county

Clay County, NC

Demographic and economic profile of Clay County, NC, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.

AI Overview

Clay County is a small rural county of 11,391 residents with a median age of 55.0 years and a low labor force participation rate of 43.9%, reflecting a largely retirement-age population. The available workforce skews toward lower-cost labor, with median worker earnings of $39,183 and median gross rent of just $791 per month, while 31.4% hold a bachelor's degree or higher. The county grew 5.3% over five years, homeownership stands at 81.2%, and a mean commute of 23.6 minutes points to a compact, locally oriented labor market.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page

Population

11,391

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Household Income

$56,971

Data USA · as of 2024

Median Age

55.0 yrs

Data USA · as of 2024

Population Growth (5-year)

+5.3% since 2018

Clay County added population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.

Demographics

Race & Ethnicity

  • White Alone10,768 (92.7%)
  • Black or African American Alone256 (2.2%)
  • Some Other Race Alone185 (1.6%)
  • Two Races Including Some Other Race169 (1.5%)
  • Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races123 (1.1%)
  • Asian Alone66 (0.6%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Languages Spoken at Home

  1. 1.Spanish181
  2. 2.Other Asian and Pacific Island68
  3. 3.French (incl. Cajun, Haitian)20
  4. 4.Russian, Polish, or other Slavic15
  5. 5.Other Indo-European13

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population Under 18

16.2%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Working-Age (18–64)

51.5%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population 65 and Over

32.3%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Foreign-Born Population

3.4%

Data USA · as of 2024

Veterans

644

Data USA · as of 2024

Economy

GDP per Capita

$21,496

Data USA · as of 2023

Cost of Living Index

—

Not yet cached

Per Capita Income

$35,326

Census ACS · as of 2023

Unemployment Rate

4.2%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Poverty Rate

13.5%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Top Industries

  1. 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance825
  2. 2.Retail Trade (Group)640
  3. 3.Arts, Entertainment, & Recreation, & Accommodation & Food Services542
  4. 4.Construction (Group)505
  5. 5.Professional, Scientific, & Management, & Administrative & Waste Management Services439

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Occupations

  1. 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations1,488
  2. 2.Sales & Office Occupations1,142
  3. 3.Service Occupations839
  4. 4.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations649
  5. 5.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations328

Data USA · as of 2024

Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)

  1. 1.Other Services (LQ 1.69×)330
  2. 2.Retail Trade (LQ 1.51×)680
  3. 3.Arts, Entertainment, Recreation, & Accommodation (LQ 1.47×)534
  4. 4.Transportation, Warehousing, & Utilities (LQ 1.20×)290
  5. 5.Construction (LQ 1.18×)338

Census ACS · as of 2023

Housing

Median Home Value

$263,300

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Gross Rent

$791/mo

Census ACS · as of 2023

Homeownership Rate

81.2%

Data USA · as of 2024

Home Value Distribution

  • $500,000 to $749,999591 (14.3%)
  • $300,000 to $399,999528 (12.8%)
  • $200,000 to $249,999526 (12.8%)
  • $400,000 to $499,999439 (10.6%)
  • $250,000 to $299,999379 (9.2%)
  • $150,000 to $174,999267 (6.5%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Education

Bachelor's Degree or Higher

31.4%

Census ACS · as of 2023

High School Diploma or Higher

89.9%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Workforce

Labor Force Participation

43.9%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Worker Earnings

$39,183

Census ACS · as of 2023

Mean Commute Time

23.2 min

Data USA · as of 2024

Households Without a Vehicle

7.3%

Census ACS · as of 2023

How People Get to Work

  • Drove Alone3,487 (79.1%)
  • Carpooled506 (11.5%)
  • Worked At Home359 (8.1%)
  • Other46 (1.0%)
  • Walked8 (0.2%)
  • Public Transit3 (0.1%)

Data USA · as of 2024

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Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.