DeKalb County vs Smith County

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

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

DeKalb County has the higher population (20,551 vs 20,196 in Smith County). Smith County has the higher median household income ($62,799 vs $48,484 in DeKalb County). Smith County has the higher median home value ($224,500 vs $206,600 in DeKalb County).

Population, income & housing

	DeKalb County	Smith County
Population	20,551	20,196
Median age	42.2 yrs	40.7 yrs
Median household income	$48,484	$62,799
Median home value	$206,600	$224,500
Median gross rent	$773	$877
Housing units	10,033	8,649
Homeownership rate	68.9%	75.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.0%	17.9%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	DeKalb County	Smith County
Population	19,847 → 20,551 (+3.5%)	19,740 → 20,196 (+2.3%)
Median household income	$45,511 → $48,484 (+6.5%)	$48,068 → $62,799 (+30.6%)
Median home value	$148,600 → $206,600 (+39.0%)	$146,900 → $224,500 (+52.8%)
Median gross rent	$644 → $773 (+20.0%)	$621 → $877 (+41.2%)

DeKalb County

Population

19,84720,551

Median household income

$45,511$48,484

Median home value

$148,600$206,600

Median gross rent

$644$773

Smith County

Population

19,74020,196

Median household income

$48,068$62,799

Median home value

$146,900$224,500

Median gross rent

$621$877

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	DeKalb County	Smith County
Under 5	7.4%	5.6%
5 to 17	14.5%	16.7%
18 to 24	7.4%	7.4%
25 to 34	12.7%	12.9%
35 to 44	11.6%	12.1%
45 to 54	12.6%	13.7%
55 to 64	15.1%	15.1%
65 to 74	11.6%	10.2%
75 and over	7.2%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	DeKalb County	Smith County
White (non-Hispanic)	87.6%	90.5%
Black or African American	1.7%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.1%
Asian	0.8%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.8%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	7.5%	3.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	DeKalb County	Smith County
No high school diploma	17.3%	12.7%
High school graduate	39.4%	41.5%
Some college or associate's	23.3%	27.9%
Bachelor's degree	12.9%	12.6%
Graduate or professional degree	7.1%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	DeKalb County	Smith County
Drove alone	80.7%	81.7%
Carpooled	10.4%	7.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.8%	0.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	6.5%	7.7%
Other means	0.7%	2.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	DeKalb County	Smith County
1-unit, detached	75.5%	73.5%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	6.0%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	2.0%	4.0%
20 or more units	0.6%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	14.3%	19.3%

Poverty & households

	DeKalb County	Smith County
Poverty rate	21.4%	13.3%
Average household size	2.38	2.63
Mean commute (minutes)	29	32
Median year structure built	1984	1985