Clay County, WV
Demographic and economic profile of Clay County, WV, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.
AI Overview
Clay County is a small, rural West Virginia county with a population of 7,946 that has contracted 9.6% over five years, reflecting persistent economic pressure—unemployment stands at 11.8%, labor force participation is just 41.0%, and the poverty rate reaches 24.9%. The workforce skews older (median age 45.4) and has limited post-secondary credentials, with only 11.8% holding a bachelor's degree or higher, while median worker earnings of $35,351 and a GDP per capita of $19,843 signal a low-cost, low-output labor market. Housing costs are among the most affordable measurable, with a median home value of $107,100 and median gross rent of $589/month, and the 79.0% homeownership rate points to a largely settled, long-tenured resident base.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page
Population Growth (5-year)
-9.6% since 2018
Clay County lost population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.
Demographics
Race & Ethnicity
- White Alone7,587 (96.8%)
- Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races226 (2.9%)
- Two Races Including Some Other Race14 (0.2%)
- Black or African American Alone4 (0.1%)
- American Indian & Alaska Native Alone4 (0.1%)
- Asian Alone0 (0.0%)
Top Languages Spoken at Home
- 1.Other Asian and Pacific Island34
- 2.German or other West Germanic20
- 3.Spanish2
Economy
Cost of Living Index
—
Not yet cached
Top Industries
- 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance798
- 2.Construction (Group)306
- 3.Public Administration (Group)285
- 4.Retail Trade (Group)236
- 5.Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining141
Top Occupations
- 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations732
- 2.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations494
- 3.Sales & Office Occupations487
- 4.Service Occupations389
- 5.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations320
Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)
- 1.Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining (LQ 4.51×)168
- 2.Public Administration (LQ 2.76×)304
- 3.Educational Services & Health Care (LQ 1.46×)796
- 4.Construction (LQ 1.45×)234
- 5.Transportation, Warehousing, & Utilities (LQ 1.37×)187
Housing
Education
Workforce
Similar Locations
5 counties with comparable population, workforce, income, education, and cost of living. Click any to compare.
More on FDI Connect
Compare Clay County against other US geographies, save it to your shortlist, see active property listings on the interactive map, and unlock the full demographic dashboard.
Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.