Best PlacesSmith Mills, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Smith Mills, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Smith Mills ranks 21,076th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Smith Mills
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Smith Mills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Smith Mills ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of towns
Where Smith Mills ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,514 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 19% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Smith Mills
A household needs to earn about $109,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Smith Mills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $85,862, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Smith Mills' effective rate of 0.82%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Smith Mills
Smith Mills runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Smith Mills.
Who works in Smith Mills, and how
Work in Smith Mills centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Smith Mills
Smith Mills has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. The coast is about 8 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Smith Mills and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Smith Mills, month by month
Smith Mills sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 23° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Smith Mills
The nearest airport, Rhode Island Tf Green International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around Smith Mills
Schools across Smith Mills average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- James M. Quinn SchoolB · 49% proficient
- George H PotterC+ · 37% proficient
- Elizabeth Carter BrooksC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dartmouth MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Keith Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Dartmouth HighA · 68% proficient
- Westport Middle-high SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- New Bedford HighD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Smith Mills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Smith Mills measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Smith Mills against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Smith Mills
Is Smith Mills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Smith Mills ranks 21,076th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, biking, and transit, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Smith Mills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $415,871. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $85,862 median income, cost of living beats 49% of towns.
Is Smith Mills safe?
Smith Mills is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $495 per resident a year.
Compare Smith Mills with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Smith Mills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Smith Mills represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Smith Mills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Smith Mills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Smith Mills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Smith Mills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Smith Mills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Smith Mills detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.