Clay County vs Covington County

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

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

Clay County has the higher population (18,462 vs 18,226 in Covington County). Covington County has the higher median household income ($47,001 vs $39,904 in Clay County). Clay County has the higher median home value ($115,600 vs $98,500 in Covington County).

Population, income & housing

	Clay County	Covington County
Population	18,462	18,226
Median age	40.1 yrs	37.7 yrs
Median household income	$39,904	$47,001
Median home value	$115,600	$98,500
Median gross rent	$718	$639
Housing units	9,035	8,360
Homeownership rate	70.7%	76.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.2%	15.9%
Unemployment rate	6.7%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clay County	Covington County
Population	19,640 → 18,462 (-6.0%)	18,978 → 18,226 (-4.0%)
Median household income	$31,833 → $39,904 (+25.4%)	$38,178 → $47,001 (+23.1%)
Median home value	$89,900 → $115,600 (+28.6%)	$77,100 → $98,500 (+27.8%)
Median gross rent	$750 → $718 (-4.3%)	$631 → $639 (+1.3%)

Clay County

Population

19,64018,462

Median household income

$31,833$39,904

Median home value

$89,900$115,600

Median gross rent

$750$718

Covington County

Population

18,97818,226

Median household income

$38,178$47,001

Median home value

$77,100$98,500

Median gross rent

$631$639

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clay County	Covington County
Under 5	5.9%	6.4%
5 to 17	16.8%	17.7%
18 to 24	8.6%	8.8%
25 to 34	11.9%	12.5%
35 to 44	12.4%	12.0%
45 to 54	11.7%	11.8%
55 to 64	13.4%	13.3%
65 to 74	11.7%	10.0%
75 and over	7.7%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clay County	Covington County
White (non-Hispanic)	37.9%	59.4%
Black or African American	60.1%	34.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.3%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	1.5%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	0.2%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clay County	Covington County
No high school diploma	17.2%	15.3%
High school graduate	33.9%	31.6%
Some college or associate's	30.6%	37.2%
Bachelor's degree	11.0%	10.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.2%	5.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clay County	Covington County
Drove alone	86.1%	84.1%
Carpooled	6.1%	7.4%
Public transit	0.0%	1.5%
Walked	0.2%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.2%	3.9%
Other means	0.0%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clay County	Covington County
1-unit, detached	66.7%	61.5%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	2.3%
5 to 19 units	6.9%	1.3%
20 or more units	0.2%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	20.0%	33.3%

Poverty & households

	Clay County	Covington County
Poverty rate	24.8%	17.7%
Average household size	2.35	2.53
Mean commute (minutes)	21	26
Median year structure built	1981	1987