Clay County vs Winston County

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

Clay County and Winston 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 17,609 in Winston County). Winston County has the higher median household income ($49,071 vs $39,904 in Clay County). Winston County has the higher median home value ($121,200 vs $115,600 in Clay County).

Population, income & housing

	Clay County	Winston County
Population	18,462	17,609
Median age	40.1 yrs	42.3 yrs
Median household income	$39,904	$49,071
Median home value	$115,600	$121,200
Median gross rent	$718	$654
Housing units	9,035	8,231
Homeownership rate	70.7%	69.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.2%	18.6%
Unemployment rate	6.7%	7.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clay County	Winston County
Population	19,640 → 18,462 (-6.0%)	18,229 → 17,609 (-3.4%)
Median household income	$31,833 → $39,904 (+25.4%)	$34,724 → $49,071 (+41.3%)
Median home value	$89,900 → $115,600 (+28.6%)	$84,900 → $121,200 (+42.8%)
Median gross rent	$750 → $718 (-4.3%)	$697 → $654 (-6.2%)

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

Winston County

Population

18,22917,609

Median household income

$34,724$49,071

Median home value

$84,900$121,200

Median gross rent

$697$654

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clay County	Winston County
Under 5	5.9%	5.5%
5 to 17	16.8%	16.6%
18 to 24	8.6%	8.9%
25 to 34	11.9%	10.2%
35 to 44	12.4%	12.4%
45 to 54	11.7%	11.7%
55 to 64	13.4%	13.4%
65 to 74	11.7%	12.3%
75 and over	7.7%	8.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clay County	Winston County
White (non-Hispanic)	37.9%	49.5%
Black or African American	60.1%	47.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	1.1%
Asian	0.3%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.5%	1.5%
Hispanic or Latino	0.2%	0.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clay County	Winston County
No high school diploma	17.2%	16.4%
High school graduate	33.9%	36.7%
Some college or associate's	30.6%	28.4%
Bachelor's degree	11.0%	12.5%
Graduate or professional degree	7.2%	6.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clay County	Winston County
Drove alone	86.1%	84.4%
Carpooled	6.1%	5.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	0.2%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.2%	2.4%
Other means	0.0%	6.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clay County	Winston County
1-unit, detached	66.7%	74.0%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	5.4%
5 to 19 units	6.9%	3.6%
20 or more units	0.2%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	20.0%	16.4%

Poverty & households

	Clay County	Winston County
Poverty rate	24.8%	30.4%
Average household size	2.35	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	21	24
Median year structure built	1981	1979