Clark County vs Shelby County

A side-by-side comparison of Clark County and Shelby County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Clark County has the higher population (6,680 vs 6,011 in Shelby County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($52,127 vs $51,458 in Clark County). Clark County has the higher median home value ($117,600 vs $86,200 in Shelby County).

Population, income & housing

	Clark County	Shelby County
Population	6,680	6,011
Median age	43.5 yrs	43.6 yrs
Median household income	$51,458	$52,127
Median home value	$117,600	$86,200
Median gross rent	$589	$570
Housing units	3,233	2,952
Homeownership rate	78.5%	75.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.3%	18.0%
Unemployment rate	5.8%	1.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clark County	Shelby County
Population	6,779 → 6,680 (-1.5%)	6,013 → 6,011 (-0.0%)
Median household income	$48,909 → $51,458 (+5.2%)	$44,083 → $52,127 (+18.2%)
Median home value	$90,000 → $117,600 (+30.7%)	$72,200 → $86,200 (+19.4%)
Median gross rent	$600 → $589 (-1.8%)	$564 → $570 (+1.1%)

Clark County

Population

6,7796,680

Median household income

$48,909$51,458

Median home value

$90,000$117,600

Median gross rent

$600$589

Shelby County

Population

6,0136,011

Median household income

$44,083$52,127

Median home value

$72,200$86,200

Median gross rent

$564$570

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clark County	Shelby County
Under 5	6.0%	6.4%
5 to 17	17.8%	17.4%
18 to 24	6.3%	6.9%
25 to 34	10.5%	10.5%
35 to 44	11.0%	11.9%
45 to 54	12.2%	10.1%
55 to 64	15.3%	15.1%
65 to 74	12.2%	12.1%
75 and over	8.8%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clark County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.7%	94.2%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.2%	1.7%
Hispanic or Latino	0.9%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clark County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	10.0%	10.0%
High school graduate	49.3%	45.0%
Some college or associate's	28.4%	27.0%
Bachelor's degree	8.8%	12.7%
Graduate or professional degree	3.5%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clark County	Shelby County
Drove alone	82.6%	83.0%
Carpooled	5.2%	6.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.9%	5.3%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.8%	4.6%
Other means	0.1%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clark County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	77.7%	77.8%
1-unit, attached	0.4%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	6.3%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	0.3%	1.5%
20 or more units	0.1%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	15.2%	11.6%

Poverty & households

	Clark County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	9.4%	15.6%
Average household size	2.90	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	27	21
Median year structure built	1969	1968