All of Hancock County is in the service area of Pearl River Community College.

[6] In 1961, Pearlington was one of six communities in Hancock County acquired by the federal government either wholly (Gainesville, Logtown, Napoleon, Santa Rosa, and Westonia) or in part (a section of northern Pearlington), to provide a 125,000 acres (506 km2) acoustical buffer zone for what was envisioned to be NASA's main rocket testing facility, the John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC).

It also provides testing facilities for more than 30 different state, national, international, public, and private rocket developers and manufacturers.

Remnants of the portion of Pearlington and the other five communities still exist inside the testing buffer zone at SSC.

These include such features as city streets, now overgrown with grasses and shrubs, and a one-room school house.

The eye of the hurricane made direct contact with Pearlington, halfway between Biloxi and New Orleans.

Hurricane Katrina came ashore during the high tide of 8:01 am, raising flood waters +2.2 feet more.

(Coalition of Disaster Relief Agencies) in Pearlington noted that all (but 2) homes, every building, and every vehicle in the town of 1600 was destroyed.

The town was reduced to a site for survivors to get water, ice and military-issued meals from aid stations.

The houses were heaps of debris, and broken trees and nail-studded boards littered the roads.