Dawson County vs Madison County

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

Dawson County and Madison County are counties in Montana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Madison County has the higher population (8,975 vs 8,874 in Dawson County). Dawson County has the higher median household income ($70,953 vs $67,420 in Madison County). Madison County has the higher median home value ($440,500 vs $187,400 in Dawson County).

Population, income & housing

	Dawson County	Madison County
Population	8,874	8,975
Median age	43.5 yrs	54.1 yrs
Median household income	$70,953	$67,420
Median home value	$187,400	$440,500
Median gross rent	$823	$1,159
Housing units	4,377	6,405
Homeownership rate	72.4%	80.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.5%	34.3%
Unemployment rate	3.5%	1.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dawson County	Madison County
Population	9,017 → 8,874 (-1.6%)	8,302 → 8,975 (+8.1%)
Median household income	$58,596 → $70,953 (+21.1%)	$54,107 → $67,420 (+24.6%)
Median home value	$160,600 → $187,400 (+16.7%)	$276,500 → $440,500 (+59.3%)
Median gross rent	$784 → $823 (+5.0%)	$834 → $1,159 (+39.0%)

Dawson County

Population

9,0178,874

Median household income

$58,596$70,953

Median home value

$160,600$187,400

Median gross rent

$784$823

Madison County

Population

8,3028,975

Median household income

$54,107$67,420

Median home value

$276,500$440,500

Median gross rent

$834$1,159

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dawson County	Madison County
Under 5	5.1%	3.8%
5 to 17	16.0%	11.9%
18 to 24	8.5%	5.6%
25 to 34	11.9%	9.4%
35 to 44	12.4%	11.1%
45 to 54	11.2%	10.4%
55 to 64	14.3%	17.2%
65 to 74	12.1%	19.7%
75 and over	8.6%	10.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dawson County	Madison County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.9%	91.5%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.3%	0.3%
Asian	0.0%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.9%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	3.4%	3.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dawson County	Madison County
No high school diploma	5.7%	4.6%
High school graduate	24.5%	25.3%
Some college or associate's	44.3%	35.8%
Bachelor's degree	15.9%	25.3%
Graduate or professional degree	9.6%	9.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dawson County	Madison County
Drove alone	81.8%	60.8%
Carpooled	5.3%	9.8%
Public transit	0.1%	1.1%
Walked	5.3%	6.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.3%
Worked from home	6.8%	20.1%
Other means	0.6%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dawson County	Madison County
1-unit, detached	75.6%	77.5%
1-unit, attached	2.1%	6.0%
2 to 4 units	4.4%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	1.8%
20 or more units	3.9%	2.1%
Mobile home & other	11.4%	7.4%

Poverty & households

	Dawson County	Madison County
Poverty rate	8.8%	6.8%
Average household size	2.28	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	20	27
Median year structure built	1970	1993