Clay County vs Gilmer County

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

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

Clay County has the higher population (7,946 vs 7,376 in Gilmer County). Gilmer County has the higher median household income ($50,991 vs $42,790 in Clay County). Clay County has the higher median home value ($107,100 vs $83,300 in Gilmer County).

Population, income & housing

	Clay County	Gilmer County
Population	7,946	7,376
Median age	45.3 yrs	40.7 yrs
Median household income	$42,790	$50,991
Median home value	$107,100	$83,300
Median gross rent	$589	$764
Housing units	3,945	3,118
Homeownership rate	79.0%	76.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.8%	19.9%
Unemployment rate	11.8%	8.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clay County	Gilmer County
Population	8,709 → 7,946 (-8.8%)	8,041 → 7,376 (-8.3%)
Median household income	$35,024 → $42,790 (+22.2%)	$42,636 → $50,991 (+19.6%)
Median home value	$80,200 → $107,100 (+33.5%)	$93,300 → $83,300 (-10.7%)
Median gross rent	$495 → $589 (+19.0%)	$584 → $764 (+30.8%)

Clay County

Population

8,7097,946

Median household income

$35,024$42,790

Median home value

$80,200$107,100

Median gross rent

$495$589

Gilmer County

Population

8,0417,376

Median household income

$42,636$50,991

Median home value

$93,300$83,300

Median gross rent

$584$764

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clay County	Gilmer County
Under 5	5.1%	3.7%
5 to 17	17.0%	12.1%
18 to 24	9.2%	11.7%
25 to 34	6.4%	12.7%
35 to 44	12.1%	15.3%
45 to 54	12.9%	13.7%
55 to 64	15.6%	13.0%
65 to 74	13.6%	10.3%
75 and over	8.2%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clay County	Gilmer County
White (non-Hispanic)	97.0%	79.1%
Black or African American	0.0%	14.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.8%
Two or more races	2.7%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	0.2%	3.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clay County	Gilmer County
No high school diploma	15.9%	18.5%
High school graduate	52.7%	47.3%
Some college or associate's	19.6%	14.3%
Bachelor's degree	7.0%	12.0%
Graduate or professional degree	4.8%	7.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clay County	Gilmer County
Drove alone	75.5%	73.8%
Carpooled	15.2%	15.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.4%	5.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.6%	2.8%
Other means	0.3%	2.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clay County	Gilmer County
1-unit, detached	65.5%	69.3%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.1%
2 to 4 units	1.8%	1.5%
5 to 19 units	1.5%	1.8%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.1%
Mobile home & other	31.2%	27.1%

Poverty & households

	Clay County	Gilmer County
Poverty rate	24.9%	12.9%
Average household size	2.66	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	39	33
Median year structure built	1983	1974