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Place dossier plate
SheetKY-SMITHLAND-KY · Smithland, KY 209 pop · income 20th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Smithland
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Smithland on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
New Canton · lowest
37,031
New Canton · lowest
37,031 median HH income
39.0% of the leader · rank #1
Smithland · this city
50,250
Smithland · this city
50,250 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #2
Lynn · near
50,250
Lynn · near
50,250 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #3
Apple River · near
50,250
Apple River · near
50,250 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #4
Bosworth · near
50,250
Bosworth · near
50,250 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #5
Marionville · near
50,250
Marionville · near
50,250 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #6
Knottsville · highest
94,926
Knottsville · highest
94,926 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Smithland on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 209.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Smithland places in the 20th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
20th
percentile, household income
11th
percentile, home value
10th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Smithland, KY
Smithland is a small town in Kentucky, home to 209 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Smithland households earn a median of $50,250 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 19.4%. Home values in Smithland run a median of $102,900, and the median resident age is 36.9 years. 11.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 58.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 2 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Living costs in Kentucky run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Kentucky at 90.2 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $984 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Kentucky run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 44.2 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Smithland's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from work and mobility to population change to comparison shortlist to schools and households to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Smithland, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Smithland?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 94.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Is Smithland growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -3 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.2% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Which cities make useful reference points for Smithland?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Within Kentucky, the closest population matches are St. Mary (210 residents, $60,833 income); Rockport (207 residents, $44,063 income); Coxton (212 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Glacier View, AK (209 residents); June Lake, CA (209 residents); New Canton, IL (209 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
What does the education layer cover for Smithland?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 11.6% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Smithland?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 19.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.0×
Home value
$102,900
Household income
$50,250
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A
90.2 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income F
$50,250
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
19.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
11.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Smithland profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Household income: 21/100 (F) · $50,250
Poverty rate: 14/100 (F) · 19.4%
Bachelor's+ share: 11/100 (F) · 11.6%
How does Smithland compare to other US cities?
Here's how Smithland stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income20% higher than other cities
Home value11% pricier than other cities
Median rent10% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Smithland against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Kentucky only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Kentucky-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Smithland near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Smithland ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Smithland only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#286 of 485
41st percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#372 of 484
23rd percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#153 of 519
70th percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#359 of 520
30th percentile in Kentucky
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Kentucky only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
20th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Smithland's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$102,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 89% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Smithland's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,807 of 15,516
More affordable than 88% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,724 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.0×, Smithland sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,807 of 15,516 and #1,724 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$50,250Smithland, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Smithland, KY median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Smithland, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)11.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)19.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
209
Median Income
$50,250
Median Home Value
$102,900
Median Age
36.9
Poverty Rate
19.4%
Labor force participation
58.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
11.6%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Smithland's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
245 residents
2021
248 residents
2022
247 residents
2023
245 residents
2024
242 residents
2025
242 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
94.6%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
3.2%
Other
2.2%
Based on 93 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Kentucky statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Kentucky at $225 (electricity about $115 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are Kentucky statewide averages, not a meter reading for Smithland. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Kentucky's BEA cost-of-living index is 90.2 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Smithland is $984/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Kentucky statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 44.2 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Kentucky statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Smithland sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Smithland compares to similar-size Kentucky cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.