Located in east-central Alabama, Clay County is home to large portions of the Talladega National Forest. A seat of Jacksonian Democratic politics in the late nineteenth century, the county was one of the strongest advocates of a radical agrarian uprising of the 1890s. The Ashland-Lineville high-school football rivalry was recently named one of the top football rivalries in the nation by USA Today. The county is governed by an elected five-member commission.
- Founding Date: December 7, 1866
- Area: 605 square miles
- Population: 13,483 (2016 Census estimate)
- Major Waterways: Hatchett Creek, Ketchepedrakee Creek, Little Hillabee Creek
- Major Highways: State Route 9, State Route 77, State Route 49
- County Seat: Ashland
- Largest City: Lineville
History


Major Cities and Demographics
According to 2016 Census estimates, Clay County recorded a population of 13,483. Of that total, 82.9 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 14.8 percent as black, 3.1 as percent Hispanic, 0.9 percent as Native American, and 0.9 percent as two or more races. The county seat, Ashland, had a population of 2,231. The other significant population center in the county is Lineville. The median household income in Clay County was $38,815, compared with $44,758 for the rest of the state. The per capita income was $21,115, compared with $24,736 for the rest of the county.
Economy
Because of its hilly terrain, Clay County agriculturalists primarily grew corn on small farms during the nineteenth century. Farming declined in the decades following the Civil War, and large numbers of people took jobs in manufacturing, the timber industry, and poultry plants.
According to 2016 Census estimates, the workforce in Clay County was divided among the following industrial categories:
- Manufacturing (34.1 percent)
- Educational services, and health care and social assistance (16.1 percent)
- Retail trade (10.2 percent)
- Construction (6.1 percent)
- Arts, entertainment, recreation, and accommodation and food services (5.6 percent)
- Public administration (5.3 percent)
- Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extractive (4.6 percent)
- Finance and insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing (4.6 percent)
- Professional, scientific, management, administrative and waste management services (4.3 percent)
- Transportation and warehousing, and utilities (4.1 percent)
- Other services, except public administration (3.2 percent)
- Information (1.3 percent)
- Wholesale trade (0.6 percent)
Education
The Clay County School System oversees six schools. In addition, Clay County contains one private school.
Geography

The Ketchepedrakee Creek, a tributary of the Tallapoosa River, flows through the northern half of the county, and the Little Hillabee Creek, a tributary of the Coosa River, flows through the southern half. Hatchett Creek flows from north to south through the county. State Routes 49 and 9, which run north to south, and State Route 77, which runs east to west, are the county's only major transportation routes. Ashland-Lineville Airport is the county's only airport.
Events and Places of Interest

Additional Resources
Grundy, Pamela. You Always Think of Home: A Portrait of Clay County, Alabama. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1991.
Heritage of Clay County, Alabama. Clanton, Ala.: Heritage Publishing Consultants, Inc., 1998.