Smithville Commercial Historic District · Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Smithville’s household incomes are lower than in 74% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Smithville C−; getting around on foot earns it A−. 12.2% of residents are in poverty (Texas 13.8%). Home is the office for 7% of workers (Texas 14%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Smithville: the figures worth knowing
Smithville’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Smithville is Austin, 41 miles away as the crow flies. 26% of working residents (417) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Smithville has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Smithville went from 765 in 2013 to 1,232 in 2023, +61%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Smithville’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Smithville is better than 24% of U.S. towns, #477 of 642 in Texas. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Smithville’s grade.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Smithville could be anywhere from D to B+.
Short hops and long hauls from Smithville
About 35% 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.
What the 1,232 jobs in Smithville are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Smithville, 2013 → 2023: 765 → 1,232. 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.
A workday in Smithville: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,391 residents head out to work, 244 work right here, and 988 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.75 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
26% of working residents work in Austin
Where Smithville clocks in
26% of workers
6% of workers
4% 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.
The trip to work from Smithville: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Smithville workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,929 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Texas: 83% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Smithville
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Smithville is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #34 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Smithville 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 2,065 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.6% of Smithville households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Smithville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Smithville places 3,029th of 3,908 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 3,100 to 5,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Taylor Lake Village TX | 3,774 | $166K | 0.0% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 6 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Hollywood Park TX | 3,140 | $138K | 2.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,027 | Newton Falls OH | 4,504 | $51K | 15.5% | 6.8% | 10% | C− |
| 3,028 | Goshen CA | 5,136 | $73K | 24.2% | 8.0% | 6% | C− |
| 3,029 | Smithville TX | 4,367 | $60K | 12.2% | 5.2% | 15% | C− |
| 3,030 | Richland Township IN | 4,714 | $68K | 13.3% | 5.2% | 16% | C− |
| 3,031 | Mountain Grove MO | 4,754 | $37K | 17.8% | 1.0% | 24% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,908 | 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 Texas.
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?
$59,977 (±$12,597) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Smithville?
12.2%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Smithville?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Smithville work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Austin (26%, 41 mi), Bastrop (6%, 13 mi), Houston (4%, 107 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Smithville walkable?
Smithville is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Smithville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
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.