Clay County vs Washington County

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

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

Washington County has the higher population (13,682 vs 13,173 in Clay County). Washington County has the higher median household income ($75,652 vs $57,266 in Clay County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($149,800 vs $94,300 in Clay County).

Population, income & housing

	Clay County	Washington County
Population	13,173	13,682
Median age	41.5 yrs	44.2 yrs
Median household income	$57,266	$75,652
Median home value	$94,300	$149,800
Median gross rent	$709	$776
Housing units	6,147	6,402
Homeownership rate	80.7%	81.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.6%	24.4%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clay County	Washington County
Population	13,287 → 13,173 (-0.9%)	14,058 → 13,682 (-2.7%)
Median household income	$48,500 → $57,266 (+18.1%)	$61,763 → $75,652 (+22.5%)
Median home value	$84,500 → $94,300 (+11.6%)	$113,500 → $149,800 (+32.0%)
Median gross rent	$604 → $709 (+17.4%)	$716 → $776 (+8.4%)

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

Washington County

Population

14,05813,682

Median household income

$61,763$75,652

Median home value

$113,500$149,800

Median gross rent

$716$776

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clay County	Washington County
Under 5	5.6%	5.0%
5 to 17	17.5%	16.0%
18 to 24	7.0%	7.1%
25 to 34	11.7%	11.0%
35 to 44	11.9%	11.9%
45 to 54	11.6%	12.3%
55 to 64	14.0%	15.5%
65 to 74	12.1%	12.3%
75 and over	8.7%	9.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clay County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.0%	95.1%
Black or African American	0.7%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.3%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	0.7%	1.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clay County	Washington County
No high school diploma	12.3%	6.8%
High school graduate	36.6%	31.8%
Some college or associate's	35.5%	37.0%
Bachelor's degree	10.0%	16.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.6%	8.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clay County	Washington County
Drove alone	85.5%	82.6%
Carpooled	7.1%	7.0%
Public transit	0.3%	0.1%
Walked	0.8%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.2%	6.6%
Other means	0.1%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clay County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	73.5%	86.5%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	2.5%
5 to 19 units	2.4%	1.3%
20 or more units	2.0%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	18.9%	8.6%

Poverty & households

	Clay County	Washington County
Poverty rate	16.7%	7.8%
Average household size	2.36	2.35
Mean commute (minutes)	26	26
Median year structure built	1973	1970