Clayton County, Iowa

Clayton County is a located in the  of. It was established in 1837 and was named in honor of, United States Senator from and later  under President. As of 2000, the population was 18,678. Its is.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,053 (793 ). 2,017 km² (779 sq mi) of it is land and 36 km² (14 sq mi) of it (1.77%) is water.

Geology
Clayton County is part of the, a region that completely missed being ice-covered during the last. Streams have deeply carved valleys, while the has spectacular bluffs.

Adjacent counties

 * (north)
 * (northeast), across the
 * (east), across the
 * (southwest)
 * (south)
 * (southeast)
 * (west)
 * (northwest)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 18,678 people, 7,375 households, and 5,132 families residing in the county. The was 9/km² (24/sq mi). There were 8,619 housing units at an average density of 4/km² (11/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 98.93%, 0.14% or , 0.22% , 0.11% , 0.01% , 0.19% from , and 0.41% from two or more races. 0.76% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 7,375 households out of which 30.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.70% were living together, 6.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.40% were non-families. 26.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the county the population was spread out with 25.40% under the age of 18, 6.50% from 18 to 24, 26.00% from 25 to 44, 23.60% from 45 to 64, and 18.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 97.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.50 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $34,068, and the median income for a family was $40,199. Males had a median income of $27,165 versus $19,644 for females. The for the county was $16,930. About 5.70% of families and 8.60% of the population were below the, including 9.60% of those under age 18 and 9.40% of those age 65 or over.