Fentress County vs Smith County

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

Fentress 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.

Smith County has the higher population (20,196 vs 18,948 in Fentress County). Smith County has the higher median household income ($62,799 vs $50,865 in Fentress County). Smith County has the higher median home value ($224,500 vs $151,800 in Fentress County).

Population, income & housing

	Fentress County	Smith County
Population	18,948	20,196
Median age	47.0 yrs	40.7 yrs
Median household income	$50,865	$62,799
Median home value	$151,800	$224,500
Median gross rent	$614	$877
Housing units	9,228	8,649
Homeownership rate	80.6%	75.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.3%	17.9%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fentress County	Smith County
Population	18,213 → 18,948 (+4.0%)	19,740 → 20,196 (+2.3%)
Median household income	$36,520 → $50,865 (+39.3%)	$48,068 → $62,799 (+30.6%)
Median home value	$110,400 → $151,800 (+37.5%)	$146,900 → $224,500 (+52.8%)
Median gross rent	$526 → $614 (+16.7%)	$621 → $877 (+41.2%)

Fentress County

Population

18,21318,948

Median household income

$36,520$50,865

Median home value

$110,400$151,800

Median gross rent

$526$614

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)

	Fentress County	Smith County
Under 5	5.4%	5.6%
5 to 17	15.0%	16.7%
18 to 24	7.3%	7.4%
25 to 34	10.5%	12.9%
35 to 44	10.4%	12.1%
45 to 54	12.9%	13.7%
55 to 64	15.5%	15.1%
65 to 74	14.1%	10.2%
75 and over	9.0%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fentress County	Smith County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.4%	90.5%
Black or African American	0.3%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.0%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.1%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	2.0%	3.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fentress County	Smith County
No high school diploma	16.8%	12.7%
High school graduate	42.2%	41.5%
Some college or associate's	25.8%	27.9%
Bachelor's degree	9.8%	12.6%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fentress County	Smith County
Drove alone	83.9%	81.7%
Carpooled	7.1%	7.5%
Public transit	0.5%	0.0%
Walked	1.6%	0.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	4.7%	7.7%
Other means	2.2%	2.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fentress County	Smith County
1-unit, detached	73.9%	73.5%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	1.8%	4.0%
20 or more units	0.2%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	19.6%	19.3%

Poverty & households

	Fentress County	Smith County
Poverty rate	20.9%	13.3%
Average household size	2.44	2.63
Mean commute (minutes)	25	32
Median year structure built	1988	1985