Clay County, IL: Foreclosures, Tax Liens & Distressed Properties

Clay County, Illinois sits inside DLRadar's nationwide distress index, built entirely from public records. The county spans 13 scored ZIP codes, averaging 8/100 composite distress. County-level credit and bank headwind reads 81/100 — elevated, a sign of lender stress locally. Across its ZIPs, composite distress spans 5 to 18 out of 100.

The county market is in a expansion phase: home prices rose 5.3% over the past year, a 34/100-confidence read. Despite the upswing, the laggards keep building so the laggard ZIPs are the opening.

Through Clay County's +5.3% YoY climb (34/100 confidence), liquidity improves for clean exits so buy those and momentum helps on exit. Bank stress at 81/100 is a buyer tailwind: banks under pressure move REO faster.

Highest scores land in 62854 (18/100), 62424 (9/100), 62443 (9/100), 62899 (9/100), 62426 (8/100), 62838 (8/100); each opens to a full parcel breakdown. The breakdown continues through 62824, 62858, 62868, 62434, 62839, 62879, 62448 and more.

By the numbers, Clay County's tracked footprint come in at vacancy near 12.4%, 85% owner-occupancy, median home values around $128,631 (below the national figure), residents with a median age around 43.6, a 13.6% poverty rate, a median household income near $63,234 (below the US norm). Taken together, they set up who is forced to sell and how readily the market absorbs it.

Net of it all, 8/100 over 13 ZIPs means the edge is selective acquisition rather than a blanket buy. Inside DLRadar, each Clay County property carries owner and contact detail, APN, a per-parcel score, lender exposure and exit read.

Because Clay County, Illinois is scored on the identical public-record model used nationwide, even a quiet county is measured on one scale — letting you weigh Clay County against neighboring markets or the rest of Illinois on equal footing.

Read Clay County, Illinois as a heat map for effort — the county's minimal composite of 8/100 hides wide ZIP-level variation, and the return comes from chasing the hot ZIPs, not the average. All of it is deterministic and auditable: Clay County's numbers come from county recorders, the courts, FHFA and FDIC, with nothing interpolated or guessed when a source is sparse.

Drilling in, Clay County's highest-scoring ZIPs are 62854 (18/100), 62424 (9/100), 62443 (9/100), 62899 (9/100), 62426 (8/100), 62838 (8/100). DLRadar also scores 62824, 62858, 62868, 62434, 62839, 62879, 62448 across the county. Every one of these is scored independently — a ZIP's composite reflects its own recorded distress, which is why the county average alone hides where the real pressure sits.

Under Clay County's headline composite sit distinct layers — recorded foreclosures, tax and lien delinquency, mortgage stress and bank headwind — each scored separately before they roll up, so the same total can describe very different markets.