Clay County, MN

54% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 57% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.3 students for every full-time teacher across 23 public schools, more than in most measured places.

40.1% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Minnesota’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Population has grown 2% since 2020, reaching 66,848 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before: 332 units authorized in 2025, up 23% on the prior year.

Population is still rising but the pace is easing: 66,848 residents in 2024, up 0.6% over the year, a smaller gain than the year before.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Clay County in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $48,341, below the $55,951 of households that moved out.

At 4.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.

People moving in and out

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, cold wave and tornado, with inland flooding alone responsible for 67% of it.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Clay County has a modeled homicide rate of about 3.1 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at about 12.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 11.9 per 100,000 residents in Clay County.

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Clay County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest Hector Intl at 15 miles.

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.