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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-SMITHFIELD-VA · Smithfield, VA 8,729 pop · income 83rd pct · 9 tracts
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 Smithfield
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Smithfield on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Montrose · lowest
45,063
Montrose · lowest
45,063 median HH income
19.0% of the leader · rank #1
Central Islip · near
110,166
Central Islip · near
110,166 median HH income
46.6% of the leader · rank #2
Avon Lake · near
110,174
Avon Lake · near
110,174 median HH income
46.6% of the leader · rank #3
La Mirada · near
110,177
La Mirada · near
110,177 median HH income
46.6% of the leader · rank #4
Smithfield · this city
110,182
Smithfield · this city
110,182 median HH income
46.6% of the leader · rank #5
Friendship He… · near
110,199
Friendship He… · near
110,199 median HH income
46.6% of the leader · rank #6
Dunn Loring · highest
236,563
Dunn Loring · highest
236,563 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Smithfield on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 8,729.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Smithfield - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Smithfield places in the 83rd percentile for household income and the 53rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
83rd
percentile, household income
73rd
percentile, home value
62nd
percentile, median rent
53rd
percentile, safety
📝 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: Smithfield, VA
8,729 people live in Smithfield, Virginia - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Smithfield households earn a median of $110,182 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.9%. Smithfield's housing stock carries a median value of $358,100, and the median resident age is 46.9 years. About 34.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 58.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Smithfield reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 1280.5 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
Virginia tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Virginia at 101.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,369 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Virginia run around $235, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 33.3 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Smithfield'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 comparison shortlist to reported crime to within-city variation to schools and households to housing and income to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Smithfield, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Smithfield?
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Dunn Loring (8,782 residents, $236,563 income); Montrose (8,624 residents, $45,063 income); Rockwood (8,834 residents, $90,804 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Village Green-Green Ridge, PA (8,725 residents); Rodeo, CA (8,735 residents); Hillview, KY (8,735 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 can the FBI record say about safety in Smithfield?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1280.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 44% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
What can 9 Census tracts reveal inside Smithfield?
PlainCities matches 9 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
What does the education layer cover for Smithfield?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 34.4% 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 Smithfield?
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.3×
Home value
$358,100
Household income
$110,182
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Smithfield growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +556 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +6.5% 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 upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
2020 estimate
8,556
2025 estimate
9,112
Period change
+6.5%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Smithfield?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.1%. 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. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Drive alone
79.1%
Work from home
12.4%
Public transit
0.1%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 4,276 workers age 16+.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
C+
City profile score · Smithfield, VA
61/100
5 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.
Household income A-
$110,182
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate B-
4.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B-
34.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime C-
175 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living F
101.1 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Smithfield profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 81/100 (A-) · $110,182
Poverty rate: 66/100 (B-) · 4.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 66/100 (B-) · 34.4%
Violent crime: 52/100 (C-) · 175 /100k
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Where Smithfield sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Smithfield's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Smithfield highlighted among 24 peers.Read the chart values
Smithfield, VA (this city): home $358,100, crime 1,281/100k
Hillview, KY : home $180,300, crime 1,464/100k
Presque Isle, ME : home $142,400, crime 2,395/100k
Cameron, MO : home $178,300, crime 1,977/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Smithfield compare to other US cities?
Smithfield measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income83% higher than other cities
Home value73% pricier than other cities
Median rent62% pricier than other cities
Safety53% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Virginia and the picture shifts: Smithfield ranks #39 of 117 Virginia cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Smithfield against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Virginia only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Virginia-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Smithfield near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Smithfield ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Smithfield only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#144 of 558
74th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#184 of 567
68th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#319 of 616
48th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#231 of 618
63rd percentile in Virginia
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 Virginia only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
83rd percentile nationally for median household income · 53rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Smithfield's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Smithfield's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Smithfield's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$358,10027th percentilemore affordable than 27% 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
Smithfield's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,913 of 15,516
More affordable than 49% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,504 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.3×, Smithfield sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,913 of 15,516 and #6,504 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$110,182Smithfield, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Smithfield, VA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Smithfield, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)34.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
8,729
Median Income
$110,182
Median Home Value
$358,100
Median Age
46.9
Poverty Rate
4.9%
Labor force participation
58.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
34.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1280.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
175.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1105.4
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Smithfield's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
8,556 residents
2021
8,703 residents
2022
8,862 residents
2023
8,968 residents
2024
9,021 residents
2025
9,112 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.1%
Carpool
6.9%
Public Transit
0.1%
Walk
1.2%
Work from Home
12.4%
Based on 4,276 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Virginia statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $235
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Virginia at $235 (electricity about $115 , water and sewer about $50 ).
These are Virginia statewide averages, not a meter reading for Smithfield. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Virginia's BEA cost-of-living index is 101.1 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Smithfield is $1,369/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Virginia statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 33.3 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Virginia statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Smithfield sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Smithfield compares to similar-size Virginia 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, FBI UCR, 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.