Clay County vs Iowa County

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

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

Iowa County has the higher population (16,547 vs 16,446 in Clay County). Iowa County has the higher median household income ($72,185 vs $64,082 in Clay County). Iowa County has the higher median home value ($189,800 vs $171,500 in Clay County).

Population, income & housing

	Clay County	Iowa County
Population	16,446	16,547
Median age	41.8 yrs	42.2 yrs
Median household income	$64,082	$72,185
Median home value	$171,500	$189,800
Median gross rent	$798	$722
Housing units	8,141	7,355
Homeownership rate	72.7%	76.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.0%	24.2%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clay County	Iowa County
Population	16,211 → 16,446 (+1.4%)	16,189 → 16,547 (+2.2%)
Median household income	$50,521 → $64,082 (+26.8%)	$61,443 → $72,185 (+17.5%)
Median home value	$124,100 → $171,500 (+38.2%)	$152,500 → $189,800 (+24.5%)
Median gross rent	$700 → $798 (+14.0%)	$580 → $722 (+24.5%)

Clay County

Population

16,21116,446

Median household income

$50,521$64,082

Median home value

$124,100$171,500

Median gross rent

$700$798

Iowa County

Population

16,18916,547

Median household income

$61,443$72,185

Median home value

$152,500$189,800

Median gross rent

$580$722

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clay County	Iowa County
Under 5	5.3%	5.4%
5 to 17	17.8%	18.1%
18 to 24	7.6%	6.4%
25 to 34	10.6%	11.1%
35 to 44	11.8%	12.4%
45 to 54	11.2%	11.5%
55 to 64	13.7%	15.6%
65 to 74	12.3%	11.1%
75 and over	9.6%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clay County	Iowa County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.7%	93.4%
Black or African American	0.5%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.1%
Asian	0.3%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.3%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	4.5%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clay County	Iowa County
No high school diploma	5.1%	5.3%
High school graduate	32.7%	34.7%
Some college or associate's	36.2%	35.8%
Bachelor's degree	18.6%	17.5%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	6.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clay County	Iowa County
Drove alone	78.9%	79.7%
Carpooled	8.9%	7.5%
Public transit	1.1%	0.1%
Walked	4.2%	3.1%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.5%	8.2%
Other means	0.2%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clay County	Iowa County
1-unit, detached	75.5%	78.1%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	3.1%
2 to 4 units	7.1%	8.7%
5 to 19 units	7.5%	4.1%
20 or more units	6.5%	2.0%
Mobile home & other	1.8%	3.9%

Poverty & households

	Clay County	Iowa County
Poverty rate	11.5%	9.2%
Average household size	2.22	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	19	22
Median year structure built	1966	1971