Watson-Sanders House · Photo: LikeGrantTookRichmond · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Smithfield have lower incomes than those in 94% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 6% of workers; North Carolina has 16%. Poverty touches 27.3% of residents, against 13.0% across North Carolina. For jobs and income Smithfield is better than 11% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Smithfield: the figures worth knowing
Smithfield is where the jobs are
Smithfield has 13,696 jobs, 2.9 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 22,000 people are in town, 68% more than the 13,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Smithfield draws workers from far and wide
The 13,696 jobs in Smithfield are filled from a wide area. Smithfield’s own residents hold 6% and the ten next-biggest home towns 16%; the other 78% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Smithfield’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Smithfield is Raleigh, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (789) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Smithfield
Job access by car holds Smithfield’s grade up (ahead of 55% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Smithfield could be anywhere from D to C.
The workday shuffle in and out of Smithfield
On a workday 3,999 residents head out to work, 792 work right here, and 12,904 people come in from elsewhere.
About 22,000 people are in Smithfield on a workday afternoon, 68% more than live here.
2.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The daily trip into Smithfield
Where Smithfield clocks in
16% of workers
4% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Smithfield’s commute, mile by mile
About 18% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Inside Smithfield’s 13,696 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Smithfield, 2013 → 2023: 13,293 → 13,696. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Smithfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes to work from Smithfield
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Smithfield workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,365 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across North Carolina: 85% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
In Smithfield, the car does most of the work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,648 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 10.5% of Smithfield households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Smithfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Smithfield sits among U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Weddington NC | 14,517 | $191K | 4.0% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 273 | Rolesville NC | 12,839 | $150K | 1.1% | 3.7% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 351 | Summerfield NC | 11,327 | $160K | 7.1% | 2.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,379 | Fort Payne AL | 15,189 | $47K | 32.5% | 5.0% | 51% | D |
| 2,380 | Sunnyside WA | 16,430 | $61K | 18.5% | 12.3% | 28% | D |
| 2,381 | Smithfield NC | 13,114 | $43K | 27.3% | 7.2% | 17% | D |
| 2,382 | Anderson CA | 11,131 | $47K | 21.2% | 7.5% | 13% | D |
| 2,383 | Vidalia GA | 10,885 | $49K | 25.7% | 5.4% | 39% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Smithfield, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
The towns around Smithfield
The biggest share goes to Selma (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Smithfield workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smithfield | – | D | B+ | 24 min | $43,270 |
| Selma | 2% | C− | C+ | 32 min | $41,368 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Smithfield’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Smithfield: questions
What is the median household income in Smithfield?
$43,270 (±$7,289) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Smithfield?
27.3%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Smithfield?
24 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Smithfield work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Raleigh (16%, 27 mi), Durham (4%, 44 mi), Garner (3%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Smithfield walkable?
Smithfield is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Smithfield without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Smithfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Smithfield
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.