Dawson vs Mechanicsburg

A side-by-side comparison of Dawson and Mechanicsburg: population, income, housing, and more.

Dawson and Mechanicsburg are places in Illinois. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Mechanicsburg has the higher population (748 vs 555 in Dawson). Dawson has the higher median household income ($82,880 vs $77,422 in Mechanicsburg). Mechanicsburg has the higher median home value ($206,300 vs $97,500 in Dawson).

Population, income & housing

	Dawson	Mechanicsburg
Population	555	748
Median age	41.0 yrs	47.8 yrs
Median household income	$82,880	$77,422
Median home value	$97,500	$206,300
Median gross rent	$805	$781
Housing units	263	319
Homeownership rate	76.2%	87.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	9.7%	22.5%
Unemployment rate	2.6%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dawson	Mechanicsburg
Population	649 → 555 (-14.5%)	671 → 748 (+11.5%)
Median household income	$47,841 → $82,880 (+73.2%)	$65,536 → $77,422 (+18.1%)
Median home value	$97,500 → $97,500 (+0.0%)	$119,000 → $206,300 (+73.4%)
Median gross rent	$922 → $805 (-12.7%)	$752 → $781 (+3.9%)

Dawson

Population

649555

Median household income

$47,841$82,880

Median home value

$97,500$97,500

Median gross rent

$922$805

Mechanicsburg

Population

671748

Median household income

$65,536$77,422

Median home value

$119,000$206,300

Median gross rent

$752$781

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dawson	Mechanicsburg
Under 5	4.7%	3.6%
5 to 17	15.1%	15.8%
18 to 24	7.9%	8.2%
25 to 34	13.5%	7.2%
35 to 44	11.2%	12.7%
45 to 54	14.8%	20.3%
55 to 64	14.1%	13.9%
65 to 74	4.9%	10.6%
75 and over	13.9%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dawson	Mechanicsburg
White (non-Hispanic)	94.8%	90.8%
Black or African American	3.4%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.5%	7.2%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	2.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dawson	Mechanicsburg
No high school diploma	5.5%	3.0%
High school graduate	49.4%	43.7%
Some college or associate's	35.4%	30.8%
Bachelor's degree	8.7%	18.5%
Graduate or professional degree	1.0%	4.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dawson	Mechanicsburg
Drove alone	68.2%	81.1%
Carpooled	5.9%	2.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	26.0%	15.7%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dawson	Mechanicsburg
1-unit, detached	76.8%	85.6%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	1.9%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	2.3%	4.7%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	19.0%	9.7%

Poverty & households

	Dawson	Mechanicsburg
Poverty rate	6.2%	8.2%
Average household size	2.44	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	22	26
Median year structure built	1975	1988