Clay County vs Van Buren County

A side-by-side comparison of Clay County and Van Buren County: population, income, housing, and more.

Clay County and Van Buren County are counties in Arkansas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Van Buren County has the higher population (15,936 vs 14,399 in Clay County). Clay County has the higher median household income ($48,500 vs $47,266 in Van Buren County). Van Buren County has the higher median home value ($122,300 vs $88,100 in Clay County).

Population, income & housing

	Clay County	Van Buren County
Population	14,399	15,936
Median age	42.6 yrs	49.6 yrs
Median household income	$48,500	$47,266
Median home value	$88,100	$122,300
Median gross rent	$696	$727
Housing units	7,499	9,724
Homeownership rate	71.5%	78.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.6%	15.8%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clay County	Van Buren County
Population	14,889 → 14,399 (-3.3%)	16,642 → 15,936 (-4.2%)
Median household income	$37,233 → $48,500 (+30.3%)	$38,499 → $47,266 (+22.8%)
Median home value	$77,400 → $88,100 (+13.8%)	$101,700 → $122,300 (+20.3%)
Median gross rent	$618 → $696 (+12.6%)	$644 → $727 (+12.9%)

Clay County

Population

14,88914,399

Median household income

$37,233$48,500

Median home value

$77,400$88,100

Median gross rent

$618$696

Van Buren County

Population

16,64215,936

Median household income

$38,499$47,266

Median home value

$101,700$122,300

Median gross rent

$644$727

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clay County	Van Buren County
Under 5	5.6%	4.5%
5 to 17	16.0%	14.7%
18 to 24	7.1%	6.3%
25 to 34	12.5%	8.5%
35 to 44	10.7%	10.4%
45 to 54	12.3%	12.4%
55 to 64	14.0%	16.6%
65 to 74	11.9%	14.9%
75 and over	9.9%	11.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clay County	Van Buren County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.8%	91.9%
Black or African American	0.1%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.8%
Asian	0.0%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.9%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	0.8%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clay County	Van Buren County
No high school diploma	13.4%	13.6%
High school graduate	44.5%	44.1%
Some college or associate's	26.5%	26.5%
Bachelor's degree	9.4%	10.5%
Graduate or professional degree	6.3%	5.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clay County	Van Buren County
Drove alone	80.0%	75.9%
Carpooled	9.9%	13.1%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	2.0%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.2%	6.1%
Other means	1.8%	3.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clay County	Van Buren County
1-unit, detached	81.4%	69.5%
1-unit, attached	0.4%	1.1%
2 to 4 units	3.4%	2.6%
5 to 19 units	2.1%	4.1%
20 or more units	0.7%	1.2%
Mobile home & other	12.1%	21.6%

Poverty & households

	Clay County	Van Buren County
Poverty rate	17.2%	19.5%
Average household size	2.34	2.21
Mean commute (minutes)	23	32
Median year structure built	1973	1986