Clayton, North Carolina

Clayton population, 2020 to 2024

Clayton added 5,034 residents from July 2020 to July 2024, a change of +18.9%. In the latest year it moved by +1,407. Among 147 North Carolina places of 5,000 or more, that growth ranks 12th; the median place changed by +4.7%. The median place of 5,000+ in North Carolina has 14,573 people, so Clayton is 2.2 times that size.

Clayton covers 16.79 square miles of land and 0.02 of water, for 1,890 people per square mile of land. The median North Carolina place of 5,000+ has 1,316, so Clayton is denser than the typical town.

What county Clayton is in

All of Clayton's residents live in Johnston County, which had 249,794 residents in 2024. Clayton holds 12.7% of the county's population. The shaded shape is on the map above; dots mark the eight nearest places.

ZIP codes in Clayton

2 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) overlap Clayton by at least 10% of the ZCTA's or the town's land: 27520, 27527. ZCTAs are Census approximations of USPS ZIP code delivery areas. The list comes from the 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file, so a town that annexed land after 2020 may reach into ZIP codes not listed here.

Where Clayton is

The Census internal point of Clayton is at 35.658100, -78.446000. Raleigh, the capital, is 13.7 miles NW in a straight line. The nearest larger place is Garner, NC (39,345 people), 9.7 miles away. The nearest city of 100,000 or more is Raleigh, NC, 16.2 miles away.

Daylight in Clayton

At 35.66° N, Clayton gets about 14 h 35 min of daylight around the June solstice and 9 h 45 min around the December solstice, a swing of 4 h 50 min. Figures are sunrise to sunset from the SunCalc model for June 21 and December 21, 2026.

Places near Clayton

The eight nearest incorporated places of 1,000+ in North Carolina, measured between internal points. The closest is Archer Lodge, 4.6 miles away, with 5,522 people.