Bottom 35% nationally
Density
1,138/sq mi
42.9 sq mi of land
Median age
36.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Harrison County
Mississippi
Metro area
Gulfport-Biloxi, MS
Nearest major airport
HSA
31 mi · Stennis Intl
Median home value
$225,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.7% is lower than 74% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.9% over the past year, to 20,419 employed residents.

31% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 70% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,986$57,204Bottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,714$33,883Top 50%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate16.4%Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute22.1 minBottom 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher30.6%Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment20,419Bottom 26%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.4%Top 29%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.9%Bottom 47%June 2026
Labor force21,206Bottom 25%June 2026
Labor force participation65.2%Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$53,290Bottom 2%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$43,470Bottom 3%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.5%Bottom 17%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.7%Bottom 26%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/066.02.2
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.7% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202457k51k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $57,204 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Gulfport-Biloxi, MS
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons5,380$28,880
Cashiers4,610$27,300
Waiters and Waitresses3,910$22,600
Registered Nurses3,740$78,960
Fast Food and Counter Workers3,520$22,820
Stockers and Order Fillers2,690$31,780

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

59% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 54% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.8 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
14
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
59.0%
Top 10% in Mississippi
Reading proficiency
54.4%
Top 15% in Mississippi
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Biloxi High SchoolBILOXI PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT1,66915.7
D'Iberville HighHarrison County School District1,47818.2
CREEKBEND ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLEHarrison County School District99616.6
Biloxi Junior High SchoolBILOXI PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT86316.661%48%
North Woolmarket Elementary and Middle SchoolHarrison County School District85115.577%67%
Biloxi Upper Elementary SchoolBILOXI PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT84419.252%51%
North Bay Elementary SchoolBILOXI PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT65816.468%67%
Popp's Ferry Elementary SchoolBILOXI PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT60817.452%56%
St. Martin North ElementaryJackson County School District53716.847%42%
Woolmarket ElementaryHarrison County School District53317.864%61%
Back Bay Elementary SchoolBILOXI PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT52817.052%50%
Gorenflo Elementary SchoolBILOXI PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT32614.843%36%

61.5% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Mississippi’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,089 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.9 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
22.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,089
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$225,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.94Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate50.1%Bottom 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±52823,033Top 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$32$1,089Top 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$13,776$225,100Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.8%Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate13.5%Top 38%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
63/ 100
Top 28% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 3 consecutive years, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 3% since 2020, reaching 48,144 in 2024.

Permit activity has risen for 3 consecutive years.

At 8.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
394
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
8.1
Top 18% nationally
Year over year
+10%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
54.8%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202449k48k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202220232024202543689
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+67%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 42°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 62.8 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 44, in the Good band, and about 5 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station GULFPORT - BILOXI AP, 8.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND7.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index62.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation62.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low42°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10052024 calendar year
Median air quality index44.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing31°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
44
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
62
90th percentile index
Days above 100
5
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

23 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, coastal flooding and wildfire.

HurricaneHigh
WildfireModerate
Coastal floodingElevated
DroughtModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, tornado, heat wave, inland flooding, cold wave, hail, strong wind, ice storm, winter weather, earthquake, landslide.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Harrison County records 6.6 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 21.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 22.3 per 100,000 residents in Harrison County.

Homicide
6.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
21.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
22.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
23.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Harrison County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Biloxi rather than Biloxi itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 31 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Stennis IntlHSA31 mi8,498 ft
Mobile RgnlMOB45 mi8,502 ft
Louis Armstrong New Orleans IntlMSY84 mi10,104 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
62
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Other cities in Gulfport-Biloxi, MS

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
GulfportHarrison County73,00359vs Biloxi
PascagoulaJackson County21,71055vs Biloxi
GautierJackson County19,04665vs Biloxi
Ocean SpringsJackson County18,64668vs Biloxi
Long BeachHarrison County17,00966vs Biloxi
D'IbervilleHarrison County13,20360vs Biloxi
Moss PointJackson County11,95750vs Biloxi
Bay St. LouisHancock County10,18864vs Biloxi

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Biloxi side by side with a similar place.

Biloxi vs Las CrucesBiloxi vs GulfportBiloxi vs SocasteeBiloxi vs Foley

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Biloxi

4 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
3953236,662$68,71064
3953118,918$54,21860
395307,701$41,11757
395341,857