Clarke County vs Smith County

A side-by-side comparison of Clarke County and Smith County: population, income, housing, and more.

Clarke County and Smith County are counties in Mississippi. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Clarke County has the higher population (15,424 vs 14,193 in Smith County). Smith County has the higher median household income ($51,396 vs $46,054 in Clarke County). Clarke County has the higher median home value ($114,300 vs $114,000 in Smith County).

Population, income & housing

	Clarke County	Smith County
Population	15,424	14,193
Median age	42.6 yrs	42.9 yrs
Median household income	$46,054	$51,396
Median home value	$114,300	$114,000
Median gross rent	$803	$664
Housing units	7,635	6,684
Homeownership rate	84.1%	86.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.1%	14.0%
Unemployment rate	7.2%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clarke County	Smith County
Population	15,770 → 15,424 (-2.2%)	16,009 → 14,193 (-11.3%)
Median household income	$43,207 → $46,054 (+6.6%)	$43,105 → $51,396 (+19.2%)
Median home value	$84,900 → $114,300 (+34.6%)	$102,600 → $114,000 (+11.1%)
Median gross rent	$669 → $803 (+20.0%)	$587 → $664 (+13.1%)

Clarke County

Population

15,77015,424

Median household income

$43,207$46,054

Median home value

$84,900$114,300

Median gross rent

$669$803

Smith County

Population

16,00914,193

Median household income

$43,105$51,396

Median home value

$102,600$114,000

Median gross rent

$587$664

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clarke County	Smith County
Under 5	6.0%	6.3%
5 to 17	16.1%	16.7%
18 to 24	8.1%	8.3%
25 to 34	11.0%	10.4%
35 to 44	10.8%	11.6%
45 to 54	11.8%	12.5%
55 to 64	14.5%	13.5%
65 to 74	12.5%	11.7%
75 and over	9.2%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clarke County	Smith County
White (non-Hispanic)	62.9%	73.3%
Black or African American	34.4%	24.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	1.6%	1.5%
Hispanic or Latino	1.0%	0.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clarke County	Smith County
No high school diploma	13.6%	17.7%
High school graduate	33.3%	37.1%
Some college or associate's	38.0%	31.1%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	8.6%
Graduate or professional degree	4.7%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clarke County	Smith County
Drove alone	83.9%	82.7%
Carpooled	9.6%	11.5%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	1.2%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.0%	3.8%
Other means	2.1%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clarke County	Smith County
1-unit, detached	69.4%	68.1%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	2.7%	1.4%
5 to 19 units	0.7%	1.4%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	27.2%	28.2%

Poverty & households

	Clarke County	Smith County
Poverty rate	19.2%	19.3%
Average household size	2.45	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	32	29
Median year structure built	1985	1983