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Place dossier plate
SheetMA-SMITH-MILLS-MA · Smith Mills, MA 4,467 pop · income 29th 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 Smith Mills
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Smith Mills on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Imbéry comuni… · lowest
21,279
Imbéry comuni… · lowest
21,279 median HH income
13.2% of the leader · rank #1
Smith Mills · this city
56,250
Smith Mills · this city
56,250 median HH income
34.8% of the leader · rank #2
St. Florian · near
56,250
St. Florian · near
56,250 median HH income
34.8% of the leader · rank #3
Koliganek · near
56,250
Koliganek · near
56,250 median HH income
34.8% of the leader · rank #4
Newhalen · near
56,250
Newhalen · near
56,250 median HH income
34.8% of the leader · rank #5
St. Michael · near
56,250
St. Michael · near
56,250 median HH income
34.8% of the leader · rank #6
Broadmoor · highest
161,572
Broadmoor · highest
161,572 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 Smith Mills 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: 4,467.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Smith Mills places in the 29th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
29th
percentile, household income
76th
percentile, home value
98th
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: Smith Mills, MA
Massachusetts's Smith Mills is a small town, with 4,467 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $56,250 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.6%. Home values in Smith Mills run a median of $384,600, and the median resident age is 42.3 years. About 32.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 60.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Massachusetts carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 105.8 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $2,261 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Massachusetts run around $330, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 78.8 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Smith Mills'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 comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Smith Mills, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Smith Mills?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 89.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Smith Mills?
Within Massachusetts, the closest population matches are North Plymouth (4,458 residents, $71,205 income); Millis-Clicquot (4,479 residents, $116,324 income); Winchendon (4,407 residents, $67,188 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Broadmoor, CA (4,467 residents); Crestline, OH (4,467 residents); Brewerton, NY (4,466 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.
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.
How far does income reach against housing in Smith Mills?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 6.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Below median income · poverty 9.6% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
105.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Massachusetts average
F
City profile score · Smith Mills, MA
36/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
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.
Bachelor's+ share C+
32.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate D
9.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$56,250
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cost of living F
105.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Smith Mills profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 63/100 (C+) · 32.7%
Poverty rate: 41/100 (D) · 9.6%
Household income: 29/100 (F) · $56,250
Cost of living: 18/100 (F) · 105.8 index
How does Smith Mills compare to other US cities?
Where Smith Mills sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income29% higher than other cities
Home value76% pricier than other cities
Median rent98% 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 Smith Mills against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Massachusetts only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Massachusetts-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Smith Mills near the bottom of Massachusetts's cities
Among the 247 Massachusetts cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Smith Mills ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Smith Mills only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#219 of 233
6th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 247
0th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Home Value
#180 of 240
25th percentile in Massachusetts
Poverty Rate
#50 of 247
80th percentile in Massachusetts
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#188 of 247
24th percentile in Massachusetts
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 Massachusetts only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
29th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Smith Mills's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$384,60024th percentilemore affordable than 24% 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
Smith Mills's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,605 of 15,516
More affordable than 6% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,766 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 6.8×, Smith Mills sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,605 of 15,516 and #10,766 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$56,250Smith Mills, MA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Smith Mills, MA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Smith Mills, MA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)32.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,467
Median Income
$56,250
Median Home Value
$384,600
Median Age
42.3
Poverty Rate
9.6%
Labor force participation
60.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
32.7%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
89.7%
Carpool
1.3%
Public Transit
1.0%
Walk
1.0%
Work from Home
7.0%
Based on 2,105 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Massachusetts statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $330
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Massachusetts at $330 (electricity about $160 , water and sewer about $60 ).
These are Massachusetts statewide averages, not a meter reading for Smith Mills. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Massachusetts's BEA cost-of-living index is 105.8 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Smith Mills is $2,261/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Massachusetts statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 78.8 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Massachusetts statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Smith Mills sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Smith Mills compares to similar-size Massachusetts 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, 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.