Smiley is a city in Gonzales County, Texas, United States. The population was 475 at the 2020 census, down from 549 at the 2010 census. Smiley was established in the early 1870s, when trader and sheepherder John Smiley settled by a long narrow lake that became known as Smiley's, Smileys, or Smiley Lake. The city is served by the Nixon-Smiley Consolidated Independent School District.