Village · St. Clair County, Illinois

Smithton, Illinois

Smithton is a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, part of the St. Louis, MO-IL metro area. It has 3,680 residents. Smithton, Illinois has a quality-of-life score of 48 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #8,181 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Illinois it ranks #358 of 697 cities and towns. It ranks best on broadband subscriptions (high), hospital quality rating (high) and home price to income ratio (low). It ranks worst on homicide rate (high), effective property tax rate (high) and preventable hospital stays (high).

48Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #8,181 of 15,651 cities and towns
Illinois: #358 of 697 in IL
Population: 3,680 (2020-2024)
Land area: 5 mi²
Density: 816.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 1770252

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety21#12,386/15,637
Economy85#2,301/15,631
Housing63#5,535/14,977
Health45#8,513/15,609
Healthcare60#6,293/15,650
Environment7#14,432/15,453
Education49#8,028/15,649
Infrastructure75#3,964/15,650
Community48#8,200/15,651
Leisure & amenities33#10,449/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Smithton, Illinois ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “St. Clair County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Broadband subscriptions · high98.5%
95/100Illinois 90.8%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Hospital quality rating · high4.5
94/100Illinois 3.0United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesSt. Clair County value
Home price to income ratio · low1.9×
94/100Illinois 3.2×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Median household income · high$135,455
91/100Illinois $83,327United States $81,6042020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19013
Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.341
91/100Illinois 0.481United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Poverty rate · low3.4%
90/100Illinois 11.5%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001High uncertainty

Weaknesses

Homicide rate · high12.7 /100k
4/100Illinois 6.2 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataSt. Clair County value
Effective property tax rate · high2.13%
5/100Illinois 1.88%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Preventable hospital stays · high4,185 /100k
7/100Illinois 3,343 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSt. Clair County value
Average commute time · high34.0 min
14/100Illinois 27.8 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Firearm deaths · high20.7 /100k
14/100Illinois 10.5 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataSt. Clair County value
Primary care shortage · high15.8
17/100Illinois 6.6United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationSt. Clair County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationFalling
3,996 (2015-2019) → 3,680 (2020-2024)
−7.9%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
New homes permittedImproving
1.2 /1k (2021) → 3.3 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+173%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Median household incomeImproving
$78,073 (2015-2019) → $135,455 (2020-2024)
+73%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
86.4% (2015-2019) → 98.5% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
31.5% (2015-2019) → 40.6% (2020-2024)
+9 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
73.2% (2015-2019) → 77.2% (2020-2024)
+4 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Smithton, Illinois improved on 2 of 8 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 6 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Household income+73%$78,073 → $135,455
Broadband+12 points86.4% → 98.5%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 8 measures

Change of every measure of Smithton, Illinois between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	31.1 min2015-2019	34.0 min2020-2024	+2.9 min	Within the margin of error	20%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.5%2015-2019	40.6%2020-2024	+9 points	Within the margin of error	87%
Broadband subscriptions	86.4%2015-2019	98.5%2020-2024	+12 points	Improved	69%
Effective property tax rate	2.31%2015-2019	2.13%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	54%
High school diploma or higher	95.3%2015-2019	98.7%2020-2024	+3.5 points	Within the margin of error	72%
Home price to income ratio	2.2×2015-2019	1.9×2020-2024	−0.3×	Within the margin of error	89%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4032015-2019	0.3412020-2024	−0.062	Within the margin of error	88%
Median household income	$78,0732015-2019	$135,4552020-2024	+73%	Improved	95%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Smithton, Illinois five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Smithton, Illinois in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Smithton, Illinois itself moved +12.2 points in standing on average over the same 8 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

3,680 residents (±487)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,432 households (±160)

Smithton, Illinois
Illinois share

Under $25k5.4%†78
$25k–50k16%†225
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,432 households (±160)

Smithton, Illinois
Illinois share

Own94%1,340
Rent6.4%†92

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,884 workers (±325)

Smithton, Illinois
Illinois share

Drive alone78%1,464
Carpool3.5%†65
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the St. Louis, MO-IL

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of St. Clair County, the county holding most of Smithton's residents.

St. Clair County has 4,973 employer establishments, 197 for every 10,000 residents (0.79× the US rate of 248; 0.77× Illinois's), with 72,871 paid employees at an average annual pay of $50,062. The Census Bureau also counts 17,375 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 4,973; 17,375 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 197; US 248 · Illinois 255
Paid employees: 72,871
Average annual pay: $50,062; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of St. Clair County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	459	18.2	0.87×About typical	5,244	$71,335	827
Restaurants and other eating places	378	15	0.82×About typical	7,982	$20,039	96
Specialty trade contractors	287	11.4	0.74×Fewer than typical	2,834	$69,893	767
Limited-service restaurants	209	8.3	1.03×About typical	4,030	$17,825	53
Lessors of real estate	172	6.8	0.55×Fewer than typical	587	$47,871	1,395
Religious organizations	172	6.8	1.23×About typical	1,629	$26,961	—
Services to buildings and dwellings	168	6.7	0.99×About typical	1,106	$44,070	1,084
Offices of other health practitioners	148	5.9	0.97×About typical	1,104	$49,726	341
Automotive repair and maintenance	147	5.8	1.16×About typical	914	$47,512	188
Full-service restaurants	140	5.6	0.72×Fewer than typical	3,542	$22,848	24
Offices of physicians	134	5.3	0.82×About typical	1,500	$122,119	82
Legal services	126	5	0.93×About typical	770	$112,286	133

Rank places for an industry Open St. Clair County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 252,232 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $1.8M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Smithton, Illinois: $496 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $1.8M; −42% vs FY2025
Per resident: $496; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 17%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Defense Logistics Agency$1.4M77%
USTRANSCOM$426.8K23%

Top recipients

BELLEVILLE SHOE MANUFACTURING COMPANY$1.4M77%
THE BOEING COMPANY$426.8K23%

Spending by fiscal year

1.2MFY2017
2.2MFY2018
1.5MFY2019
1.7MFY2020
1MFY2021
1.1MFY2022
2MFY2023
1.4M

Top industries (NAICS)

Footwear manufacturing · 3162$1.1M60%
Electronic and precision equipment repair and maintenance · 8112$426.8K23%
Apparel accessories and other apparel manufacturing · 3159$310.4K17%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Smithton, Illinois, so they do not add up across cities.

Smithton, Illinois's figures are part of those of St. Clair County, IL ($627.1M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.3% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Smithton is mostly in St. Clair County.

See federal money in St. Clair County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Smithton, Illinois is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

St. Clair County53100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

St. Louis, MO-IL72

Other cities and towns in St. Clair County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/1770252

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends