Orange Park
Start with Orange Park to understand the established center, nearby services and everyday rhythm within Clay County.
Complete Florida county guide
Clay
County
Established and growing suburban communities along the St. Johns River sit south and west of Jacksonville.
Rivers, springs and old FloridaNorth Florida & First Coast
REGIONNorth Florida & First Coast
COMMUNITIES TO START WITHOrange Park · Fleming Island · Green Cove Springs
LIFESTYLE SIGNALSSuburban · River access · Jacksonville commute
Start with daily life
What Clay County feels like before you choose a neighborhood.
Established and growing suburban communities along the St. Johns River sit south and west of Jacksonville.
Use this guide as a first-pass planning tool. On a scouting trip, compare actual commute routes, insurance requirements, medical access, school or training options and the places you would use in an ordinary week—not only the best-known attraction.
The numbers that matter if you are moving
- Population
- 227,584Census estimate
- At the last full count
- 218,2452020 Census
- Median age
- 40.4
- Aged 65 and over
- 17.1%
- Under 18
- 22.8%
- Median household income
- $87,820
- Median home value
- $312,500what owners estimate
- Homeownership
- 75.9%
- People per household
- 2.69
- Average commute
- 31.3 minutes
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, published January 2026, read September 19, 2026. Survey figures are estimates; median home value is what owners estimate their home is worth, not a sale price.
COUNTY LIFESTYLE THEMES
SuburbanRiver accessJacksonville commute
Relocation decision desk
Six checks before you choose a county.
Property cost, flood and wind, schools, healthcare, daily travel and storm readiness.
How to research a Florida county →Communities to compare
Begin with the county’s major places.
These are starting points, not a ranking. Add nearby towns and neighborhoods as you learn your daily route and housing priorities.
Fleming Island
Use Fleming Island to compare housing patterns, main-road access and the shopping or medical stops used during a normal week.
Green Cove Springs
Walk or drive through Green Cove Springs at different times of day to judge traffic, neighborhood character and access to outdoor space.
Hospitals in Clay County
Three hospitals with an emergency room.
From the state's own hospital list. Each card opens the state's record for that hospital: its address, phone, services and inspection reports.
Orange Park
HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital
433 licensed beds
The state's record ↗MiddleburgAscension St. Vincent's Clay County
134 licensed beds
The state's record ↗Fleming IslandBaptist Medical Center Clay
102 licensed beds
The state's record ↗The state licenses two more hospitals in Clay County with no emergency room; its list names them.
How do I compare hospitals in Florida? →How do I find a doctor who takes Medicare? →Search the state's hospital list ↗
Source: Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, FloridaHealthFinder, Locate a Facility (hospitals), read September 25, 2026.
Evergreen county experiences
10 places that reveal the county.
Use enduring natural, historic and cultural places to understand the area beyond a real-estate showing.
Black Creek Ravines Conservation Area
Black Creek Ravines Conservation Area covers 969 acres in Clay County, reached from Green Road north of County Road 218. The land is unusual for Florida because it goes up and down. Elevation runs from about 5 feet above sea level along Black Creek to roughly 90 feet on the sandhills, and the ravine system that gives the place its name is close to a mile long and about 95 feet deep.
Camp Chowenwaw Park
Camp Chowenwaw Park sits north of Green Cove Springs where Peters Creek meets Black Creek, and it has been protected woodland since the 1930s. Crews working through the Depression built the camp out of what grew on the property: felled pines became log cabins, cypress was split into shingles, and magnolia was turned into furniture.
Military Museum of North Florida
The Military Museum of North Florida was established in 2007 and opened to the public in 2008 in Green Cove Springs. It gives its subject as more than 230 years of service, and describes itself as a living record of the people who served rather than a case of objects.
Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park
Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park covers about 2,400 acres in Clay County on State Road 21, between Gainesville and Jacksonville. It was established in 1935, which makes it one of the oldest state parks in Florida, and it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.
Moccasin Slough Park
Moccasin Slough Park covers 255 acres on Fleming Island, off Highway 17 at Raggedy Point Road. Most of it is left as it is: woods, wetland and the slough the park is named for. The county has built enough around the edges to make the property easy to use.
Clarke House Park
Clarke House Park takes its name from the house at its center, which William Clarke built in the early 1900s on Kingsley Avenue in Orange Park. The estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 15, 1998, and the Orange Park Historical Society now uses the house as its meeting place.
Clay County Historical Museum
The Clay County Historical Museum stands at 915 Walnut Street in Green Cove Springs, in the 1890 courthouse annex, and forms one corner of what the county calls its Historical Triangle, alongside the 1890 courthouse and the 1894 county jail. The Clay County Historical Society founded it in 1966 and opened it to the public in 1975.
Doctors Lake Park
Doctors Lake Park sits at the corner of White Owl Lane and Lakeshore Drive North on Fleming Island. It is a small park, about an acre, and the county calls it passive, meaning it is built for sitting and fishing rather than for ball fields.
Jennings State Forest
Jennings State Forest lies west of Jacksonville near Middleburg, spread across Clay and Duval counties, and it exists to protect the headwaters of the North Fork of Black Creek and the streams that feed it. Wikipedia puts the total at 25,301 acres; Florida Hikes describes it as close to 24,000.
Spring Park
Spring Park sits behind City Hall at 200 Spring Street in Green Cove Springs, under old live oaks hung with Spanish moss, and runs about eight tenths of a mile along the St. Johns River. The spring at its head is third magnitude, holds a steady 77 degrees all year and pushes out more than 80,000 gallons an hour, clear enough to see roughly 28 feet down.
Official planning desk
Check current public information before making the move.
Florida disaster preparedness mapsOfficial evacuation-zone, route and storm-surge planning maps.
Open official source ↗
Florida school accountability reportsCurrent state school and district accountability information.
Open official source ↗
Florida community health dataCounty-level public health indicators and community reports.
Open official source ↗
Florida housing resourcesState resources for homebuyers, renters and local assistance programs.
Open official source ↗QUESTIONS THAT NAME THIS COUNTY
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