Clayton County vs Madison County

A side-by-side comparison of Clayton County and Madison County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Clayton County has the higher population (17,069 vs 16,760 in Madison County). Madison County has the higher median household income ($89,542 vs $62,326 in Clayton County). Madison County has the higher median home value ($236,900 vs $155,700 in Clayton County).

Population, income & housing

	Clayton County	Madison County
Population	17,069	16,760
Median age	46.4 yrs	41.0 yrs
Median household income	$62,326	$89,542
Median home value	$155,700	$236,900
Median gross rent	$764	$938
Housing units	8,791	7,031
Homeownership rate	76.6%	81.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.7%	25.5%
Unemployment rate	2.6%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clayton County	Madison County
Population	17,625 → 17,069 (-3.2%)	16,012 → 16,760 (+4.7%)
Median household income	$53,152 → $62,326 (+17.3%)	$66,316 → $89,542 (+35.0%)
Median home value	$121,700 → $155,700 (+27.9%)	$177,500 → $236,900 (+33.5%)
Median gross rent	$648 → $764 (+17.9%)	$789 → $938 (+18.9%)

Clayton County

Population

17,62517,069

Median household income

$53,152$62,326

Median home value

$121,700$155,700

Median gross rent

$648$764

Madison County

Population

16,01216,760

Median household income

$66,316$89,542

Median home value

$177,500$236,900

Median gross rent

$789$938

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clayton County	Madison County
Under 5	5.9%	5.3%
5 to 17	15.8%	19.6%
18 to 24	6.7%	7.0%
25 to 34	10.0%	9.6%
35 to 44	10.5%	13.3%
45 to 54	10.8%	13.4%
55 to 64	16.0%	13.7%
65 to 74	13.9%	11.4%
75 and over	10.5%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clayton County	Madison County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.2%	94.3%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.5%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	2.2%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clayton County	Madison County
No high school diploma	9.2%	4.7%
High school graduate	43.8%	33.7%
Some college or associate's	31.2%	36.1%
Bachelor's degree	11.6%	19.3%
Graduate or professional degree	4.2%	6.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clayton County	Madison County
Drove alone	77.0%	75.7%
Carpooled	6.5%	5.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	3.8%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.7%	14.8%
Other means	3.9%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clayton County	Madison County
1-unit, detached	81.5%	84.6%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	4.5%
5 to 19 units	5.0%	2.0%
20 or more units	1.4%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	4.3%	4.0%

Poverty & households

	Clayton County	Madison County
Poverty rate	13.6%	6.8%
Average household size	2.27	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	24	27
Median year structure built	1962	1977