Clay County, North Carolina

Clay County is a located in the  of. As of, the population is 8,775. Its is. Clay County is one of the four counties in North Carolina, along with, , and.

History
The county was formed in from the southeastern part of. John Covington Moore was the first white settler in the region. It was named for, famous American statesman, member of the from  and  in the.

Law and government
Clay County is a member of the regional council of governments.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 571 (221 ). 556 km² (215 sq mi) of it is land and 15 km² (6 sq mi) of it (2.67%) is water.

Clay County is bordered to the south by the state of and the. The forms part of its northeastern border. The county is drained by the. In the southern part of Clay County is, on the North Carolina-Georgia border. Much of Clay County exists within the. Fires Creek Bear Reserve is north of the township of Tusquittee

Townships
The county is divided into seven : Brasstown, Hayesville, Hiwassee, Shooting Creek, Sweetwater, Tusquittee and Warne.

Adjacent Counties

 * - northeast
 * - southeast
 * - south
 * - southwest
 * - northwest

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 8,775 people, 3,847 households, and 2,727 families residing in the county. The was 16/km² (41/sq mi). There were 5,425 housing units at an average density of 10/km² (25/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 98.01%, 0.80% or , 0.33% , 0.09% , 0.07% , 0.15% from , and 0.56% from two or more races. 0.83% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 3,847 households out of which 23.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.80% were living together, 7.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.10% were non-families. 26.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.68.

In the county the population was spread out with 18.60% under the age of 18, 6.20% from 18 to 24, 22.80% from 25 to 44, 29.80% from 45 to 64, and 22.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females there were 94.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.40 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $31,397, and the median income for a family was $38,264. Males had a median income of $29,677 versus $19,529 for females. The for the county was $18,221. About 7.80% of families and 11.40% of the population were below the, including 14.60% of those under age 18 and 13.00% of those age 65 or over.