[1] Its county seat is Raleigh.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 637 square miles (1,650 km2), of which 636 square miles (1,650 km2) is land and 1.0 square mile (2.6 km2) (0.2%) is water.

[3] As of the 2020 United States census, there were 14,209 people, 5,820 households, and 4,109 families residing in the county.

There is one school district in the county, Smith County School District.

[12] The county is in the zone for Jones College.