Does anyone live in Ocean Springs, MS or familiar with the area??

I live in Ocean Springs. OS high school is considered to be the best in the area, one of the best in the state. St. Martin is a smaller school but also a damn good school.

I've lived here less than a year but if you are going to live on the MS gulf coast i would recommend OS or Bay St. Louis.

Vancleave is north of I-10 and it's a country town. Not a whole lot there. Living south of I-10 puts you a lot closer to the gulf coast "activities".

Ocean springs is a great town with an awesome downtown area and seems like there is a festival or SOMETHING always going on for entertainment.

I graduated from St. Martin, and the school's adress is in Ocean Springs. SM is a community that's pretty much split between OS and Biloxi. There is the Gulf Hills neighborhood on the Back Bay which is nice. Elvis and Judy Garland had summer homes there. Across the street is Windsor Park which is also a nice clean cut neighborhood. Both of these neighborhoods are probably the nicest in the area.

Vancleave is a little up the road and isolated from much of the coast, but there are very nice and new neighborhoods being built up there.

If you have children and are deciding where to send them to school out of Vancleave and SM, SM is the much better school, and is one of the top performing in the state. That's if you don't want to send them to Ocean Springs.

I grew up in Ocean Springs. Its pretty much the best town down there to raise a family by far.

As for neighborhoods, depends on your price range really.

I grew up in Biloxi.

OS has a larger high school than St Martin , but I really couldn't tell you anything about their academics.

Vancleave is too rural for my taste.

OS has brand-new facilities and a great school system, but you'll pay for it in property taxes. St. Martin is part of Jackson County Schools, as is Vancleave. The county schools are ok, and pretty solid. Where you want to live depends on what you're willing to deal with. Ocean Springs is nice, Vancleave is rural, but not too far from everything, and St Martin is a mix of good and bad burbs. Move to Moss Point, it'll toughen up your kids.
OS HS does offer an International Baccalaureate program, don't know of many high schools in MS that do that.

Had some family live in Gulf Hills, a little neighborhood off the beach (by a steak restaurant, I believe), and nearer St. Martin. All seemed nice, quiet places.

Vancleave school was a kind of tucked away gem a few years back.