Clay County vs Santa Rosa County

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

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

Clay County has the higher population (223,436 vs 193,719 in Santa Rosa County). Santa Rosa County has the higher median household income ($88,968 vs $86,094 in Clay County). Santa Rosa County has the higher median home value ($302,100 vs $281,500 in Clay County).

Population, income & housing

	Clay County	Santa Rosa County
Population	223,436	193,719
Median age	40.2 yrs	40.0 yrs
Median household income	$86,094	$88,968
Median home value	$281,500	$302,100
Median gross rent	$1,464	$1,445
Housing units	87,165	78,275
Homeownership rate	76.2%	80.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.7%	31.0%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clay County	Santa Rosa County
Population	211,405 → 223,436 (+5.7%)	174,755 → 193,719 (+10.9%)
Median household income	$65,740 → $86,094 (+31.0%)	$67,949 → $88,968 (+30.9%)
Median home value	$185,400 → $281,500 (+51.8%)	$199,200 → $302,100 (+51.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,148 → $1,464 (+27.5%)	$1,129 → $1,445 (+28.0%)

Clay County

Population

211,405223,436

Median household income

$65,740$86,094

Median home value

$185,400$281,500

Median gross rent

$1,148$1,464

Santa Rosa County

Population

174,755193,719

Median household income

$67,949$88,968

Median home value

$199,200$302,100

Median gross rent

$1,129$1,445

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clay County	Santa Rosa County
Under 5	5.2%	5.4%
5 to 17	17.7%	16.6%
18 to 24	7.7%	7.5%
25 to 34	12.1%	13.2%
35 to 44	13.5%	14.0%
45 to 54	13.1%	12.9%
55 to 64	13.9%	14.0%
65 to 74	10.4%	10.4%
75 and over	6.4%	6.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clay County	Santa Rosa County
White (non-Hispanic)	69.1%	79.1%
Black or African American	11.1%	5.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	2.9%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.2%
Some other race	1.0%	0.7%
Two or more races	4.7%	5.8%
Hispanic or Latino	11.0%	6.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clay County	Santa Rosa County
No high school diploma	6.7%	7.4%
High school graduate	27.6%	26.3%
Some college or associate's	37.0%	35.3%
Bachelor's degree	18.9%	19.8%
Graduate or professional degree	9.8%	11.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clay County	Santa Rosa County
Drove alone	73.9%	77.0%
Carpooled	8.7%	8.4%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	0.9%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	14.5%	11.6%
Other means	1.8%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clay County	Santa Rosa County
1-unit, detached	73.5%	80.2%
1-unit, attached	3.8%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	3.1%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	5.1%	2.7%
20 or more units	2.5%	3.5%
Mobile home & other	12.0%	8.5%

Poverty & households

	Clay County	Santa Rosa County
Poverty rate	9.1%	8.4%
Average household size	2.71	2.65
Mean commute (minutes)	32	30
Median year structure built	1995	1997