Living in Smiltene

In Smiltene, unemployment is 5.3% (2025).

Smiltene had 4,994 residents in 2026 and is a city in Latvia. For Smiltene, the nearest airport was TAY, 108.6 km away, with 1 listed destinations in June 2026.

Last checked 2026-10-0718 sources

Population4,994people1 Jan 2026Official source · Population number and share by citizenship and sex in regions, cities, municipalities, towns, neighbourhoods and densely populated areas at the beginning of year

Median gross salary (region)1,224EUR/month31 Dec 2024Official source · Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia

Unemployment rate5.3%country median 6.0% — 12% belowOfficial source · CSB Latvia RIG090 — share of unemployed persons among economically active population aged 15-74

Recorded crime1,015incidents per 100,00031 Dec 2025Official source · Recorded crimes and crime rates by State city and municipality (after administrative-territorial reform in 2021) 2021-2025

Which Latvia-wide rules apply when you move to Smiltene?

National rules stay on the country page instead of being relabelled as city data.

Visa and entry rulesPassport-specific entry and national residence context.BenefitsCountry-wide eligibility and official application routes.Taxes in LatviaNational rates and thresholds that apply in Smiltene.Healthcare eligibilityCountry-wide insurance and residence conditions.

Housing and cost

No city-level rent figure is published for Smiltene. The available city-level cost figures remain below.

What recurs every month2 published recurring costs, € per month

€ / month

Internet, 60 Mbps€7

Mobile plan, 10 GB€7

Net rent across major citiesSmiltene highlighted among comparable cities

net rent, € / m² / month

Rīga€5.77

Daugavpils€4.50

Liepāja€1.18

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Internet, 60 Mbps unlimited	6.99 EUR/month	30 Sept 2026	Tele2 Latvia fixed internet¹⁵Official · national market
Mobile plan, 10 GB	6.99 EUR/month	31 May 2025	Tele2 Latvia 10GB data plan¹⁴Official · national market
Dwellings	7,787 dwellings	31 Dec 2024	VZD Building register (Būvju kadastrs) + CSP Census 2024 estimate¹⁸Official
Average property price per m²	650 EUR/m²	31 Dec 2025	VZD (Valsts zemes dienests) — Latvijas nekustamā īpašuma tirgus statistika¹⁷Official

Is Smiltene a good place to live?

There is no universal answer. The profile scores below show who the available published evidence may suit; they are a decision aid, not a personal recommendation.

Try your profile

Remote worker56%strong on work, weak on housing · range 46–66%

Skilled employee61%strong on legal route, weak on education · range 51–71%

Student56%strong on safety, weak on education · range 45–67%

Family61%strong on family, weak on education · range 51–71%

Retirement60%strong on safety, weak on admin · range 48–72%

Work and income

The unemployment rate was 5.3% at the start of 2025.

What is the unemployment rate in Smiltene?

The unemployment rate is 5.3 % (January 2025). Source: CSB Latvia RIG090 — share of unemployed persons among economically active population aged 15-74⁷

Unemployment across cities in LatviaUnemployment in Smiltene is 5.3%. Of 38 cities with data, 14 have unemployment of 4 to under 6%.

2–44–66–88–1012–1416–18

Smiltene 5.3%

Unemployment rate (%)

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Median gross salary (regional)	1,224 EUR/month	31 Dec 2024	Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia¹Official · regional context
Unemployment rate	5.3 %country median 6.0%	1 Jan 2025	CSB Latvia RIG090 — share of unemployed persons among economically active population aged 15-74⁷Official

Public employment service

No exact public employment office is currently linked to Smiltene. The verified national service may still offer online registration, job search or an official office finder.

Country-level information

State Employment Agency — Public employment service

Nodarbinātības valsts aģentūra (NVA)

Job SearchTraining

Open official service

Open the Latvia service overview

Country-level service information is not treated as proof of a physical office in Smiltene. Sources checked through 10 Aug 2026.

Safety

How safe is Smiltene?

Police recorded 1,015 incidents per 100,000 (2025). This counts all offences, so it is not comparable with a violent-crime-only rate from another source. Source: Recorded crimes and crime rates by State city and municipality (after administrative-territorial reform in 2021) 2021-2025¹³

Recorded crime across major citiesSmiltene highlighted among comparable cities

recorded incidents per 100k residents

Daugavpils2,987

Rīga2,760

Liepāja2,071

Jūrmala1,832

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Recorded incidents per 100,000 residents	1,015 incidents per 100,000	31 Dec 2025	Recorded crimes and crime rates by State city and municipality (after administrative-territorial reform in 2021) 2021-2025¹³Official

Mobility and administration

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Destinations from nearest airport	1 count	13 Jun 2026	OpenFlights — routes.dat¹⁰Official
Nearest airport	TAY	13 Jun 2026	OurAirports — airports.csv¹¹Official
Distance to nearest airport	108.6 km	13 Jun 2026	OurAirports — airports.csv¹¹Official

Language courses and integration

No exact city-level course record is currently published for Smiltene. These verified national programmes may still apply; use the official programme page to check local availability.

Country-level information

2026 Latvian language courses for Ukrainian civilians — State Language Course

Society Integration Foundation

For Ukrainian civilians in Latvia.

LatvianIn PersonFree

Open official information

Open the full Latvia section

National programme information is not treated as proof of a course location in Smiltene.

Find courses near Smiltene

Climate and air quality

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Average January temperature	-4 °C	31 Dec 2020	LVĢMC — Climate normals 1991-2020 (nearest station observation)⁸Official · nearest-station reading
Monthly extreme high temperature	Jan 8.14 · Feb 7.37 · Mar 15.13 · Apr 23.46 · May 26.96 · Jun 28.89 · Jul 30.06 · Aug 30.04 · Sep 27.28 · Oct 20.31 · Nov 11.59 · Dec 8.64 °C	31 Dec 2001	NASA POWER / NASA Langley Research Center⁹Official
Monthly extreme low temperature	Jan -39.35 · Feb -35 · Mar -22.88 · Apr -10.54 · May -3.6 · Jun 2.39 · Jul 5.76 · Aug 4.87 · Sep -1.78 · Oct -14.56 · Nov -21.92 · Dec -24.24 °C	31 Dec 2001	NASA POWER / NASA Langley Research Center⁹Official
Average temperature by month	Jan -6.64 · Feb -6.57 · Mar -2.06 · Apr 4.77 · May 11.17 · Jun 15.07 · Jul 17.98 · Aug 16.71 · Sep 12.08 · Oct 5.39 · Nov 0.79 · Dec -3.59 °C	31 Dec 2001	NASA POWER / NASA Langley Research Center⁹Official

Population and city profile

How many people live in Smiltene?

The published population was 4,994 people in January 2026. Source: Population number and share by citizenship and sex in regions, cities, municipalities, towns, neighbourhoods and densely populated areas at the beginning of year¹²

Who lives hereResidents by nationality, % of population

By nationality

National passport92.8%

Calculated from the population and foreign-resident facts on this page.

Metric	Value	Period	Source
City area	6.93 km²	1 Jan 2026	Total and land area of regions, cities, municipalities, towns and rural territories at the beginning of year (km²)¹⁶Official
Foreign residents	360 people	1 Jan 2025	CSB Latvia IRV031 — population by citizenship and sex⁶Official
Population density	721 people/km²	8 Aug 2026	Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia²Official · town sub municipal
Population	4,994 people	1 Jan 2026	Population number and share by citizenship and sex in regions, cities, municipalities, towns, neighbourhoods and densely populated areas at the beginning of year¹²Official

International community in Smiltene

Named groups from exact city-grain official distributions. Citizenship, birthplace, language and ancestry answer different questions and stay separate.

Country of birth

Official Latvian register-based population estimate at the beginning of 2026; all ages; total sex · 2026 (beginning of year)

Published group	People	Share
Total	17,306	100.0%
Latvia	16,659	96.3%
Born abroad	647	3.7%
Other countries (excluding EU-27 from 2020)	495	2.9%
EU-27 from 2020 (excluding Latvia)	152	0.9%

Largest published groups; zero-count groups are omitted. Dimensions are source-native and are never merged. Official source⁵

Citizenship

Official Latvian register-based population estimate at the beginning of 2026; all ages; total sex · 2026 (beginning of year)

Published group	People	Share
Total	17,306	100.0%
Citizens of Latvia	16,958	98.0%
Non-citizens of Latvia	249	1.4%
Other citizenship	92	0.5%
Citizens of European Union 27 countries from 2020 (excluding Latvia)	7	0.0%

Largest published groups; zero-count groups are omitted. Dimensions are source-native and are never merged. Official source³

Ancestry or ethnicity

Official Latvian register-based population estimate at the beginning of 2026; all ages; total population · 2026 (beginning of year)

Published group	People	Share
Total	17,306	100.0%
Latvians	16,155	93.3%
Russians	560	3.2%
Ukrainians	149	0.9%
Belarusians	138	0.8%
Other ethnicities, including not selected and not indicated ethnicity	127	0.7%
Poles	92	0.5%
Estonians	38	0.2%
Lithuanians	29	0.2%
Roma	15	0.1%
Jews	3	0.0%

Largest published groups; zero-count groups are omitted. Dimensions are source-native and are never merged. Official source⁴

Alternatives for people set on Smiltene

Three places for the three reasons people leave a city on the shortlist: stay in the region, stay in the country, or keep the budget and change the country. A percentage appears only where both cities publish that metric from the same source, period and grain. Distances are straight lines — travel times are not collected yet.

Jūrmala as a Smiltene alternative in the same country

Better on 3 of 3 metrics measured the same way, worse on 0. Recorded crime, per 100k cannot be compared like for like.

Nearest airport: 13.3 km Jūrmala vs 108.6 km Smiltene−88%
Recorded crime, per 100k: 1,832 Jūrmala vs 1,015 Smilteneno percentage
Unemployment: 4.9% Jūrmala vs 5.3% Smiltene−8%
Median gross pay, region: €1,272 Jūrmala vs €1,224 Smiltene+4%

Full comparison More about Jūrmala

Alternative cities in Latvia

Other cities in Latvia to compare with Smiltene, nearest in population first.

All Latvia cities

Ķekava4,967 residents Saulkrasti5,311 residents Valka4,562 residents Balvi5,500 residents Preiļi5,724 residents Ulbroka5,789 residents

How does Smiltene compare?

Pick a city. The answer appears here and the address bar keeps it, so the comparison can be shared; the page stays Smiltene's.

Open the full comparison

Yes — migrants can receive medical care in Smiltene when the national insurance or residence conditions are met.

Healthcare access follows the country-wide insurance rules; local capacity facts remain city data and are not used as proof of eligibility.

Open the official coverage guide

Country rule verified 2026-08-03.

School for children who move here. School is compulsory from age 5 to 16. Newly arrived pupils get support in the school language: additional support in learning the Latvian language (papildu atbalsts latviešu valodā; regulation for pupils with asylum/alternative status). How to enrol a child (izm.gov.lv).

A country-wide rule for Latvia; Smiltene's school authority applies it locally.

Sources: eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu · 2025–2026.

Common questions

Answered from the published values on this page, each with its source and date.

How many people live in Smiltene?

How safe is Smiltene?

What is the unemployment rate in Smiltene?

The unemployment rate is 5.3 % (January 2025). Source: CSB Latvia RIG090 — share of unemployed persons among economically active population aged 15-74.

What is the typical salary around Smiltene?

The median gross salary is 1,224 EUR/month. Source: Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia.

How many foreign residents live in Smiltene?

360 residents hold a foreign nationality. Source: CSB Latvia IRV031 — population by citizenship and sex.

Is Smiltene a good place to live?

Smiltene may suit different people for different reasons. The page's profile scores compare published cost, work, housing, safety, healthcare and other available factors; they are a decision aid, not a universal recommendation.

How many people born in Latvia live in Smiltene?

The official country of birth distribution records 16,659 people (96.3%) in the source-defined population for 2026 (beginning of year). This is a country of birth measure, not a general estimate of ethnicity or migration status.

Cite this page

Open a format to select or copy this ImmigrationDB compilation citation. The native disclosure and text fallback work without JavaScript.

APA citation

ImmigrationDB. (2026, October 16). Smiltene, Latvia: population, salary, cost of living, jobs [ImmigrationDB compilation; version a1ce911ebc3f570245786b044cd87148]. ImmigrationDB. https://immigrationdb.com/cities/lv/smiltene/ Retrieved 2026-10-16. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

BibTeX citation

@misc{immigrationdb_immigrationdb_smiltene-latvia-population-salary-cost-of-living-jobs_0a255f057108,
  author = {ImmigrationDB},
  title = {Smiltene, Latvia: population, salary, cost of living, jobs},
  publisher = {ImmigrationDB},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-10-16},
  version = {a1ce911ebc3f570245786b044cd87148},
  url = {https://immigrationdb.com/cities/lv/smiltene/},
  note = {Retrieved 2026-10-16. ImmigrationDB compilation. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/},
}

Markdown citation

[Smiltene, Latvia: population, salary, cost of living, jobs](https://immigrationdb.com/cities/lv/smiltene/) — ImmigrationDB; ImmigrationDB; version a1ce911ebc3f570245786b044cd87148; retrieved 2026-10-16; built 2026-10-16.

This citation identifies the ImmigrationDB compilation/page. Underlying source publishers and datasets retain their own terms; inspect the Sources section and cite those records separately. View the underlying source records.

Sources

JSON Markdown

Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia api.stat.gov.lv · checked 2026-08-07
Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia api.stat.gov.lv · checked 2026-08-08
Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia api.stat.gov.lv · checked 2026-08-30
Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia ancestry or ethnicity distribution api.stat.gov.lv · checked 2026-08-28
Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia country of birth distribution api.stat.gov.lv · checked 2026-08-28
CSB Latvia IRV031 — population by citizenship and sex CSB Latvia IRV031 · api.stat.gov.lv · checked 2026-07-26
CSB Latvia RIG090 — share of unemployed persons among economically active population aged 15-74 CSB Latvia RIG090 · api.stat.gov.lv · checked 2026-07-26
LVĢMC — Climate normals 1991-2020 (nearest station observation) LVĢMC · data.gov.lv · checked 2026-06-12
NASA POWER / NASA Langley Research Center power.larc.nasa.gov · checked 2026-08-03
OpenFlights — routes.dat OpenFlights · raw.githubusercontent.com · checked 2026-07-14

Show 8 more sources

OurAirports — airports.csv OurAirports · davidmegginson.github.io · checked 2026-07-14
Population number and share by citizenship and sex in regions, cities, municipalities, towns, neighbourhoods and densely populated areas at the beginning of year api.stat.gov.lv · checked 2026-09-27
Recorded crimes and crime rates by State city and municipality (after administrative-territorial reform in 2021) 2021-2025 api.stat.gov.lv · checked 2026-10-05
Tele2 Latvia 10GB data plan tele2.lv · checked 2026-09-15
Tele2 Latvia fixed internet tele2.lv · checked 2026-09-15
Total and land area of regions, cities, municipalities, towns and rural territories at the beginning of year (km²) api.stat.gov.lv · checked 2026-09-27
VZD (Valsts zemes dienests) — Latvijas nekustamā īpašuma tirgus statistika VZD (Valsts zemes dienests) · vzd.gov.lv · checked 2026-06-12
VZD Building register (Būvju kadastrs) + CSP Census 2024 estimate vzd.gov.lv · checked 2026-06-12

Spotted a number that looks wrong? Every value here carries its source and date — tell us what you found and we will re-check it against the source.