Clay County, Alabama

Encyclopedia : C : CL : CLA : Clay County, Alabama

Clay County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of Henry Clay, famous American statesman, member of the United States Senate from Kentucky and United States Secretary of State in the 19th century. As of 2000 the population was 14,254. Its county seat is Ashland and it's a prohibition or dry county.

Contents

1 History
2 Geography

2.1 Adjacent Counties

3 Demographics
4 Cities and towns
5 See also

History

Clay County was established on December 7, 1866.

Clay County was created on 26 December 1866 from land taken from Randolph and Talladega Counties. Named after the statesman Henry Clay, the county seat was named after his estate called Ashland in Lexington, Kentucky. Clay County was formed as the citizens had a difficult time reaching the county seats of Wedowee in Randolph County because of the river to the east and Talladega was difficult to reach because of the intervening mountains. From www.genrecords.org/alhn/clay/

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,570 km² (606 mi²). 1,567 km² (605 mi²) of it is land and 2 km² (1 mi²) of it (0.15%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 14,254 people, 5,765 households, and 4,098 families residing in the county. The population density was 9/km² (24/mi²). There were 6,612 housing units at an average density of 4/km² (11/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 82.62% White, 15.70% Black or African American, 0.32% Native American, 0.10% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.46% from other races, and 0.79% from two or more races. 1.77% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 5,765 households out of which 30.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.70% were married couples living together, 10.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.90% were non-families. 26.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.93.

In the county the population was spread out with 23.80% under the age of 18, 8.00% from 18 to 24, 27.40% from 25 to 44, 24.20% from 45 to 64, and 16.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 95.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.10 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $27,885, and the median income for a family was $34,033. Males had a median income of $26,118 versus $18,637 for females. The per capita income for the county was $13,785. About 12.90% of families and 17.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.60% of those under age 18 and 19.00% of those age 65 or over.

Cities and towns