Dakota County vs Saunders County

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

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

Saunders County has the higher population (22,761 vs 21,331 in Dakota County). Saunders County has the higher median household income ($89,395 vs $71,655 in Dakota County). Saunders County has the higher median home value ($241,100 vs $168,100 in Dakota County).

Population, income & housing

	Dakota County	Saunders County
Population	21,331	22,761
Median age	32.1 yrs	40.4 yrs
Median household income	$71,655	$89,395
Median home value	$168,100	$241,100
Median gross rent	$1,053	$930
Housing units	7,795	10,154
Homeownership rate	64.6%	81.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.1%	30.3%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	2.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dakota County	Saunders County
Population	20,173 → 21,331 (+5.7%)	21,165 → 22,761 (+7.5%)
Median household income	$59,231 → $71,655 (+21.0%)	$68,682 → $89,395 (+30.2%)
Median home value	$119,600 → $168,100 (+40.6%)	$165,600 → $241,100 (+45.6%)
Median gross rent	$813 → $1,053 (+29.5%)	$745 → $930 (+24.8%)

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

Saunders County

Population

21,16522,761

Median household income

$68,682$89,395

Median home value

$165,600$241,100

Median gross rent

$745$930

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dakota County	Saunders County
Under 5	8.4%	6.2%
5 to 17	21.0%	18.7%
18 to 24	9.0%	6.8%
25 to 34	15.0%	10.3%
35 to 44	12.3%	13.2%
45 to 54	9.6%	11.3%
55 to 64	11.7%	15.3%
65 to 74	7.7%	10.8%
75 and over	5.3%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dakota County	Saunders County
White (non-Hispanic)	43.3%	93.0%
Black or African American	8.1%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.9%	0.1%
Asian	2.8%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.6%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	41.2%	2.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dakota County	Saunders County
No high school diploma	18.9%	3.9%
High school graduate	35.5%	29.6%
Some college or associate's	30.4%	36.2%
Bachelor's degree	11.5%	19.3%
Graduate or professional degree	3.6%	11.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dakota County	Saunders County
Drove alone	77.0%	78.1%
Carpooled	13.0%	8.2%
Public transit	0.8%	0.7%
Walked	1.1%	3.1%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.3%
Worked from home	6.4%	9.0%
Other means	1.4%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dakota County	Saunders County
1-unit, detached	66.7%	86.3%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	2.8%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	4.1%
20 or more units	3.9%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	9.3%	3.8%

Poverty & households

	Dakota County	Saunders County
Poverty rate	11.2%	6.4%
Average household size	2.90	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	14	26
Median year structure built	1974	1973