Dawson vs Salem

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

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

Dawson has the higher population (193 vs 84 in Salem). Dawson has the higher median household income ($58,317 vs $46,563 in Salem). Since 2019, Dawson's population has grown faster (+14.9% vs -18.4%).

Population, income & housing

	Dawson	Salem
Population	193	84
Median age	53.2 yrs	63.5 yrs
Median household income	$58,317	$46,563
Median home value	—	$45,900
Median gross rent	$940	—
Housing units	96	62
Homeownership rate	80.9%	65.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.4%	2.6%
Unemployment rate	2.3%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dawson	Salem
Population	168 → 193 (+14.9%)	103 → 84 (-18.4%)
Median household income	$46,250 → $58,317 (+26.1%)	$32,125 → $46,563 (+44.9%)
Median home value	$38,800 → $14,900 (-61.6%)	$35,000 → $45,900 (+31.1%)
Median gross rent	$531 → $940 (+77.0%)	—

Dawson

Population

168193

Median household income

$46,250$58,317

Median home value

$38,800$14,900

Median gross rent

$531$940

Salem

Population

10384

Median household income

$32,125$46,563

Median home value

$35,000$45,900

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dawson	Salem
Under 5	3.6%	1.2%
5 to 17	16.6%	8.3%
18 to 24	2.6%	0.0%
25 to 34	11.4%	1.2%
35 to 44	4.7%	3.6%
45 to 54	15.5%	14.3%
55 to 64	15.0%	29.8%
65 to 74	8.8%	21.4%
75 and over	21.8%	20.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dawson	Salem
White (non-Hispanic)	96.4%	97.6%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	2.6%	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	1.0%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	2.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dawson	Salem
No high school diploma	5.4%	17.1%
High school graduate	45.0%	42.1%
Some college or associate's	38.3%	38.2%
Bachelor's degree	9.4%	1.3%
Graduate or professional degree	2.0%	1.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dawson	Salem
Drove alone	69.8%	55.6%
Carpooled	25.6%	44.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.7%	0.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dawson	Salem
1-unit, detached	83.3%	85.5%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	1.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	15.6%	14.5%

Poverty & households

	Dawson	Salem
Poverty rate	3.6%	16.7%
Average household size	2.17	1.91
Mean commute (minutes)	36	65
Median year structure built	1938	1938