Norton Center vs Smith Mills

A side-by-side comparison of Norton Center and Smith Mills: population, income, housing, and more.

Norton Center and Smith Mills are places in Massachusetts. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Smith Mills has the higher population (4,467 vs 2,526 in Norton Center). Norton Center has the higher median household income ($114,051 vs $56,250 in Smith Mills). Norton Center has the higher median home value ($418,400 vs $384,600 in Smith Mills).

Population, income & housing

	Norton Center	Smith Mills
Population	2,526	4,467
Median age	21.3 yrs	42.3 yrs
Median household income	$114,051	$56,250
Median home value	$418,400	$384,600
Median gross rent	—	$599
Housing units	367	1,974
Homeownership rate	86.6%	73.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.8%	32.7%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	6.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Norton Center	Smith Mills
Population	2,774 → 2,526 (-8.9%)	4,678 → 4,467 (-4.5%)
Median household income	$120,536 → $114,051 (-5.4%)	$70,692 → $56,250 (-20.4%)
Median home value	$341,600 → $418,400 (+22.5%)	$305,700 → $384,600 (+25.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,288 → $1,181 (-8.3%)	$560 → $599 (+7.0%)

Norton Center

Population

2,7742,526

Median household income

$120,536$114,051

Median home value

$341,600$418,400

Median gross rent

$1,288$1,181

Smith Mills

Population

4,6784,467

Median household income

$70,692$56,250

Median home value

$305,700$384,600

Median gross rent

$560$599

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Norton Center	Smith Mills
Under 5	3.6%	3.9%
5 to 17	2.5%	17.1%
18 to 24	59.7%	5.4%
25 to 34	8.0%	11.8%
35 to 44	3.4%	16.7%
45 to 54	7.9%	11.2%
55 to 64	8.6%	14.3%
65 to 74	4.2%	8.5%
75 and over	2.1%	11.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Norton Center	Smith Mills
White (non-Hispanic)	71.5%	85.4%
Black or African American	11.5%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	3.6%	4.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.4%
Some other race	1.1%	0.7%
Two or more races	1.5%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	10.7%	3.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Norton Center	Smith Mills
No high school diploma	11.6%	19.4%
High school graduate	23.1%	31.5%
Some college or associate's	18.5%	16.4%
Bachelor's degree	26.2%	20.5%
Graduate or professional degree	20.6%	12.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Norton Center	Smith Mills
Drove alone	53.7%	89.7%
Carpooled	3.1%	1.3%
Public transit	0.6%	1.0%
Walked	23.5%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	19.1%	7.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Norton Center	Smith Mills
1-unit, detached	66.2%	72.8%
1-unit, attached	19.9%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	7.6%	7.6%
5 to 19 units	6.3%	7.3%
20 or more units	0.0%	11.4%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Norton Center	Smith Mills
Poverty rate	13.9%	9.2%
Average household size	2.51	2.25
Mean commute (minutes)	20	30
Median year structure built	1981	1967