Clay County, SD
Demographic and economic profile of Clay County, SD, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.
AI Overview
Clay County, SD is a small county of 15,133 residents that grew 8.7% over five years, anchored by a university presence reflected in a median age of just 24.9 years and a notably high educational attainment rate of 46.0% holding bachelor's degrees or higher. The labor market shows strain, with an unemployment rate of 8.4% and a poverty rate of 19.8%, while median worker earnings sit at $22,945 against a median household income of $56,850. Housing costs remain relatively low, with a median home value of $221,800 and median gross rent of $736 per month, and the average commute of 19.5 minutes points to a compact, locally contained workforce.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page
Population Growth (5-year)
+8.7% since 2018
Clay County added population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.
Demographics
Race & Ethnicity
- White Alone12,933 (85.0%)
- American Indian & Alaska Native Alone574 (3.8%)
- Two Races Including Some Other Race492 (3.2%)
- Asian Alone452 (3.0%)
- Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races447 (2.9%)
- Black or African American Alone278 (1.8%)
Top Languages Spoken at Home
- 1.Spanish221
- 2.Chinese (incl. Mandarin, Cantonese)167
- 3.Arabic98
- 4.Other Indo-European85
- 5.Russian, Polish, or other Slavic56
Economy
Cost of Living Index
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Not yet cached
Top Industries
- 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance2,900
- 2.Arts, Entertainment, & Recreation, & Accommodation & Food Services1,087
- 3.Retail Trade (Group)1,047
- 4.Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining521
- 5.Manufacturing (Group)506
Top Occupations
- 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations3,357
- 2.Service Occupations2,090
- 3.Sales & Office Occupations1,275
- 4.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations702
- 5.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations582
Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)
- 1.Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining (LQ 4.02×)499
- 2.Information (LQ 1.64×)239
- 3.Educational Services & Health Care (LQ 1.52×)2,772
- 4.Arts, Entertainment, Recreation, & Accommodation (LQ 1.42×)969
- 5.Retail Trade (LQ 1.24×)1,047
Housing
Education
Workforce
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More on FDI Connect
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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.