Clay County vs Rice County

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

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

Rice County has the higher population (67,389 vs 65,628 in Clay County). Rice County has the higher median household income ($82,792 vs $77,664 in Clay County). Rice County has the higher median home value ($298,500 vs $256,000 in Clay County).

Population, income & housing

	Clay County	Rice County
Population	65,628	67,389
Median age	33.5 yrs	37.1 yrs
Median household income	$77,664	$82,792
Median home value	$256,000	$298,500
Median gross rent	$1,000	$1,046
Housing units	27,241	25,173
Homeownership rate	66.6%	75.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.0%	29.7%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clay County	Rice County
Population	63,446 → 65,628 (+3.4%)	66,185 → 67,389 (+1.8%)
Median household income	$65,269 → $77,664 (+19.0%)	$68,584 → $82,792 (+20.7%)
Median home value	$197,100 → $256,000 (+29.9%)	$208,600 → $298,500 (+43.1%)
Median gross rent	$865 → $1,000 (+15.6%)	$843 → $1,046 (+24.1%)

Clay County

Population

63,44665,628

Median household income

$65,269$77,664

Median home value

$197,100$256,000

Median gross rent

$865$1,000

Rice County

Population

66,18567,389

Median household income

$68,584$82,792

Median home value

$208,600$298,500

Median gross rent

$843$1,046

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clay County	Rice County
Under 5	6.5%	5.5%
5 to 17	18.3%	16.1%
18 to 24	14.0%	14.4%
25 to 34	13.2%	11.2%
35 to 44	13.5%	12.6%
45 to 54	10.4%	11.4%
55 to 64	10.2%	12.3%
65 to 74	7.8%	9.9%
75 and over	6.1%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clay County	Rice County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.3%	78.2%
Black or African American	4.6%	6.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	0.2%
Asian	1.7%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.4%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	4.9%	10.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clay County	Rice County
No high school diploma	5.0%	7.0%
High school graduate	22.2%	33.0%
Some college or associate's	33.8%	30.3%
Bachelor's degree	26.0%	18.1%
Graduate or professional degree	13.0%	11.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clay County	Rice County
Drove alone	75.2%	68.4%
Carpooled	7.8%	9.9%
Public transit	1.2%	0.4%
Walked	3.5%	6.7%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.6%
Worked from home	11.0%	12.8%
Other means	1.0%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clay County	Rice County
1-unit, detached	60.5%	71.2%
1-unit, attached	8.5%	5.2%
2 to 4 units	3.6%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	11.2%	6.9%
20 or more units	13.8%	7.2%
Mobile home & other	2.4%	4.4%

Poverty & households

	Clay County	Rice County
Poverty rate	14.4%	9.3%
Average household size	2.41	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	20	23
Median year structure built	1981	1977