Clay County vs Ford County

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

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

Ford County has the higher population (13,396 vs 13,173 in Clay County). Ford County has the higher median household income ($60,782 vs $57,266 in Clay County). Ford County has the higher median home value ($118,100 vs $94,300 in Clay County).

Population, income & housing

	Clay County	Ford County
Population	13,173	13,396
Median age	41.5 yrs	42.5 yrs
Median household income	$57,266	$60,782
Median home value	$94,300	$118,100
Median gross rent	$709	$836
Housing units	6,147	6,263
Homeownership rate	80.7%	74.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.6%	19.4%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clay County	Ford County
Population	13,287 → 13,173 (-0.9%)	13,270 → 13,396 (+0.9%)
Median household income	$48,500 → $57,266 (+18.1%)	$52,092 → $60,782 (+16.7%)
Median home value	$84,500 → $94,300 (+11.6%)	$98,300 → $118,100 (+20.1%)
Median gross rent	$604 → $709 (+17.4%)	$676 → $836 (+23.7%)

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

Ford County

Population

13,27013,396

Median household income

$52,092$60,782

Median home value

$98,300$118,100

Median gross rent

$676$836

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clay County	Ford County
Under 5	5.6%	5.7%
5 to 17	17.5%	17.6%
18 to 24	7.0%	7.3%
25 to 34	11.7%	11.0%
35 to 44	11.9%	12.4%
45 to 54	11.6%	12.3%
55 to 64	14.0%	14.5%
65 to 74	12.1%	10.9%
75 and over	8.7%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clay County	Ford County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.0%	90.5%
Black or African American	0.7%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.9%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	0.7%	4.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clay County	Ford County
No high school diploma	12.3%	8.1%
High school graduate	36.6%	36.1%
Some college or associate's	35.5%	36.4%
Bachelor's degree	10.0%	12.5%
Graduate or professional degree	5.6%	7.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clay County	Ford County
Drove alone	85.5%	77.5%
Carpooled	7.1%	10.0%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	0.8%	2.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.4%
Worked from home	6.2%	8.8%
Other means	0.1%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clay County	Ford County
1-unit, detached	73.5%	81.4%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	8.2%
5 to 19 units	2.4%	3.6%
20 or more units	2.0%	2.9%
Mobile home & other	18.9%	3.3%

Poverty & households

	Clay County	Ford County
Poverty rate	16.7%	12.7%
Average household size	2.36	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	26	24
Median year structure built	1973	1955