county

Dawson County, NE

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

AI Overview

Dawson County, NE is a small agricultural and food-processing economy of roughly 24,000 residents, with a foreign-born population of 22.7% that likely reflects meatpacking and processing industry labor demand. The workforce of about 16,500 participants (68.6% labor force participation) skews toward trade and manual occupations, with only 17.5% holding a bachelor's degree or higher and median worker earnings of $40,851. Costs remain low — median home values of $157,800 and gross rent of $861/month — and unemployment sits at just 1.9%, with modest 5-year population growth of 0.9%.

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

Population

24,020

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Household Income

$69,880

Data USA · as of 2024

Median Age

35.6 yrs

Data USA · as of 2024

Population Growth (5-year)

+0.9% since 2018

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

Demographics

Race & Ethnicity

  • White Alone14,319 (59.2%)
  • Some Other Race Alone4,285 (17.7%)
  • Two Races Including Some Other Race2,804 (11.6%)
  • Black or African American Alone1,754 (7.2%)
  • Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races672 (2.8%)
  • Asian Alone198 (0.8%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Languages Spoken at Home

  1. 1.Spanish6,754
  2. 2.Tagalog (incl. Filipino)101
  3. 3.Arabic76
  4. 4.Other Indo-European43
  5. 5.Vietnamese39

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population Under 18

27.8%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Working-Age (18–64)

55.8%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population 65 and Over

16.4%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Foreign-Born Population

22.7%

Data USA · as of 2024

Veterans

869

Data USA · as of 2024

Economy

GDP per Capita

$70,034

Data USA · as of 2023

Cost of Living Index

—

Not yet cached

Per Capita Income

$37,634

Census ACS · as of 2023

Unemployment Rate

1.9%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Poverty Rate

12.3%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Top Industries

  1. 1.Manufacturing (Group)3,305
  2. 2.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance2,266
  3. 3.Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining1,411
  4. 4.Retail Trade (Group)1,184
  5. 5.Construction (Group)1,008

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Occupations

  1. 1.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations3,719
  2. 2.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations3,478
  3. 3.Service Occupations1,827
  4. 4.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations1,816
  5. 5.Sales & Office Occupations1,762

Data USA · as of 2024

Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)

  1. 1.Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining (LQ 6.86×)1,337
  2. 2.Manufacturing (LQ 2.35×)2,863
  3. 3.Construction (LQ 1.26×)1,068
  4. 4.Transportation, Warehousing, & Utilities (LQ 1.15×)825
  5. 5.Information (LQ 0.99×)226

Census ACS · as of 2023

Housing

Median Home Value

$157,800

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Gross Rent

$861/mo

Census ACS · as of 2023

Homeownership Rate

66.4%

Data USA · as of 2024

Home Value Distribution

  • $150,000 to $174,999839 (13.8%)
  • $100,000 to $124,999732 (12.1%)
  • $200,000 to $249,999690 (11.4%)
  • $250,000 to $299,999530 (8.7%)
  • $300,000 to $399,999434 (7.2%)
  • $400,000 to $499,999381 (6.3%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Education

Bachelor's Degree or Higher

17.5%

Census ACS · as of 2023

High School Diploma or Higher

77.8%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Workforce

Labor Force Participation

68.6%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Worker Earnings

$40,851

Census ACS · as of 2023

Mean Commute Time

17.5 min

Data USA · as of 2024

Households Without a Vehicle

5.6%

Census ACS · as of 2023

How People Get to Work

  • Drove Alone9,831 (78.8%)
  • Carpooled1,820 (14.6%)
  • Worked At Home305 (2.4%)
  • Other235 (1.9%)
  • Walked231 (1.9%)
  • Bicycle50 (0.4%)

Data USA · as of 2024

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