Scott County vs Smith County

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

Scott 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.

Scott County has the higher population (21,969 vs 20,196 in Smith County). Smith County has the higher median household income ($62,799 vs $42,679 in Scott County). Smith County has the higher median home value ($224,500 vs $116,800 in Scott County).

Population, income & housing

	Scott County	Smith County
Population	21,969	20,196
Median age	40.7 yrs	40.7 yrs
Median household income	$42,679	$62,799
Median home value	$116,800	$224,500
Median gross rent	$691	$877
Housing units	9,851	8,649
Homeownership rate	71.8%	75.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	10.2%	17.9%
Unemployment rate	7.4%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Scott County	Smith County
Population	21,969 → 21,969 (+0.0%)	19,740 → 20,196 (+2.3%)
Median household income	$38,864 → $42,679 (+9.8%)	$48,068 → $62,799 (+30.6%)
Median home value	$99,000 → $116,800 (+18.0%)	$146,900 → $224,500 (+52.8%)
Median gross rent	$556 → $691 (+24.3%)	$621 → $877 (+41.2%)

Scott County

Population

21,96921,969

Median household income

$38,864$42,679

Median home value

$99,000$116,800

Median gross rent

$556$691

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)

	Scott County	Smith County
Under 5	6.0%	5.6%
5 to 17	17.5%	16.7%
18 to 24	7.9%	7.4%
25 to 34	12.0%	12.9%
35 to 44	12.6%	12.1%
45 to 54	13.5%	13.7%
55 to 64	13.6%	15.1%
65 to 74	10.1%	10.2%
75 and over	6.8%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Scott County	Smith County
White (non-Hispanic)	96.6%	90.5%
Black or African American	0.4%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.4%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.1%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	0.1%	3.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Scott County	Smith County
No high school diploma	19.5%	12.7%
High school graduate	48.3%	41.5%
Some college or associate's	22.0%	27.9%
Bachelor's degree	5.8%	12.6%
Graduate or professional degree	4.4%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Scott County	Smith County
Drove alone	85.6%	81.7%
Carpooled	10.4%	7.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.5%	0.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	2.0%	7.7%
Other means	1.4%	2.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Scott County	Smith County
1-unit, detached	64.8%	73.5%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	3.1%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	4.0%
20 or more units	0.5%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	27.1%	19.3%

Poverty & households

	Scott County	Smith County
Poverty rate	24.9%	13.3%
Average household size	2.51	2.63
Mean commute (minutes)	29	32
Median year structure built	1987	1985