Clayton is a medium-sized town located in the state of North Carolina. With a population of 29,445 people and 14 associated neighborhoods, Clayton is the 42nd largest community in North Carolina. Clayton has seen a significant amount of newer housing growth in recent years. Quite often, new home construction is the result of new residents moving in who are middle class or wealthier, attracted by jobs, a healthy local economy, or other amenities as they leave nearby or far away areas for greener pastures. This seems to be the case in Clayton, where the median household income is $71,698.00.

Also of interest is that Clayton has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

A relatively large number of people in Clayton telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 13.08% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

In Clayton, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 31.99 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average.

In terms of college education, Clayton is substantially better educated than the typical community in the nation, which has 21.84% of the adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree: 32.36% of adults in Clayton have a college degree.

The per capita income in Clayton in 2022 was $34,453, which is upper middle income relative to North Carolina, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $137,812 for a family of four. However, Clayton contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Clayton is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Clayton home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Clayton residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Clayton also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 13.81% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Clayton include English, Irish, German, Italian, and European.

The most common language spoken in Clayton is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Arabic.