19,592 people (2024 Census estimate, −3.5% since 2020)
469 square miles of land · 42 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
2 active community water systems list Clay County in the area they serve, reporting 16,681 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| MANCHESTER WATER WORKS surface water · local government · KY0260737 | 11,349 served |
| NORTH MANCHESTER WATER ASSOC buys surface water · private · KY0260266 | 5,332 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 216 people were held in Clay County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2026). In 2021 it was about 263.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
1 school district has its office in Clay County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $51.6 million — $40.9 million to run schools, about $14,039 per student, plus $9.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8.1 million local (mostly property tax), $29.2 million state, $13.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $19.9 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Clay County about $15.8 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
165 bridges in Clay County: 35 in good condition, 107 fair, and 23 poor (13.9%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| KY-11 over COLLINS FORK--GOOSE CREE · built 1946 | 1,915 vehicles a day |
| US-421 over SPENCERS BRANCH · built 1936 | 1,224 vehicles a day |
| US-421 over RICE BRANCH · built 1934 | 700 vehicles a day |
| KY-66 over JACKS CREEK · built 1958 | 493 vehicles a day |
| CR1366 over Sextons Creek · built 2011 | 398 vehicles a day |
| KY-1482 over LITTLE BULLSKIN CREEK · built 1976 | 323 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $3.8 million of work in Clay County in fiscal 2025, about $185 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Kentucky are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Clay County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Clay County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kentucky: the state government and every county in Kentucky.
Nearby counties: Owsley County (18 mi) · Leslie County (19 mi) · Knox County (21 mi) · Laurel County (22 mi) · Jackson County (24 mi) · Perry County (28 mi).