Clay County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 18,636. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

. Its name is in honor of American statesman

Henry Clay Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Spea ...

, member of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

from

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

and

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the ...

in the 19th century. J. Wesley Caradine, an African American, was the first state representative for Clay County after it was established in 1871. The federal government formerly designated Clay County as the West Point Micropolitan Statistical Area, but the county lost that status in 2013. It is part of the Golden Triangle region of the state.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.4%) is water.

Major highways

* U.S. Route 45 Alternate * Mississippi Highway 25 * Mississippi Highway 46 * Mississippi Highway 47 * Mississippi Highway 50

Adjacent counties

* Chickasaw County (north) * Monroe County (northeast) * Lowndes County (southeast) * Oktibbeha County (south) * Webster County (west)

National protected area

* Natchez Trace Parkway (part)

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 18,636 people, 7,618 households, and 4,841 families residing in the county.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 20,634 people living in the county. 58.2% were Black or African American, 40.5%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% Native American, 0.3% of some other race and 0.6% of two or more races. 1.0% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 21,979 people, 8,152 households, and 5,885 families living in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 8,810 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 56.33%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 42.82%

, 0.05% Native American, 0.16% Asian, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.21% from other races, and 0.42% from two or more races. 0.86% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. According to the

of 2000, the largest ancestry groups in Clay County were African 56.3%, English 35% and Scots-Irish 4.5%. There were 8,152 households, out of which 35.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.80% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 22.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.80% were non-families. 25.50% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.19. In the county, the population was spread out, with 28.80% under the age of 18, 10.40% from 18 to 24, 26.50% from 25 to 44, 21.10% from 45 to 64, and 13.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 89.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.60 males. The median income for a household in the county was $27,372, and the median income for a family was $35,461. Males had a median income of $30,038 versus $19,473 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $14,512. About 19.20% of families and 23.50% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 34.20% of those under age 18 and 21.90% of those age 65 or over.

Law enforcement

Clay County has a

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

law enforcement system.

Education

Clay County is within the service area of the East Mississippi Community College system.CATALOG 2007-2009
." East Mississippi Community College. 3 (3/147). Retrieved on March 1, 2011.

Public schools

* West Point Consolidated School District and West Point High School are in the county.

Communities

City

(county seat)

Census-designated place

* Pheba

Unincorporated communities

* Abbott * Cedarbluff * Hopewell * Montpelier * Tibbee * Una * Waverly * White Station

Ghost town

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

Politics

Clay County is a Democratic stronghold, owing to its high African-American population. It last supported a Republican candidate in 1984, when it was narrowly won by

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

References

{{authority control Mississippi counties 1871 establishments in Mississippi Populated places established in 1871 Black Belt (U.S. region) Majority-minority counties in Mississippi