Dakota County vs Otoe County

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

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

Dakota County has the higher population (21,331 vs 16,075 in Otoe County). Otoe County has the higher median household income ($81,430 vs $71,655 in Dakota County). Otoe County has the higher median home value ($185,000 vs $168,100 in Dakota County).

Population, income & housing

	Dakota County	Otoe County
Population	21,331	16,075
Median age	32.1 yrs	41.8 yrs
Median household income	$71,655	$81,430
Median home value	$168,100	$185,000
Median gross rent	$1,053	$905
Housing units	7,795	6,987
Homeownership rate	64.6%	80.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.1%	27.2%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dakota County	Otoe County
Population	20,173 → 21,331 (+5.7%)	15,949 → 16,075 (+0.8%)
Median household income	$59,231 → $71,655 (+21.0%)	$59,167 → $81,430 (+37.6%)
Median home value	$119,600 → $168,100 (+40.6%)	$143,900 → $185,000 (+28.6%)
Median gross rent	$813 → $1,053 (+29.5%)	$692 → $905 (+30.8%)

Dakota County

Population

20,17321,331

Median household income

$59,231$71,655

Median home value

$119,600$168,100

Median gross rent

$813$1,053

Otoe County

Population

15,94916,075

Median household income

$59,167$81,430

Median home value

$143,900$185,000

Median gross rent

$692$905

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dakota County	Otoe County
Under 5	8.4%	5.6%
5 to 17	21.0%	18.6%
18 to 24	9.0%	7.1%
25 to 34	15.0%	10.4%
35 to 44	12.3%	12.4%
45 to 54	9.6%	11.8%
55 to 64	11.7%	13.6%
65 to 74	7.7%	11.7%
75 and over	5.3%	8.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dakota County	Otoe County
White (non-Hispanic)	43.3%	86.5%
Black or African American	8.1%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.9%	0.2%
Asian	2.8%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.6%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	41.2%	8.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dakota County	Otoe County
No high school diploma	18.9%	6.5%
High school graduate	35.5%	33.4%
Some college or associate's	30.4%	32.9%
Bachelor's degree	11.5%	18.7%
Graduate or professional degree	3.6%	8.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dakota County	Otoe County
Drove alone	77.0%	80.3%
Carpooled	13.0%	10.5%
Public transit	0.8%	0.0%
Walked	1.1%	2.8%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.2%
Worked from home	6.4%	5.9%
Other means	1.4%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dakota County	Otoe County
1-unit, detached	66.7%	85.7%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	2.5%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	2.8%
20 or more units	3.9%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	9.3%	3.4%

Poverty & households

	Dakota County	Otoe County
Poverty rate	11.2%	9.5%
Average household size	2.90	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	14	23
Median year structure built	1974	1967