Clay County vs Swain County

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

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

Swain County has the higher population (14,065 vs 11,391 in Clay County). Swain County has the higher median household income ($55,429 vs $53,645 in Clay County). Clay County has the higher median home value ($263,300 vs $209,800 in Swain County).

Population, income & housing

	Clay County	Swain County
Population	11,391	14,065
Median age	54.5 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$53,645	$55,429
Median home value	$263,300	$209,800
Median gross rent	$791	$715
Housing units	7,410	8,529
Homeownership rate	79.8%	73.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.4%	21.3%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	8.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clay County	Swain County
Population	10,946 → 11,391 (+4.1%)	14,260 → 14,065 (-1.4%)
Median household income	$42,222 → $53,645 (+27.1%)	$39,317 → $55,429 (+41.0%)
Median home value	$180,300 → $263,300 (+46.0%)	$139,100 → $209,800 (+50.8%)
Median gross rent	$736 → $791 (+7.5%)	$642 → $715 (+11.4%)

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

Swain County

Population

14,26014,065

Median household income

$39,317$55,429

Median home value

$139,100$209,800

Median gross rent

$642$715

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clay County	Swain County
Under 5	4.5%	4.9%
5 to 17	11.7%	17.2%
18 to 24	6.1%	8.7%
25 to 34	6.5%	11.3%
35 to 44	11.0%	11.7%
45 to 54	10.7%	13.0%
55 to 64	17.1%	13.5%
65 to 74	19.3%	11.4%
75 and over	13.0%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clay County	Swain County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.8%	60.3%
Black or African American	1.8%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.9%	28.2%
Asian	0.8%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.2%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	3.9%	5.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clay County	Swain County
No high school diploma	10.1%	12.9%
High school graduate	24.9%	35.2%
Some college or associate's	33.6%	30.7%
Bachelor's degree	21.3%	12.3%
Graduate or professional degree	10.2%	9.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clay County	Swain County
Drove alone	79.3%	81.6%
Carpooled	9.5%	8.6%
Public transit	0.1%	1.3%
Walked	0.0%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.5%	5.4%
Other means	3.6%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clay County	Swain County
1-unit, detached	81.2%	67.1%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	3.6%
5 to 19 units	0.6%	2.0%
20 or more units	2.9%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	12.3%	26.2%

Poverty & households

	Clay County	Swain County
Poverty rate	13.5%	21.1%
Average household size	2.24	2.35
Mean commute (minutes)	24	21
Median year structure built	1989	1989