Best Public Schools in Zip Code 39520

Zip code 39520 serves the Bay St. Louis area of Mississippi with 4 public schools – two elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school – enrolling approximately 1,684 students across the top-ranked Bay Waveland School District and the highly rated Hancock School District.

This is an exceptionally strong cluster of schools. Bay Waveland Middle School is the standout, ranked #8 in Mississippi (97th percentile) with remarkable math scores – 82.4% proficiency in 7th grade versus 57.7% statewide. Bay High School is also elite, ranked #16 in the state with a 94.8% graduation rate and strong results in Algebra I, Biology, and English II. North Bay Elementary earns a 5-star rating despite over two-thirds of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch, consistently beating state averages in every subject. The outlier is South Hancock Elementary School, a 3-star school that starts strong – 83.3% proficiency in 3rd grade math – but drops sharply to 38.1% in 4th grade math, leaving it well behind North Bay in upper grades despite similar poverty levels.

All four schools improved their state rankings year-over-year, and the Bay Waveland district is #1 in Mississippi. Yet chronic absenteeism is a concern: Bay Waveland Middle School has a 30.9% chronic absenteeism rate, and South Hancock Elementary is at 27.7%, both above the state average of 23.9%. While poverty is high at both elementary schools, North Bay's consistent achievement shows what's possible. South Hancock's 4th and 5th grade decline may point to instructional transitions or cohort challenges worth investigating. Overall, families in this zip code have access to some of the best public schools in Mississippi, with the main caveats being attendance patterns and South Hancock's upper-grade performance.