Kentucky · County property tax · ACS 2024
Clay County Property Taxes
The median homeowner in Clay County pays $634 a year, an effective rate of 0.70%, far below the U.S. average.
- $634
- Median tax / yr · Very low bill
- 0.70%
- Effective rate · Below-median rate
- -68%
- vs U.S. average
- #53 of 120
- rank in KY
The verdict
Homeowners in Clay County pay a median $634 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.70%, more affordable than 60% of U.S. counties (Census ACS 2024).
- $634
- Median annual tax bill, 2024
- 0.70%
- Effective rate on median home
- #1260 of 3135
- U.S. counties by tax burden
- -68%
- vs the national average bill
Effective rate is the median property tax bill divided by the median home value ($90,700). U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2024.
Census Bureau ACS property tax data for Kentucky. Population: 19,921. Owner-occupied homes: 5,565.
The median annual property tax in Clay County is $634, which is 59% lower than the Kentucky state average and 68% below the national average. The effective tax rate is 0.70% on a median home value of $90,700. Property taxes represent 1.6% of the median household income in this county.
Why Clay County's ACS bill runs light vs the U.S.
Primary signal
The bill sits well below the national median
Homeowners in Clay County pay a median annual property tax of $634, far below the national median and far below the Kentucky state median. On a $90,700 median home, that works out to an effective rate of 0.70% once the local assessment base and millage are combined.
Decision signal 2
Income carries a light tax share
Property taxes in Clay County run a bit below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.6% of the $40,900 median household income.
Decision signal 3
The effective rate sits near the national middle
Clay County's 0.70% effective rate sits near the middle of 3,135 tracked counties (more affordable than 60%).
Decision signal 4
Near the middle of Kentucky counties by effective rate
Clay County ranks #53 of 120 counties in Kentucky by effective rate (56% of in-state counties pay a lower rate).
Informational notice
Figures describe the median homeowner household in Clay County as reported to the Census Bureau; your parcel can differ. Not tax, legal, or financial advice: check the county assessor or a qualified professional before decisions that depend on these numbers.
Most of the market's rise reached the bill
The effective rate here moved 11.1% down between 2020 and 2024, a smaller shift than in 55% of U.S. counties. With the median home value rose 48.0%, the median bill rose 31.5% to $634: the rate did comparatively little to offset the market.
Effective rate is the published median bill divided by the published median home value, so the two multiply back to the bill exactly; the rate's movement here is derived from those two figures rather than read from the rounded published rate. Both are ACS 5-year survey estimates for the median owner-occupied household, compared across non-overlapping releases. They describe what the Census published, not a local policy, assessment, or exemption change.
How to read this county's bill
The bill here climbed steeply over 2020-2024, up 32% from $482 to $634. These ACS medians describe the reported change; they do not identify whether a levy, assessment, home value, or change in the responding households caused it.
The largest reported group here falls at the bottom of the national range: 2,482 of 5,565 owner-occupied homes (44.6%) report annual real-estate taxes under $800. This distribution describes reported owner-occupied homes, not an affordability judgment for any property.
Incomes here are in the lowest quarter nationally while the rate sits just below the middle, and the median bill lands at 1.6% of median household income. The rate reads as unremarkable in a national ranking; the earnings behind it are not, and the ratio above is where the two meet.
The share above is the median annual bill divided by median household income, a ratio of two county-level medians rather than a household-by-household figure.
Paying off the mortgage changes the picture here
33.3% of Clay County homes owned free and clear (1,241 of 3,732) report no property tax at all, against 6.4% of homes still carrying a mortgage. A reported zero is not proof of an exemption: it can equally mean a bill paid by another party, or a reporting artefact. But a gap this size is where age- and disability-based relief usually shows up, because those programmes reach owners who have finished paying.
What Clay County Homeowners Actually Pay
The single largest group of Clay County homeowners, 2,482 of 5,565 owner-occupied homes (44.6%), pays less than $800 a year. The median is one point in this spread, not a typical bill.
- Less than $800 44.6% (2,482)
- $800 to $1,499 17.2% (956)
- $1,500 to $1,999 7.7% (426)
- $2,000 to $2,999 5.9% (330)
- $3,000 or more 0.2% (13)
Census ACS 2024, table B25102. Bands and the no-tax share sum to 100%.
1,358 homes here (24.4%) report no real estate tax at all, a sizeable minority for a county this size. Exemptions are set by state: how Kentucky handles assessments and appeals.
With vs Without Mortgage
Mortgaged homeowners in Clay County pay more than double the bill of those without one (+70%), the widest kind of value gap this dataset tracks.
Clay County's bill vs state & U.S. medians
Median annual bill bars around Clay County's LIGHT ACS 2024 figure.
Clay County's median bill is 59% below the Kentucky median and 68% below the U.S. median.
What changed since 2020
The median bill in Clay County moved from $482 in the 2020 release to $634 in 2024, a change of about 32%. These are American Community Survey 5-year estimates compared across releases that share only one sample year, which is why this page never compares consecutive releases: those overlap in four years of the same households and move mostly on sampling.
Clay County vs Benchmarks
| Metric | Clay County | Kentucky Avg | U.S. Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Annual Tax Very low bill | |||
| Effective Tax Rate Below-median rate | |||
| Median Home Value | |||
| Tax as % of income Light income burden | 1.6% | - | - |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates. Tax-burden differences across rows reflect millage decisions, assessment-ratio practices, and the residential-vs-commercial mix of each tax base.
Clay County is UNDER · LIGHT on ACS medians, still verify your parcel card before quoting the county figure. Estimate appeal savings · Kentucky counties.
Clay County bill trail · LIGHT
| Year | Median Tax (vs prior release) | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $634 +6.0% | 0.70% |
| 2023 | $598 +5.7% | 0.68% |
| 2022 | $566 +6.6% | 0.77% |
| 2021 | $531 +10.2% | 0.79% |
| 2020 | $482 | 0.79% |
Each row is a separate ACS 5-year release, and consecutive releases share four of their five survey years. The percentage beside each bill is therefore movement in the published estimate against the previous release, not a single year's tax change. The two releases largely describe the same households. For change over time, compare releases that do not overlap.
Clay County: tax takes only 1.6% of income
Counties near Clay County's median bill
On effective rate, Clay County sits nearest Whitley County (IN), Power County (ID), Oconee County (GA).
On published median-tax change, the nearest matches are Imperial County (CA), Turner County (GA), Neshoba County (MS).
How peers are chosen
These are the nearest cross-state matches in the published Census data, not neighboring counties or recommendations. Peers are rebuilt with each data release; see the calculation method.
Similar effective rates
Similar published median-tax changes, 2020–2024
Clay County: only 1% of returns show Schedule A real-estate tax
Tax year 2022: 50 of 6,270 returns from Clay County reported real estate taxes, averaging $2,220 - 60% of those reporters sat in the $100-200k AGI band.
What this IRS county file does not say
Amounts are reported before the SALT cap, not deducted; the share is of filers, not homeowners. Source: IRS SOI county data, tax year 2022.
Other Counties in Kentucky
Clay County bill FAQs
- How does Clay County property tax compare to the national average?
- Property taxes in Clay County run far below the national median of $1,993, an effective rate of 0.70% versus 0.92% nationally.
- Are property taxes increasing in Clay County?
- The ACS median property-tax bill for Clay County jumped 31.5% between the 2020 and 2024 5-year releases, from $482 to $634, a 4-year span. These are survey estimates covering five years each, so this compares the two releases furthest apart rather than consecutive ones, which overlap and would mostly measure the same households twice.
- What percentage of income goes to property taxes in Clay County?
- Property taxes in Clay County run a bit below the commonly cited 2%-4% national benchmark, at about 1.6% of the $40,900 median household income.
- What is the tax affordability score for Clay County?
- Clay County, Kentucky scores B (72/100) on PlainPropertyTax's tax affordability composite across 5 Census ACS dimensions (effective rate, bill size, income share, mortgage gap, and home-value/income). Its strongest scored dimension here is bill size at A+ ($634/yr). The score compares published county medians to U.S. percentiles, it is not a personal bill and not advice to buy, sell, appeal, or relocate.
- What is the average property tax in Clay County, Kentucky?
- The median annual property tax in Clay County is $634, an effective rate of 0.70% on a $90,700 median home (Census ACS, 2024).
What to do with Clay County's LIGHT bill
Clay County's $634 median bill sits well below the U.S. median - still size a parcel estimate; local millage and exemptions move the real bill. Estimate your bill →
Income burden is light here: about 1.6% of Clay County's $40,900 median household income goes to the property-tax bill.
Nationwide peers by median bill (then rate)
Bill-first peers for Clay County's LIGHT median, then a disjoint out-of-state rate set, not the same-state geography lattice.
Similar effective rate
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS effective rate. This county: 0.70%.
Similar median bill
Nearest out-of-state counties by ACS median annual tax. This county: $634/yr. Rate peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Read with Clay County
Nearest ABS(median_tax) ACS peers for Clay County (UNDER · LIGHT), replacing the old fixed Keep exploring strip.
UNDER LIGHT
Fulton County, KY
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Clay County at $634/yr; rate 0.80% vs Clay County 0.70%.
Harper County, OK
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Clay County at $634/yr; rate 0.64% vs Clay County 0.70%.
Perry County, AR
ABS(median_tax) peer · tied with Clay County at $634/yr; rate 0.49% vs Clay County 0.70%.
Mississippi County, AR
ABS(median_tax) peer · $635/yr (near-tied bill ABS $1); rate 0.52% vs Clay County 0.70%.
Kentucky county set
State ACS overview for every published Kentucky county rate and median bill.
Assessment cycle basics
Clay County stamps UNDER · LIGHT - how assessed value and millage become the ACS median bill.
Data vintage and method
Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.
Property tax data reflects median amounts paid by homeowners. Effective rates are calculated as median tax divided by median home value.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, county median real-estate taxes · 2024 Clay County (UNDER · LIGHT) - ACS medians, not a parcel bill.