Clay County, Kentucky

• White (non-Hispanic) 18,179 91.3%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 421 2.1%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 769 3.9%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 14 0.1%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 501 2.5%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 14 0.1%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 23 0.1%

• Under 18 4,096 20.6%
• 18–24 1,379 6.9%
• 25–44 5,811 29.2%
• 45–64 5,455 27.4%
• 65 and over 3,180 16.0%

Median household income

$39,016

90% interval $34,495–$43,537

−$25,465 vs KY · 118th of 120

Below poverty line

33.6%

90% interval 27.2%–40.0%

+18.2 pp vs KY · 5th of 120

Unemployment (12-mo)

5.9%

+1.5 pp vs. state

County GDP

$454.8M

0.15% of state

Avg. annual pay

$48,346

Establishments

425

• Education & health services 1,143 28.0%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 689 16.9%
• Public administration 556 13.6%
• Leisure & hospitality 265 6.5%
• Professional & business services 181 4.4%
• Manufacturing 158 3.9%
• Financial activities 111 2.7%
• Construction 107 2.6%
• Other services 73 1.8%
• Natural resources & mining 24 0.6%
• Information 16 0.4%

The sectors listed cover 81.3% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

76.4%

+8.1 pp vs KY · 41st of 120

Median gross rent

$724

−$243 vs KY · 81st of 120

Owner-occupied

5,565

Renter-occupied

1,723

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 58% of the county workforce. Substantial intra-sector overlap among panelists is likely; confirm employer relationships before sector-specific framing.

• Moderate wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Professional & business services, $71,746/yr) pays 3.6× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $19,789/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Small-business scale

  Average establishment employs only 9.6 workers, a small-business-dominated local economy. Expect more self-employed and small-business-owner panelists than in institutional-employer venues.

• Republican 6,729 89.5%
• Democratic 692 9.2%
• Other / third-party 96 1.3%

• Spanish 264 1.4%
• German or other West Germanic 26 0.1%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 17 0.1%
• Arabic 5 0.0%

Households

7,288

Family households

5,256

72.1% of households

Married couples w/ children

1,223

23.3% of families

Single-mother families

627

11.9% of families

Veterans

615

3.9% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 8,156 40.1%
• Mainline Protestant 441 2.2%
• Black Protestant 216 1.1%
• Catholic 59 0.3%

Health insured

94.8%

±1.3 pp

Uninsured

5.2%

±1.3 pp

75th of 120

With a disability

27.6%

±3.1 pp

14th of 120

Bachelor's or higher

15.5%

±2.3 pp

−12.1 pp vs KY · 73rd of 120

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

10.5%

90% interval 9.2%–11.8% · Census SAHIE

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

Trial court

41st Judicial Circuit Court

Judges

1 (Circuit Court judges per circuit (general civil + felony criminal jurisdiction; civil amount-in-controversy > $5,000); District Court judges (limited jurisdiction) separate. Vintage 2026 kycourts.gov; shaded-bench counts per Wikipedia 'Kentucky Circuit Courts' judge-count map, with the three '6 or more' circuits (16th Kenton, 22nd Fayette, 30th Jefferson) hard-pinned to 6, 9, and 23 respectively per Wikipedia footnote 4. Mid-range single-county metro and exurban-cluster circuits are conservative midpoints; verify against KRS § 23A.040 before relying on exact counts.)

Court seats

Hyden, Manchester, McKee

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

2

12.64 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

2