Boone County vs Clay County

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

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

Clay County has the higher population (255,566 vs 185,874 in Boone County). Clay County has the higher median household income ($86,150 vs $69,913 in Boone County). Clay County has the higher median home value ($256,400 vs $254,100 in Boone County).

Population, income & housing

	Boone County	Clay County
Population	185,874	255,566
Median age	32.2 yrs	37.6 yrs
Median household income	$69,913	$86,150
Median home value	$254,100	$256,400
Median gross rent	$1,060	$1,220
Housing units	80,912	106,689
Homeownership rate	58.1%	68.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	51.0%	36.0%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Boone County	Clay County
Population	177,651 → 185,874 (+4.6%)	242,516 → 255,566 (+5.4%)
Median household income	$55,328 → $69,913 (+26.4%)	$70,510 → $86,150 (+22.2%)
Median home value	$185,700 → $254,100 (+36.8%)	$174,900 → $256,400 (+46.6%)
Median gross rent	$876 → $1,060 (+21.0%)	$965 → $1,220 (+26.4%)

Boone County

Population

177,651185,874

Median household income

$55,328$69,913

Median home value

$185,700$254,100

Median gross rent

$876$1,060

Clay County

Population

242,516255,566

Median household income

$70,510$86,150

Median home value

$174,900$256,400

Median gross rent

$965$1,220

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Boone County	Clay County
Under 5	5.5%	6.1%
5 to 17	14.9%	17.7%
18 to 24	18.9%	7.8%
25 to 34	14.5%	14.3%
35 to 44	12.4%	14.3%
45 to 54	10.2%	12.7%
55 to 64	10.6%	12.2%
65 to 74	8.1%	9.0%
75 and over	5.0%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Boone County	Clay County
White (non-Hispanic)	76.4%	77.8%
Black or African American	9.3%	6.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	4.6%	2.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.4%
Some other race	0.4%	0.3%
Two or more races	4.6%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	4.4%	7.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Boone County	Clay County
No high school diploma	5.4%	5.6%
High school graduate	20.1%	26.8%
Some college or associate's	23.4%	31.6%
Bachelor's degree	28.5%	23.6%
Graduate or professional degree	22.5%	12.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Boone County	Clay County
Drove alone	75.8%	76.3%
Carpooled	8.4%	7.6%
Public transit	0.8%	0.2%
Walked	4.0%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.1%
Worked from home	9.2%	14.0%
Other means	1.0%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Boone County	Clay County
1-unit, detached	60.4%	71.0%
1-unit, attached	4.8%	5.0%
2 to 4 units	11.9%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	11.3%	10.1%
20 or more units	7.6%	7.0%
Mobile home & other	4.0%	1.7%

Poverty & households

	Boone County	Clay County
Poverty rate	17.1%	8.5%
Average household size	2.35	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	19	23
Median year structure built	1991	1987