Cass County vs Clay County

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

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

Clay County has the higher population (13,173 vs 12,826 in Cass County). Cass County has the higher median household income ($64,907 vs $57,266 in Clay County). Cass County has the higher median home value ($95,500 vs $94,300 in Clay County).

Population, income & housing

	Cass County	Clay County
Population	12,826	13,173
Median age	38.1 yrs	41.5 yrs
Median household income	$64,907	$57,266
Median home value	$95,500	$94,300
Median gross rent	$723	$709
Housing units	5,665	6,147
Homeownership rate	74.9%	80.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.0%	15.6%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cass County	Clay County
Population	12,493 → 12,826 (+2.7%)	13,287 → 13,173 (-0.9%)
Median household income	$52,373 → $64,907 (+23.9%)	$48,500 → $57,266 (+18.1%)
Median home value	$80,800 → $95,500 (+18.2%)	$84,500 → $94,300 (+11.6%)
Median gross rent	$598 → $723 (+20.9%)	$604 → $709 (+17.4%)

Cass County

Population

12,49312,826

Median household income

$52,373$64,907

Median home value

$80,800$95,500

Median gross rent

$598$723

Clay County

Population

13,28713,173

Median household income

$48,500$57,266

Median home value

$84,500$94,300

Median gross rent

$604$709

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cass County	Clay County
Under 5	6.7%	5.6%
5 to 17	17.8%	17.5%
18 to 24	7.8%	7.0%
25 to 34	13.0%	11.7%
35 to 44	12.6%	11.9%
45 to 54	11.4%	11.6%
55 to 64	12.2%	14.0%
65 to 74	11.7%	12.1%
75 and over	6.8%	8.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cass County	Clay County
White (non-Hispanic)	71.2%	95.0%
Black or African American	3.7%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.8%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.6%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.2%
Two or more races	1.3%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	21.9%	0.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cass County	Clay County
No high school diploma	13.3%	12.3%
High school graduate	42.4%	36.6%
Some college or associate's	24.4%	35.5%
Bachelor's degree	15.0%	10.0%
Graduate or professional degree	4.9%	5.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cass County	Clay County
Drove alone	79.4%	85.5%
Carpooled	12.5%	7.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	1.2%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.8%	6.2%
Other means	0.7%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cass County	Clay County
1-unit, detached	79.5%	73.5%
1-unit, attached	0.1%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	5.2%	3.0%
5 to 19 units	2.1%	2.4%
20 or more units	1.8%	2.0%
Mobile home & other	11.3%	18.9%

Poverty & households

	Cass County	Clay County
Poverty rate	10.9%	16.7%
Average household size	2.47	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	22	26
Median year structure built	1967	1973