Smith TownshipIN
A town of 5,290.
Is Smith Township a good place to live?
Smith Township gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $193K for a typical one, or 2.7 years of the Fort Wayne metro’s $71K median household income. It grades A− overall, 124th among Indiana's 585 graded towns. On the plus side, natural-hazard risk is low. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 82% of U.S. towns. 3.8% of residents live below the poverty line in Smith Township, below both the Indiana town median (10%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). The biggest park or preserve is Churubusco Community Park, at 24 acres.
What makes Smith Township stand out
Where Smith Township beats most towns.
87% of working residents leave Smith Township for work
Where Smith Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Smith Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Smith Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Smith Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Smith Township, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Smith Township.
Smith Township looks healthier within Indiana than nationally, but it has little public open land and has lost a quarter or more of its jobs in ten years.
The biggest natural risk in Smith Township is inland flooding, at a very low overall level
Expected losses in Smith Township break down as 44% from inland flooding and 23% from tornadoes. Storm and flood damage is expected to run lower than in 84% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Smith Township’s public schools outperform 50% of Indiana districts
The largest public high school is Churubusco Jr-Sr High School, with 603 students. The public schools here belong to the Smith-Green Community Schools. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Churubusco Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 500 | B+ |
| Churubusco Jr-Sr High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 603 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IN on state tests and graduation
With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Smith Township’s workers commute out
Jobs based here fell from 1,704 in 2013 to 1,238.
The median commute is under 14 miles. Employers in Smith Township shed 466 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 1,238. For most workers, Smith Township is a place to come home to: only 13% work in town. The top destinations are Fort Wayne (35%), Churubusco (11%) and Columbia City (5%).
| Smith Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 13% | 11% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $82,000 | $71,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In Smith Township, expect four seasons and pleasant summers
July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 17° and about 21 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
No age group stands out in Smith Township against Indiana
Age groups here sit within 4 points of the Indiana average. Among adults 25 and older, 23% have a four-year degree or more, against 30% across Indiana. For residents in Smith Township, the share who are 65 or older is 16%.
| Smith Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 23% | 22% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.8 points. Across Indiana, 50.4% of residents are women. Among residents 18 to 24, 72% are men (IN 51%).
| Smith Township | IN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.5% | 12.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12.6% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.5% | 9.6% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.1% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 9.8% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 16.2% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.1% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.3% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.1% | 9.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 32.3% | 32.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.6% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 17.8% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 15.2% | 18.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 8% | 10.8% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Protected land: 0.3% of Smith Township
Just 70 of its 22,482 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Smith Township itself; its outdoors grade is D.
There are 1.1 miles of trail across 1 park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Churubusco Community Park | 0.5 mi | 24 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
On CDC estimates, Smith Township is healthier than 51% of U.S. towns
Within Indiana it is healthier than 74% of the 589 graded towns: much of Indiana scores lower on these measures.
A quarter of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Smith Township. This Indiana town does better than the Indiana average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 1. Two figures for adults locally: 31% feel lonely, 11% worry about having enough food.
| Smith Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 37% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 32% | 33% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 14% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 26% | 25% |
| What stands out | Smith Township | IN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 11% | 14.7% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 6.6% | 8.4% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.5% | 8.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Fort Wayne Children's Zoo and 8 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Smith Township. Close and well known come first.
13 mi Zoo & aquariumFort Wayne Children's Zoo
19 mi MuseumAuburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum36 mi Theme parkFun Spot Amusement Park & Zoo
15 mi MuseumFort Wayne Museum of Art
24 mi MuseumUnited States Vice Presidential Museum
25 mi MuseumForks of the WabashPhoto credits
Fort Wayne Children's Zoo: Momoneymoproblemz, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum: Michael Walter, a.k.a. Cuppysfriend, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Wayne Museum of Art: Momoneymoproblemz, CC BY-SA 3.0 · United States Vice Presidential Museum: Pilcrow, Public domain · Forks of the Wabash: Chris Light (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0
Everything we know about Smith Township
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Smith Township
About 2 of every 100 Smith Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Indiana.
About Smith Township
Township in Indiana, United States
Smith Township is one of nine townships in Whitley County, Indiana, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 5,234 (down from 5,327 at 2010) and it contained 2,319 housing units.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 35 sq mi
- Elevation
- 863 ft
Smith Township’s neighbors
6 towns share a border with Smith Township.
Eel River Township next door grades higher for schools (A to Smith Township’s B−) and lower for cost of living (B− to A+).
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smith Township | #124 | A− | A+ | — | B− | B− |
| Eel River Township | #114 | A− | B− | — | A | B |
| Thorncreek Township | #256 | B+ | B | — | B | B− |
| Green Township | — | — | B | — | B− | B− |
| Union Township | #285 | B | B+ | — | B | B− |
| Churubusco | — | — | A+ | — | B− | B− |
| Tri-Lakes | — | — | B | — | B | B− |
Green Township, Churubusco and Tri-Lakes have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Smith Township, Eel River Township, Thorncreek Township, Green Township, Union Township, Churubusco and Tri-Lakes report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Smith Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Smith Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Smith Township, IN a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Smith Township grades A− overall, better than 82% of U.S. towns and #124 of 585 in Indiana. It grades B− for health and B− for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Smith Township, IN expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A+.