Clay County vs Gates County

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

Clay County and Gates 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 10,437 in Gates County). Gates County has the higher median household income ($61,612 vs $53,645 in Clay County). Clay County has the higher median home value ($263,300 vs $163,900 in Gates County).

Population, income & housing

	Clay County	Gates County
Population	11,391	10,437
Median age	54.5 yrs	47.7 yrs
Median household income	$53,645	$61,612
Median home value	$263,300	$163,900
Median gross rent	$791	$940
Housing units	7,410	4,809
Homeownership rate	79.8%	82.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.4%	10.8%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	9.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clay County	Gates County
Population	10,946 → 11,391 (+4.1%)	11,548 → 10,437 (-9.6%)
Median household income	$42,222 → $53,645 (+27.1%)	$50,750 → $61,612 (+21.4%)
Median home value	$180,300 → $263,300 (+46.0%)	$147,700 → $163,900 (+11.0%)
Median gross rent	$736 → $791 (+7.5%)	$860 → $940 (+9.3%)

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

Gates County

Population

11,54810,437

Median household income

$50,750$61,612

Median home value

$147,700$163,900

Median gross rent

$860$940

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clay County	Gates County
Under 5	4.5%	3.5%
5 to 17	11.7%	16.0%
18 to 24	6.1%	8.1%
25 to 34	6.5%	9.7%
35 to 44	11.0%	9.7%
45 to 54	10.7%	13.8%
55 to 64	17.1%	17.2%
65 to 74	19.3%	12.9%
75 and over	13.0%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clay County	Gates County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.8%	63.4%
Black or African American	1.8%	31.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.9%	0.5%
Asian	0.8%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.2%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	3.9%	2.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clay County	Gates County
No high school diploma	10.1%	10.4%
High school graduate	24.9%	40.6%
Some college or associate's	33.6%	38.2%
Bachelor's degree	21.3%	5.7%
Graduate or professional degree	10.2%	5.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clay County	Gates County
Drove alone	79.3%	85.4%
Carpooled	9.5%	9.3%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.5%	3.3%
Other means	3.6%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clay County	Gates County
1-unit, detached	81.2%	62.5%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	0.1%
5 to 19 units	0.6%	0.2%
20 or more units	2.9%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	12.3%	36.5%

Poverty & households

	Clay County	Gates County
Poverty rate	13.5%	11.8%
Average household size	2.24	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	24	41
Median year structure built	1989	1991