county

Dawson County, MT

Demographic and economic profile of Dawson County, MT, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.

AI Overview

Dawson County is a small eastern Montana county of 8,874 residents built around agriculture and energy extraction, with a labor force participation rate of 62.0% and median worker earnings of $39,180 against a low cost of living anchored by a median home value of $187,400 and median gross rent of $823/month. The workforce skews older at a median age of 43.0 years, with 25.5% holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 94.3% holding at least a high school diploma, while unemployment sits at 3.5%. The county has shed 3.4% of its population over five years, though a median household income of $71,334 and a poverty rate of 8.8% suggest relative economic stability despite that contraction.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page

Population

8,874

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Household Income

$71,334

Data USA · as of 2024

Median Age

43.0 yrs

Data USA · as of 2024

Population Growth (5-year)

-3.4% since 2018

Dawson County lost population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.

Demographics

Race & Ethnicity

  • White Alone8,188 (92.8%)
  • Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races266 (3.0%)
  • American Indian & Alaska Native Alone119 (1.3%)
  • Some Other Race Alone101 (1.1%)
  • Two Races Including Some Other Race85 (1.0%)
  • Asian Alone29 (0.3%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Languages Spoken at Home

  1. 1.German or other West Germanic17
  2. 2.French (incl. Cajun, Haitian)13
  3. 3.Spanish11
  4. 4.Tagalog (incl. Filipino)2
  5. 5.Other Indo-European1

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population Under 18

21.1%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Working-Age (18–64)

58.3%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population 65 and Over

20.7%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Foreign-Born Population

0.4%

Data USA · as of 2024

Veterans

424

Data USA · as of 2024

Economy

GDP per Capita

$44,713

Data USA · as of 2023

Cost of Living Index

—

Not yet cached

Per Capita Income

$36,998

Census ACS · as of 2023

Unemployment Rate

3.5%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Poverty Rate

8.8%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Top Industries

  1. 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance1,034
  2. 2.Retail Trade (Group)556
  3. 3.Transportation & Warehousing, & Utilities532
  4. 4.Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining431
  5. 5.Construction (Group)421

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Occupations

  1. 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations1,614
  2. 2.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations719
  3. 3.Service Occupations681
  4. 4.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations669
  5. 5.Sales & Office Occupations668

Data USA · as of 2024

Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)

  1. 1.Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining (LQ 6.38×)440
  2. 2.Transportation, Warehousing, & Utilities (LQ 2.22×)563
  3. 3.Other Services (LQ 1.25×)254
  4. 4.Educational Services & Health Care (LQ 1.21×)1,222
  5. 5.Construction (LQ 1.19×)355

Census ACS · as of 2023

Housing

Median Home Value

$187,400

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Gross Rent

$823/mo

Census ACS · as of 2023

Homeownership Rate

71.9%

Data USA · as of 2024

Home Value Distribution

  • $300,000 to $399,999334 (12.9%)
  • $250,000 to $299,999295 (11.4%)
  • $175,000 to $199,999279 (10.7%)
  • $200,000 to $249,999249 (9.6%)
  • $125,000 to $149,999244 (9.4%)
  • $150,000 to $174,999171 (6.6%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Education

Bachelor's Degree or Higher

25.5%

Census ACS · as of 2023

High School Diploma or Higher

94.3%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Workforce

Labor Force Participation

62.0%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Worker Earnings

$39,180

Census ACS · as of 2023

Mean Commute Time

19.1 min

Data USA · as of 2024

Households Without a Vehicle

5.0%

Census ACS · as of 2023

How People Get to Work

  • Drove Alone3,636 (84.4%)
  • Worked At Home264 (6.1%)
  • Carpooled205 (4.8%)
  • Walked180 (4.2%)
  • Bicycle8 (0.2%)
  • Other6 (0.1%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Similar Locations

5 counties with comparable population, workforce, income, education, and cost of living. Click any to compare.

More on FDI Connect

Compare Dawson County against other US geographies, save it to your shortlist, see active property listings on the interactive map, and unlock the full demographic dashboard.

Open full dashboardCreate free account

Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.