Clay County, Illinois

• White (non-Hispanic) 12,377 94.8%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 264 2.0%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 38 0.3%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 28 0.2%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 303 2.3%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 15 0.1%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 27 0.2%

• Under 18 3,111 23.8%
• 18–24 930 7.1%
• 25–44 3,009 23.1%
• 45–64 3,275 25.1%
• 65 and over 2,727 20.9%

Median household income

$62,117

90% interval $55,177–$69,057

−$21,210 vs IL · 86th of 102

Below poverty line

14.0%

90% interval 11.2%–16.8%

+2.5 pp vs IL · 33rd of 102

Unemployment (12-mo)

5.0%

+0.13 pp vs. state

County GDP

$699.4M

0.06% of state

Avg. annual pay

$52,006

Establishments

299

• Manufacturing 1,519 32.4%
• Education & health services 1,064 22.7%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 931 19.8%
• Leisure & hospitality 261 5.6%
• Natural resources & mining 220 4.7%
• Financial activities 169 3.6%
• Information 106 2.3%
• Professional & business services 92 2.0%
• Other services 88 1.9%
• Construction 61 1.3%
• Public administration 7 0.1%

The sectors listed cover 96.3% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

79.3%

+12.2 pp vs IL · 32nd of 102

Median gross rent

$735

−$539 vs IL · 82nd of 102

Owner-occupied

4,211

Renter-occupied

1,100

• Concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 75% of the county workforce. Most panelists likely share employer relationships within these sectors, surface those connections early in voir dire before any institutional-defendant or sector-specific framing.

• Moderate wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Information, $76,273/yr) pays 3.8× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $19,888/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 16 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

• Republican 5,610 82.9%
• Democratic 1,054 15.6%
• Other / third-party 102 1.5%

• Spanish 109 0.9%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 15 0.1%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 9 0.1%
• Vietnamese 8 0.1%
• Tagalog 1 0.0%

Households

5,311

Family households

3,315

62.4% of households

Married couples w/ children

823

24.8% of families

Single-mother families

381

11.5% of families

Veterans

880

8.9% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 7,114 53.5%
• Catholic 1,290 9.7%
• Mainline Protestant 1,002 7.5%
• Black Protestant 40 0.3%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 2 0.0%

Health insured

94.9%

±1.5 pp

Uninsured

5.1%

±1.5 pp

49th of 102

With a disability

18.0%

±2 pp

28th of 102

Bachelor's or higher

13.1%

±2.7 pp

−24.7 pp vs IL · 99th of 102

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

7.3%

90% interval 6.4%–8.2% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

4th Judicial Circuit Court

Judges

14 (Combined Circuit Judge + Associate Judge counts per circuit. Vintage 2024-2025; hand-sourced from per-circuit official court websites and the 2023-2024 Illinois Blue Book (ilsos.gov) judge roster, cross-referenced against the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts directory. Cook County total of ~400 reflects the Circuit Court of Cook County's combined elected Circuit Judges (~257) plus appointed Associate Judges (~145), the largest unified trial court in the United States. Several smaller downstate circuits carry estimates (see source comments).)

Court seats

Carlyle, Effingham, Hillsboro, Louisville, Newton, Salem, Shelbyville, Taylorville, Vandalia

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

5

50.3 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

5