Alleghany County vs Clay County

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

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

Clay County has the higher population (11,391 vs 11,075 in Alleghany County). Clay County has the higher median household income ($53,645 vs $44,272 in Alleghany County). Clay County has the higher median home value ($263,300 vs $199,000 in Alleghany County).

Population, income & housing

	Alleghany County	Clay County
Population	11,075	11,391
Median age	51.4 yrs	54.5 yrs
Median household income	$44,272	$53,645
Median home value	$199,000	$263,300
Median gross rent	$755	$791
Housing units	7,752	7,410
Homeownership rate	77.1%	79.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.8%	31.4%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alleghany County	Clay County
Population	11,008 → 11,075 (+0.6%)	10,946 → 11,391 (+4.1%)
Median household income	$37,830 → $44,272 (+17.0%)	$42,222 → $53,645 (+27.1%)
Median home value	$139,800 → $199,000 (+42.3%)	$180,300 → $263,300 (+46.0%)
Median gross rent	$622 → $755 (+21.4%)	$736 → $791 (+7.5%)

Alleghany County

Population

11,00811,075

Median household income

$37,830$44,272

Median home value

$139,800$199,000

Median gross rent

$622$755

Clay County

Population

10,94611,391

Median household income

$42,222$53,645

Median home value

$180,300$263,300

Median gross rent

$736$791

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alleghany County	Clay County
Under 5	4.2%	4.5%
5 to 17	12.4%	11.7%
18 to 24	5.6%	6.1%
25 to 34	10.3%	6.5%
35 to 44	9.7%	11.0%
45 to 54	12.0%	10.7%
55 to 64	16.1%	17.1%
65 to 74	17.5%	19.3%
75 and over	12.3%	13.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alleghany County	Clay County
White (non-Hispanic)	83.9%	90.8%
Black or African American	1.4%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.9%
Asian	0.8%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.3%	1.2%
Hispanic or Latino	11.5%	3.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alleghany County	Clay County
No high school diploma	16.9%	10.1%
High school graduate	29.7%	24.9%
Some college or associate's	30.6%	33.6%
Bachelor's degree	14.8%	21.3%
Graduate or professional degree	8.0%	10.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alleghany County	Clay County
Drove alone	76.7%	79.3%
Carpooled	12.9%	9.5%
Public transit	0.7%	0.1%
Walked	1.2%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.5%	7.5%
Other means	0.0%	3.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alleghany County	Clay County
1-unit, detached	78.3%	81.2%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	1.8%	3.0%
5 to 19 units	3.4%	0.6%
20 or more units	0.2%	2.9%
Mobile home & other	16.1%	12.3%

Poverty & households

	Alleghany County	Clay County
Poverty rate	17.4%	13.5%
Average household size	2.15	2.24
Mean commute (minutes)	26	24
Median year structure built	1982	1989