Dakota County vs Hennepin County

A side-by-side comparison of Dakota County and Hennepin County: population, income, housing, and more.

Dakota County and Hennepin County are counties in Minnesota. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Hennepin County has the higher population (1,268,903 vs 442,204 in Dakota County). Dakota County has the higher median household income ($105,212 vs $96,339 in Hennepin County). Hennepin County has the higher median home value ($376,500 vs $362,100 in Dakota County).

Population, income & housing

	Dakota County	Hennepin County
Population	442,204	1,268,903
Median age	38.4 yrs	37.4 yrs
Median household income	$105,212	$96,339
Median home value	$362,100	$376,500
Median gross rent	$1,497	$1,439
Housing units	176,447	564,441
Homeownership rate	75.4%	63.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.6%	53.3%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dakota County	Hennepin County
Population	421,453 → 442,204 (+4.9%)	1,245,837 → 1,268,903 (+1.9%)
Median household income	$86,036 → $105,212 (+22.3%)	$78,167 → $96,339 (+23.2%)
Median home value	$266,000 → $362,100 (+36.1%)	$276,900 → $376,500 (+36.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,174 → $1,497 (+27.5%)	$1,135 → $1,439 (+26.8%)

Dakota County

Population

421,453442,204

Median household income

$86,036$105,212

Median home value

$266,000$362,100

Median gross rent

$1,174$1,497

Hennepin County

Population

1,245,8371,268,903

Median household income

$78,167$96,339

Median home value

$276,900$376,500

Median gross rent

$1,135$1,439

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dakota County	Hennepin County
Under 5	6.1%	6.0%
5 to 17	18.1%	15.8%
18 to 24	7.7%	8.4%
25 to 34	12.8%	16.1%
35 to 44	14.1%	14.5%
45 to 54	12.5%	11.7%
55 to 64	13.3%	12.3%
65 to 74	9.3%	9.1%
75 and over	6.1%	6.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dakota County	Hennepin County
White (non-Hispanic)	73.8%	66.0%
Black or African American	7.2%	13.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.4%
Asian	5.1%	7.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.7%
Two or more races	4.6%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	8.4%	7.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dakota County	Hennepin County
No high school diploma	4.5%	6.0%
High school graduate	19.7%	15.2%
Some college or associate's	31.2%	25.5%
Bachelor's degree	29.9%	33.4%
Graduate or professional degree	14.7%	20.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dakota County	Hennepin County
Drove alone	69.7%	62.1%
Carpooled	7.3%	6.4%
Public transit	1.7%	4.0%
Walked	1.3%	2.8%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.9%
Worked from home	18.9%	22.4%
Other means	0.9%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dakota County	Hennepin County
1-unit, detached	58.5%	52.2%
1-unit, attached	17.3%	8.2%
2 to 4 units	2.9%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	4.2%	7.6%
20 or more units	15.3%	25.6%
Mobile home & other	1.8%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Dakota County	Hennepin County
Poverty rate	5.6%	10.0%
Average household size	2.56	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	24	22
Median year structure built	1988	1973