Clay County, Nebraska: Stable Rural Right county. In 2024, voted R+63%. Republican peak: R+63 in 2016.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+63MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Stable Rural RightAkashic typology
- Population
- 6,0952024 5-year
- Median household income
- $78,9862024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 88.3%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 9.7%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+41 in 1892MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+63 in 2016MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Furnas County, NE · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Clay CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Clay County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
—
Margin—
Turnout—
Harris +50Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1876–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
| Year | Margin (D minus R) |
|---|---|
| 1876 | No data |
| 1880 | No data |
| 1884 | No data |
| 1888 | No data |
| 1892 | +41.3% |
| 1896 | +0.3% |
| 1900 | −2.8% |
| 1904 | −39.8% |
| 1908 | +1.2% |
| 1912 | +31.1% |
| 1916 | +6.2% |
| 1920 | −38.5% |
| 1924 | −19.0% |
| 1928 | −39.5% |
| 1932 | +24.4% |
| 1936 | +1.3% |
| 1940 | −34.0% |
| 1944 | −37.6% |
| 1948 | −22.5% |
| 1952 | −52.3% |
| 1956 | −42.8% |
| 1960 | −38.6% |
| 1964 | +3.1% |
| 1968 | −39.2% |
| 1972 | −49.4% |
| 1976 | −23.9% |
| 1980 | −49.7% |
| 1984 | −56.2% |
| 1988 | −36.2% |
| 1992 | −28.5% |
| 1996 | −33.3% |
| 2000 | −48.3% |
| 2004 | −53.9% |
| 2008 | −46.1% |
| 2012 | −53.1% |
| 2016 | −63.5% |
| 2020 | −62.1% |
| 2024 | −63.3% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 577 | 2,677 | 3,319 | ||
| R | 632 | 2,848 | 3,570 | ||
| R | 477 | 2,422 | 3,065 | ||
| R | 667 | 2,232 | 2,947 | ||
| R | 780 | 2,177 | 3,033 | ||
| R | 743 | 2,543 | 3,337 | ||
| R | 774 | 2,326 | 3,215 | ||
| R | 880 | 1,982 | 3,311 | ||
| R | 802 | 1,824 | 3,588 | ||
| R | 1,097 | 2,352 | 3,470 | ||
| R | 811 | 2,920 | 3,756 | ||
| R | 840 | 2,739 | 3,824 | ||
| R | 1,369 | 2,254 | 3,703 | ||
| R | 861 | 2,542 | 3,403 | ||
| R | 935 | 2,273 | 3,414 | ||
| D | 2,001 | 1,879 | 3,880 | ||
| R | 1,331 | 3,005 | 4,336 | ||
| R | 1,240 | 3,099 | 4,339 | ||
| R | 1,115 | 3,559 | 4,674 | ||
| R | 1,589 | 2,511 | 4,100 | ||
| R | 1,530 | 3,375 | 4,905 | ||
| R | 1,763 | 3,576 | 5,339 | ||
| D | 2,932 | 2,856 | 5,918 | ||
| D | 3,878 | 2,320 | 6,376 | ||
| R | 1,767 | 4,105 | 5,926 | ||
| R | 1,716 | 2,758 | 5,481 | ||
| R | 1,466 | 3,392 | 5,008 | ||
| D | 1,975 | 1,737 | 3,821 | ||
| D | 1,694 | 557 | 3,658 | ||
| D | 1,939 | 1,891 | 3,956 | ||
| R | 701 | 2,118 | 3,561 | ||
| R | 1,826 | 1,932 | 3,829 | ||
| D | 1,703 | 1,691 | 3,473 | ||
| D | 1,624 | 232 | 3,374 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
38.2%
Irish
9.5%
English
8.2%
American
5.2%
Polish
1.8%
French
1.2%
Italian
0.9%
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
2024 ACS
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 39.1 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
85+
75–84
65–74
55–64
45–54
35–44
25–34
18–24
5–17
<5
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Median household income
Inflation-adjusted dollars
$78,986
Clay County ranks in the top 25% of US counties.
Clay County$78,986
Nebraska$76,475
United States$80,734
Clay County ranks in the top 25% of US counties by median household income.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
6.9%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 185.0%
Working age (18–64)7.3%
Seniors (65+)10.0%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
93.6%
speak English only
Spanish5.3%
Other Indo-European1.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 49.3% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Clay County's population has contracted steadily for decades as agricultural consolidation hollowed out small towns, leaving an older, rural electorate that has voted Republican by widening margins in each of the last four presidential cycles.
The Republican margin here reached sixty-three points in 2016. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved one point toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was sixty-three points.
A population of 6,095, a 88% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $78,986 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Furnas County and Red Willow County.
Most similar counties
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Clay County, Nebraska. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/31035/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More stable rural right counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Clay County, Nebraska vote in 2024?
In 2024, Clay County, Nebraska voted Republican by 63.3 points (R+63), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 3,319 votes cast, 577 went Democratic and 2,677 went Republican.
What is Clay County, Nebraska's political typology?
Akashic places Clay County, Nebraska in the "Stable Rural Right" typology — Mountain, Plains, and rural Republican counties already near their ceiling, with little further room to swing. The typology is a data-driven cluster built from vote share, vote swing, race and ethnicity, income, language spoken at home, religion, and ancestry. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the county has voted Democratic 8 times, Republican 26 times, and other 0 times.
When did Clay County, Nebraska last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Clay County, Nebraska voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Clay County, Nebraska?
Clay County, Nebraska has a population of 6,095 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Clay County, Nebraska?
Median household income in Clay County, Nebraska is $78,986 — below the national median of $80,734. The Nebraska state median is $76,475.
What is the political history of Clay County, Nebraska?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Clay County, Nebraska from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 8 went Democratic and 26 went Republican. The county's typology — "Stable Rural Right" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.