River Valley Communities With Railroad Roots

1,052.629 square miles, including water (2020 Census geography). The total combines land and water area.

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Clay County’s civic history includes both a name change and a later organization of county government. Originally established as Breckinridge County, it received the name Clay in 1862, honoring Henry Clay. Formal county organization followed in 1872 after the Northern Pacific Railway reached the area. Moorhead became the county seat. Those railway connections and the Red River boundary help explain the county’s relationship with Fargo while preserving a distinct Minnesota jurisdiction and community network.

Moorhead sits at the county’s western edge across the Red River from Fargo. Farther east, communities such as Dilworth, Glyndon, Hawley, and Ulen provide local centers in a changing landscape. The Buffalo River crosses toward the Red, while lakes and rolling terrain become part of the eastern setting. Exploring beyond the metropolitan river crossing gives a clearer sense of the county’s smaller communities and its broader rural geography.

The 2020 Census geography figures record 1,045.176 square miles of land and 7.453 square miles of water in Clay County. The county’s total area includes both. These are geographic measurements for that Census vintage, not a measurement of current water levels or public recreation access.

In the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate series, Clay County had an estimated 65,358 residents on July 1, 2020, and 67,734 on July 1, 2025. Over that interval, the estimated population increased by 2,376 residents, or about 3.6%. Both figures come from the same estimate vintage, which revises earlier years for a consistent comparison.

Moorhead is the county seat of Clay County, Minnesota.