Smyth County vs Wythe County

A side-by-side comparison of Smyth County and Wythe County: population, income, housing, and more.

Smyth County and Wythe County are counties in Virginia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Smyth County has the higher population (29,585 vs 28,219 in Wythe County). Wythe County has the higher median household income ($55,359 vs $46,859 in Smyth County). Wythe County has the higher median home value ($172,100 vs $125,800 in Smyth County).

Population, income & housing

	Smyth County	Wythe County
Population	29,585	28,219
Median age	46.2 yrs	45.9 yrs
Median household income	$46,859	$55,359
Median home value	$125,800	$172,100
Median gross rent	$692	$718
Housing units	15,080	14,016
Homeownership rate	70.9%	76.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.1%	19.7%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Smyth County	Wythe County
Population	30,767 → 29,585 (-3.8%)	28,844 → 28,219 (-2.2%)
Median household income	$40,932 → $46,859 (+14.5%)	$49,364 → $55,359 (+12.1%)
Median home value	$95,800 → $125,800 (+31.3%)	$128,400 → $172,100 (+34.0%)
Median gross rent	$610 → $692 (+13.4%)	$676 → $718 (+6.2%)

Smyth County

Population

30,76729,585

Median household income

$40,932$46,859

Median home value

$95,800$125,800

Median gross rent

$610$692

Wythe County

Population

28,84428,219

Median household income

$49,364$55,359

Median home value

$128,400$172,100

Median gross rent

$676$718

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Smyth County	Wythe County
Under 5	4.5%	5.1%
5 to 17	14.8%	14.4%
18 to 24	7.3%	7.0%
25 to 34	11.5%	10.8%
35 to 44	10.7%	11.4%
45 to 54	13.8%	14.2%
55 to 64	14.6%	15.2%
65 to 74	13.1%	13.0%
75 and over	9.7%	9.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Smyth County	Wythe County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.7%	93.2%
Black or African American	2.0%	2.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	1.8%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	2.0%	1.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Smyth County	Wythe County
No high school diploma	13.9%	10.4%
High school graduate	38.5%	36.9%
Some college or associate's	29.5%	33.0%
Bachelor's degree	11.6%	11.2%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	8.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Smyth County	Wythe County
Drove alone	83.1%	82.8%
Carpooled	9.5%	9.9%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	0.5%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.1%	5.8%
Other means	0.5%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Smyth County	Wythe County
1-unit, detached	71.1%	70.2%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	3.8%
5 to 19 units	4.4%	5.1%
20 or more units	1.0%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	18.3%	18.5%

Poverty & households

	Smyth County	Wythe County
Poverty rate	16.5%	15.6%
Average household size	2.30	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	23	25
Median year structure built	1974	1978