Clay County vs Mason County

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

Clay County and Mason 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 12,878 in Mason County). Mason County has the higher median household income ($62,127 vs $57,266 in Clay County). Mason County has the higher median home value ($106,100 vs $94,300 in Clay County).

Population, income & housing

	Clay County	Mason County
Population	13,173	12,878
Median age	41.5 yrs	45.5 yrs
Median household income	$57,266	$62,127
Median home value	$94,300	$106,100
Median gross rent	$709	$760
Housing units	6,147	6,615
Homeownership rate	80.7%	80.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.6%	17.1%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	6.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clay County	Mason County
Population	13,287 → 13,173 (-0.9%)	13,621 → 12,878 (-5.5%)
Median household income	$48,500 → $57,266 (+18.1%)	$48,417 → $62,127 (+28.3%)
Median home value	$84,500 → $94,300 (+11.6%)	$83,000 → $106,100 (+27.8%)
Median gross rent	$604 → $709 (+17.4%)	$664 → $760 (+14.5%)

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

Mason County

Population

13,62112,878

Median household income

$48,417$62,127

Median home value

$83,000$106,100

Median gross rent

$664$760

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clay County	Mason County
Under 5	5.6%	4.6%
5 to 17	17.5%	15.9%
18 to 24	7.0%	6.9%
25 to 34	11.7%	10.8%
35 to 44	11.9%	11.2%
45 to 54	11.6%	12.5%
55 to 64	14.0%	15.2%
65 to 74	12.1%	12.8%
75 and over	8.7%	10.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clay County	Mason County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.0%	95.5%
Black or African American	0.7%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	0.3%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	0.7%	1.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clay County	Mason County
No high school diploma	12.3%	7.9%
High school graduate	36.6%	38.1%
Some college or associate's	35.5%	36.9%
Bachelor's degree	10.0%	12.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.6%	4.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clay County	Mason County
Drove alone	85.5%	81.4%
Carpooled	7.1%	7.1%
Public transit	0.3%	0.2%
Walked	0.8%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.2%	8.2%
Other means	0.1%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clay County	Mason County
1-unit, detached	73.5%	90.1%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	2.4%
5 to 19 units	2.4%	2.8%
20 or more units	2.0%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	18.9%	3.8%

Poverty & households

	Clay County	Mason County
Poverty rate	16.7%	14.0%
Average household size	2.36	2.21
Mean commute (minutes)	26	29
Median year structure built	1973	1962