Clay County, Iowa facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Clay County
U.S. county
Clay County Courthouse
Location within the U.S. state of Iowa
Iowa's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Iowa
Founded	1851
Named for	Henry Clay Jr.
Seat	Spencer
Largest city	Spencer
Area
• Total	573 sq mi (1,480 km2)
• Land	567 sq mi (1,470 km2)
• Water	5.4 sq mi (14 km2)  0.9%
Population  (2020)
• Total	16,384
• Estimate  (2023)	16,511
• Density	28.593/sq mi (11.040/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	4th

Clay County is a county in the state of Iowa. It's like a special area within the state. In 2020, about 16,384 people lived here. The main town, or county seat, is Spencer.

The county is named after Henry Clay Jr.. He was a brave soldier who died in the Mexican–American War. His father, also named Henry Clay, was a very famous American leader from Kentucky. Clay County is also home to the big Clay County Fair every year! The first newspaper in the county was the Peterson Patriot, which started in 1880.

Geography

Clay County covers about 573 square miles (1,480 km²) of land and water. Most of this area, about 567 square miles (1,470 km²), is land. The rest, about 5.4 square miles (14 km²), is water. A cool place in Clay County is the large Barringer Slough wetland, which is a watery, marshy area.

Major roads

You can get around Clay County using these important roads:

• U.S. Highway 18
• U.S. Highway 71
• Iowa Highway 10

Airport

The Spencer Municipal Airport is located about three miles (4.8 km) northwest of Spencer. This airport helps people travel to and from the county and nearby towns.

Neighboring counties

Clay County shares its borders with these other counties:

• Dickinson County (to the north)
• Palo Alto County (to the east)
• Buena Vista County (to the south)
• O'Brien County (to the west)

Population facts

Population of Clay County from US census data

2020 census details

2022 US Census population pyramid for Clay County from ACS 5-year estimates

In 2020, the census counted 16,384 people living in Clay County. This means there were about 28.6719/sq mi (11.0703/km²) people per square mile. Most people (96.20%) said they belonged to one race. There were 8,109 homes, and 7,222 of them were lived in.

Here's a look at the different groups of people living in Clay County in 2020:

2010 census details

The 2010 census showed that 16,667 people lived in Clay County. There were 8,062 homes, and 7,282 of them were lived in.

What people do for work

For a long time, farming has been a very important part of Clay County's economy. In the 1980s, there was a tough time for farmers, and some families had to stop farming. Over time, farms have become larger. The number of people living in the county has gone down a bit since 1980.

At one point, an airline company called Great Lakes Airlines had its main office in Summit Township, which is in Clay County.

Towns and areas

Cities

Here are the cities you can find in Clay County:

Townships

Clay County is also divided into smaller areas called townships:

City populations

This table shows how many people live in each city in Clay County, based on the 2020 census. † This means it's the county seat, or main town.

See also

In Spanish: Condado de Clay (Iowa) para niños