Clay County vs Perry County

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

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

Perry County has the higher population (8,561 vs 7,621 in Clay County). Perry County has the higher median household income ($50,489 vs $44,712 in Clay County). Clay County has the higher median home value ($136,900 vs $113,800 in Perry County).

Population, income & housing

	Clay County	Perry County
Population	7,621	8,561
Median age	48.8 yrs	41.6 yrs
Median household income	$44,712	$50,489
Median home value	$136,900	$113,800
Median gross rent	$546	$747
Housing units	3,987	4,830
Homeownership rate	77.6%	75.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.0%	12.7%
Unemployment rate	5.2%	8.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clay County	Perry County
Population	7,654 → 7,621 (-0.4%)	7,962 → 8,561 (+7.5%)
Median household income	$32,167 → $44,712 (+39.0%)	$41,034 → $50,489 (+23.0%)
Median home value	$98,200 → $136,900 (+39.4%)	$88,100 → $113,800 (+29.2%)
Median gross rent	$479 → $546 (+14.0%)	$613 → $747 (+21.9%)

Clay County

Population

7,6547,621

Median household income

$32,167$44,712

Median home value

$98,200$136,900

Median gross rent

$479$546

Perry County

Population

7,9628,561

Median household income

$41,034$50,489

Median home value

$88,100$113,800

Median gross rent

$613$747

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clay County	Perry County
Under 5	4.2%	6.3%
5 to 17	15.5%	16.2%
18 to 24	7.1%	8.7%
25 to 34	6.9%	10.7%
35 to 44	12.3%	11.1%
45 to 54	13.6%	11.5%
55 to 64	15.4%	13.4%
65 to 74	14.7%	12.2%
75 and over	10.4%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clay County	Perry County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.1%	90.2%
Black or African American	0.9%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.5%
Asian	1.0%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.7%	4.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.0%	2.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clay County	Perry County
No high school diploma	16.2%	17.6%
High school graduate	48.1%	47.3%
Some college or associate's	23.7%	22.4%
Bachelor's degree	6.3%	9.7%
Graduate or professional degree	5.7%	3.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clay County	Perry County
Drove alone	85.4%	72.0%
Carpooled	5.9%	13.8%
Public transit	0.6%	2.5%
Walked	0.1%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.2%	10.3%
Other means	3.9%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clay County	Perry County
1-unit, detached	62.6%	61.8%
1-unit, attached	0.4%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	2.4%	1.4%
5 to 19 units	3.3%	1.5%
20 or more units	1.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	30.2%	34.7%

Poverty & households

	Clay County	Perry County
Poverty rate	21.7%	17.7%
Average household size	2.35	2.77
Mean commute (minutes)	28	32
Median year structure built	1982	1987