Gerrit Smith Estate · Photo: Lvklock · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Smithfield works elsewhere
For jobs and income Smithfield is better than 66% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is near the bottom of U.S. towns (D−). There are 230 jobs in Smithfield, and 526 of its residents work somewhere. Only 3% work in Smithfield itself; outside it, Vernon draws the most (10%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Smithfield
The four measures behind Smithfield’s grade
The poverty rate holds Smithfield’s grade up (2.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 29% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Smithfield’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Smithfield could be anywhere from B− to B+.
Commuting from Smithfield: about 22 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Smithfield workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 577 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across New York: 57% drive alone, 25% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Who leaves Smithfield for work, and who comes in
On a workday 508 residents head out to work, 18 work right here, and 212 people come in from elsewhere.
About 800 people are in Smithfield on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
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 places Smithfield commutes to
Where Smithfield clocks in
9% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Smithfield
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Smithfield, 2013 → 2023: 74 → 230. 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.
The distance from Smithfield to work
About 15% 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.
The commute in Smithfield is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Smithfield is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Smithfield near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 645 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). 8.6% of Smithfield households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Smithfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500, Smithfield ranks 755th of 3,771 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Saddle Rock NY | 1,008 | $176K | 0.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 753 | Pelham MA | 1,308 | $114K | 10.3% | 6.6% | 1% | B+ |
| 754 | Richmond NH | 1,234 | $89K | 2.7% | 13.4% | 3% | B+ |
| 755 | Smithfield NY | 1,100 | $81K | 2.7% | 0.0% | 3% | B+ |
| 756 | Martell WI | 1,187 | $95K | 4.5% | 0.5% | <1% | B+ |
| 757 | Bigfoot TX | 1,067 | $69K | 0.0% | 4.9% | 0% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 New York.
Around Smithfield: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Stockbridge (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Smithfield workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smithfield | – | B+ | D− | 22 min | $81,250 |
| Stockbridge | 4% | B− | C+ | 26 min | $76,154 |
| Fenner | under 4% | C+ | C+ | 26 min | $77,750 |
| Lincoln | under 4% | B+ | C− | 27 min | $96,100 |
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?
$81,250 (±$11,437) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Smithfield?
2.7%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Smithfield?
22 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Smithfield work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Vernon (10%, 10 mi), Oneida (9%, 7 mi), Lenox (8%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Smithfield walkable?
Smithfield is near the bottom of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Smithfield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% 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.