Clayton County, Iowa facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Clayton County
U.S. county
Winter scene near Elkader
Location within the U.S. state of Iowa
Iowa's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Iowa
Founded	1837
Named for	John M. Clayton
Seat	Elkader
Largest city	Guttenberg
Area
• Total	793 sq mi (2,050 km2)
• Land	779 sq mi (2,020 km2)
• Water	14 sq mi (40 km2)  1.8%
Population  (2020)
• Total	17,043
• Density	21.492/sq mi (8.298/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	1st

Clayton County is a special area of land in the state of Iowa, USA. It's like a big neighborhood with its own local government. In 2020, about 17,043 people lived here. The main town, or county seat, where the county government offices are, is Elkader.

Clayton County was created in 1837. It was named after a famous person named John M. Clayton. He was a Senator from Delaware and later worked for President Zachary Taylor as the Secretary of State.

Exploring Clayton County's Land

Route W68 shield

Clayton County covers a total area of about 793 square miles. Most of this is land, about 779 square miles. The rest, about 14 square miles, is water. This makes it the fifth-largest county in Iowa by size.

Neighboring Counties

Clayton County shares its borders with several other counties:

Main Roads and Highways

Many important roads run through Clayton County, helping people travel around.

Protected Natural Areas

Parts of these special natural areas are found in Clayton County:

• Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge (a place for wildlife)
• Effigy Mounds National Monument (ancient earth mounds)
• Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (another wildlife area)

Unique Land Features

Clayton County is part of a special region called the Driftless Area. This area was not covered by ice during the last ice age. Because of this, its rivers have carved deep valleys. The Mississippi River also has amazing tall cliffs, called bluffs, along its banks.

People and Population

Population of Clayton County from US census data

2020 Population Count

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

In 2020, a count of the population showed that 17,043 people lived in Clayton County. This means there were about 22 people living in each square mile. Most people, about 93 out of every 100, were non-Hispanic White. There were 8,758 homes, and 7,315 of them were lived in.

2010 Population Count

The 2010 population count found 18,130 people living in the county. There were 8,999 homes, and 7,599 of them were lived in.

Towns and Villages

Cities in Clayton County

These are the cities you can find in Clayton County:

Smaller Communities (Unincorporated)

These are smaller places that are not officially cities:

County Divisions (Townships)

Clayton County is also divided into these smaller areas called townships:

City Population Sizes (2020)

Here is a list of the cities and towns in Clayton County, ranked by how many people lived there in 2020. † This symbol means it's the county seat, the main town.

See also

In Spanish: Condado de Clayton (Iowa) para niños