Opelika vs Smiths Station

A side-by-side comparison of Opelika and Smiths Station: population, income, housing, and more.

Opelika and Smiths Station are places in Alabama. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Opelika has the higher population (31,944 vs 5,443 in Smiths Station). Opelika has the higher median household income ($58,763 vs $57,410 in Smiths Station). Opelika has the higher median home value ($213,700 vs $184,400 in Smiths Station).

Population, income & housing

	Opelika	Smiths Station
Population	31,944	5,443
Median age	40.2 yrs	38.9 yrs
Median household income	$58,763	$57,410
Median home value	$213,700	$184,400
Median gross rent	$947	$946
Housing units	14,389	1,861
Homeownership rate	68.8%	82.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	33.5%	19.4%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	1.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Opelika	Smiths Station
Population	30,232 → 31,944 (+5.7%)	5,364 → 5,443 (+1.5%)
Median household income	$48,459 → $58,763 (+21.3%)	$51,235 → $57,410 (+12.1%)
Median home value	$151,300 → $213,700 (+41.2%)	$151,200 → $184,400 (+22.0%)
Median gross rent	$753 → $947 (+25.8%)	$899 → $946 (+5.2%)

Opelika

Population

30,23231,944

Median household income

$48,459$58,763

Median home value

$151,300$213,700

Median gross rent

$753$947

Smiths Station

Population

5,3645,443

Median household income

$51,235$57,410

Median home value

$151,200$184,400

Median gross rent

$899$946

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Opelika	Smiths Station
Under 5	7.1%	7.1%
5 to 17	15.1%	24.5%
18 to 24	6.2%	5.2%
25 to 34	14.5%	9.3%
35 to 44	13.1%	17.5%
45 to 54	11.0%	10.0%
55 to 64	15.0%	11.7%
65 to 74	11.2%	8.2%
75 and over	6.8%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Opelika	Smiths Station
White (non-Hispanic)	50.3%	60.0%
Black or African American	36.4%	31.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	1.1%
Asian	1.7%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.9%
Two or more races	1.7%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	9.7%	2.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Opelika	Smiths Station
No high school diploma	11.8%	15.5%
High school graduate	24.6%	27.0%
Some college or associate's	30.2%	38.0%
Bachelor's degree	20.5%	8.7%
Graduate or professional degree	13.0%	10.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Opelika	Smiths Station
Drove alone	82.4%	84.7%
Carpooled	7.9%	6.2%
Public transit	1.3%	0.0%
Walked	1.2%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.2%	1.0%
Worked from home	5.9%	5.1%
Other means	1.0%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Opelika	Smiths Station
1-unit, detached	67.7%	71.4%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	7.6%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	5.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	4.6%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	12.5%	23.8%

Poverty & households

	Opelika	Smiths Station
Poverty rate	15.0%	14.7%
Average household size	2.39	3.14
Mean commute (minutes)	21	24
Median year structure built	1990	1991