Smiths Station, Alabama

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Smiths Station is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is a part of the Auburn Metropolitan Area, but is more closely tied to the Columbus, Georgia-Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is also known as Smiths, although the official name is Smiths Station. According to the local legend, a postmaster around 1960 grew tired of writing Smiths Station, so he took it upon himself to drop "Station" from the name of the community. Smiths Station was officially incorporated in June 2001, and is as of 2004 Alabama's second newest city next to Center Point. In the 2000 census prior to incorporation, the population of Smiths Station community was 21,756, though as of 2004 only 4,437 lived in the city proper. Smiths Station has tripled in population over the past 10-15 years and is a bedroom community of Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama. Smiths Station High School has an enrollment of 1,600+ students and is the 10th largest high school in the state.

[edit] Geography

Smiths is located at 32°32′21″N, 85°5′55″W (32.539259, -85.098703)^GR1.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 186.2 km² (71.9 mi²). 184.3 km² (71.2 mi²) of it is land and 1.9 km² (0.7 mi²) of it (1.00%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 21,756 people, 7,806 households, and 6,252 families residing in the city. The population density was 118.0/km² (305.7/mi²). There were 8,437 housing units at an average density of 45.8/km² (118.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 84.79% White, 12.67% Black or African American, 0.38% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.74% from other races, and 1.03% from two or more races. 2.08% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 7,806 households out of which 44.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.4% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.9% were non-families. 16.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.12.

In the city the population was spread out with 30.4% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 34.9% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, and 7.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 98.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $43,977, and the median income for a family was $47,765. Males had a median income of $32,246 versus $23,707 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,608. About 7.2% of families and 8.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.6% of those under age 18 and 11.2% of those age 65 or over.