Clay County vs Spencer County

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

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

Clay County has the higher population (20,105 vs 19,875 in Spencer County). Spencer County has the higher median household income ($98,333 vs $39,607 in Clay County). Spencer County has the higher median home value ($297,600 vs $87,300 in Clay County).

Population, income & housing

	Clay County	Spencer County
Population	20,105	19,875
Median age	40.6 yrs	43.3 yrs
Median household income	$39,607	$98,333
Median home value	$87,300	$297,600
Median gross rent	$698	$954
Housing units	8,642	7,599
Homeownership rate	77.6%	86.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.6%	22.1%
Unemployment rate	10.2%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clay County	Spencer County
Population	20,368 → 20,105 (-1.3%)	18,680 → 19,875 (+6.4%)
Median household income	$26,840 → $39,607 (+47.6%)	$80,166 → $98,333 (+22.7%)
Median home value	$54,100 → $87,300 (+61.4%)	$213,300 → $297,600 (+39.5%)
Median gross rent	$533 → $698 (+31.0%)	$649 → $954 (+47.0%)

Clay County

Population

20,36820,105

Median household income

$26,840$39,607

Median home value

$54,100$87,300

Median gross rent

$533$698

Spencer County

Population

18,68019,875

Median household income

$80,166$98,333

Median home value

$213,300$297,600

Median gross rent

$649$954

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clay County	Spencer County
Under 5	5.7%	5.3%
5 to 17	15.1%	17.4%
18 to 24	6.9%	7.2%
25 to 34	14.9%	10.1%
35 to 44	13.9%	14.2%
45 to 54	14.1%	14.8%
55 to 64	13.8%	16.1%
65 to 74	10.2%	10.0%
75 and over	5.5%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clay County	Spencer County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.4%	93.2%
Black or African American	4.6%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.7%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	1.2%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clay County	Spencer County
No high school diploma	25.9%	6.7%
High school graduate	37.1%	38.3%
Some college or associate's	20.4%	32.9%
Bachelor's degree	7.5%	13.7%
Graduate or professional degree	9.1%	8.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clay County	Spencer County
Drove alone	76.5%	83.4%
Carpooled	13.5%	4.1%
Public transit	0.4%	0.1%
Walked	1.3%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.2%
Worked from home	7.4%	10.5%
Other means	0.7%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clay County	Spencer County
1-unit, detached	63.0%	89.6%
1-unit, attached	0.4%	0.1%
2 to 4 units	2.8%	1.9%
5 to 19 units	2.7%	2.1%
20 or more units	0.9%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	30.3%	5.6%

Poverty & households

	Clay County	Spencer County
Poverty rate	31.8%	7.4%
Average household size	2.59	2.80
Mean commute (minutes)	28	32
Median year structure built	1987	1998