66,848 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.3% since 2020)
1,045 square miles of land · 64 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.
13 active community water systems list Clay County in the area they serve, reporting 57,949 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| Moorhead surface water · local government · MN1140008 | 44,583 served |
| Dilworth buys surface water · local government · MN1140003 | 4,918 served |
| Barnesville groundwater · local government · MN1140001 | 2,784 served |
| Hawley groundwater · local government · MN1140006 | 2,267 served |
| Glyndon groundwater · local government · MN1140005 | 1,386 served |
| Sabin groundwater · local government · MN1140010 | 629 served |
| Ulen groundwater · local government · MN1140011 | 500 served |
| Hitterdal groundwater · local government · MN1140007 | 208 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 81 people were held in Clay County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 189 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 78.
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.
5 school districts have their office in Clay County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $156.8 million — $108 million to run schools, about $14,570 per student, plus $39.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $26.3 million local (mostly property tax), $87.2 million state, $10.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $215.6 million.
Spent $33.1 million — $19 million to run schools, about $12,188 per student, plus $11.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.2 million local (mostly property tax), $17.1 million state, $2 million federal. Long-term debt: $42.4 million.
Spent $18.1 million — $12 million to run schools, about $11,422 per student, plus $4.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.4 million local (mostly property tax), $10.3 million state, $1.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $16.8 million.
Spent $14.7 million — $11.7 million to run schools, about $12,787 per student, plus $1.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.4 million local (mostly property tax), $9.6 million state, $713,000 federal. Long-term debt: $26.7 million.
Spent $5.4 million — $4.6 million to run schools, about $16,678 per student, plus $204,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.7 million local (mostly property tax), $3.3 million state, $435,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3.2 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 $42 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
224 bridges in Clay County: 121 in good condition, 92 fair, and 11 poor (4.9%). “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.
| I 94 over OTVRR · built 1968 | 8,148 vehicles a day |
| I 94 over OTVRR · built 1968 | 8,148 vehicles a day |
| US 10 over S BR BUFFALO R · built 1939 | 8,105 vehicles a day |
| CSAH 36 over RED RIVER OF THE NORTH · built 1949 | 135 vehicles a day |
| CR 51 over STREAM · built 1953 | 55 vehicles a day |
| T 31 over S BR BUFFALO RIVER · built 1948 | 51 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $29.8 million of work in Clay County in fiscal 2025, about $456 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 Minnesota 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 Minnesota: the state government and every county in Minnesota.
Nearby counties: Norman County (30 mi) · Becker County (36 mi) · Cass County, ND (36 mi) · Wilkin County (37 mi) · Mahnomen County (44 mi) · Richland County, ND (48 mi).