Evans Block · Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Smithville ranks among the lowest-earning U.S. towns by household income
The two grades for Smithville are D for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. 33.4% of residents are in poverty, where Tennessee as a whole has 13.8%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Smithville apart
Smithville’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Smithville is Nashville, 56 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (291) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Smithville are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 26 across Tennessee. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Tennessee worker. Time on the road ↓
Smithville is where the jobs are
Smithville has 3,548 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Few Smithville workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 13% across Tennessee. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Smithville makes and builds things
39% of the jobs based in Smithville are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Smithville residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 28%. The jobs ↓
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.
The four measures behind Smithville’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Smithville is better than 6% of U.S. towns, #167 of 177 in Tennessee. Job access by car holds Smithville’s grade up (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($33,192, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Smithville could be anywhere from D− to C−.
How far it is to work from Smithville
About 30% 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.
From Smithville, about 15 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Smithville workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,785 commuters (the 1% who work from home are left out). Across Tennessee: 87% 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.
Smithville on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,618 residents head out to work, 509 work right here, and 3,039 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,000 people are in Smithville on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.7 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.
Smithville works in goods: 39% of its jobs
3,548 jobs are based in Smithville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Smithville, 2013 → 2023: 3,641 → 3,548. 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 Smithville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip into Smithville
Where Smithville clocks in
5% of workers
5% 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.
Driving is how Smithville gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Smithville is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns, #54 of 177 in Tennessee. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Tennessee, on an EPA index of 6.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,804 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). 18.4% of Smithville households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Smithville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Smithville sits among U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Oak Hill TN | 4,581 | $216K | 1.2% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Forest Hills TN | 4,473 | $250K | 6.7% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 367 | Tellico Village TN | 7,414 | $107K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,389 | Hamlet NC | 5,870 | $42K | 21.6% | 8.7% | 9% | D |
| 3,390 | Vinita OK | 5,424 | $47K | 21.8% | 6.8% | 31% | D |
| 3,391 | Smithville TN | 5,620 | $33K | 33.4% | 7.4% | 24% | D |
| 3,392 | Brookdale SC | 4,291 | $39K | 34.8% | 21.5% | 3% | D |
| 3,393 | Shenandoah PA | 4,122 | $45K | 27.7% | 9.4% | 8% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,561 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Smithville, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
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 Smithville: questions
What is the median household income in Smithville?
$33,192 (±$7,571) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Smithville?
33.4%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Smithville?
15 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Smithville work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Nashville (14%, 56 mi), Murfreesboro (5%, 34 mi), Lebanon (5%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Smithville walkable?
Smithville is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Smithville without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Smithville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Smithville
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.