Dakota County vs Seward County

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

Dakota County and Seward 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 17,636 in Seward County). Seward County has the higher median household income ($81,122 vs $71,655 in Dakota County). Seward County has the higher median home value ($232,400 vs $168,100 in Dakota County).

Population, income & housing

	Dakota County	Seward County
Population	21,331	17,636
Median age	32.1 yrs	37.6 yrs
Median household income	$71,655	$81,122
Median home value	$168,100	$232,400
Median gross rent	$1,053	$969
Housing units	7,795	7,138
Homeownership rate	64.6%	72.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.1%	31.6%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	1.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dakota County	Seward County
Population	20,173 → 21,331 (+5.7%)	17,171 → 17,636 (+2.7%)
Median household income	$59,231 → $71,655 (+21.0%)	$70,389 → $81,122 (+15.2%)
Median home value	$119,600 → $168,100 (+40.6%)	$168,200 → $232,400 (+38.2%)
Median gross rent	$813 → $1,053 (+29.5%)	$724 → $969 (+33.8%)

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

Seward County

Population

17,17117,636

Median household income

$70,389$81,122

Median home value

$168,200$232,400

Median gross rent

$724$969

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dakota County	Seward County
Under 5	8.4%	5.5%
5 to 17	21.0%	18.0%
18 to 24	9.0%	13.6%
25 to 34	15.0%	9.7%
35 to 44	12.3%	11.7%
45 to 54	9.6%	10.9%
55 to 64	11.7%	12.7%
65 to 74	7.7%	10.3%
75 and over	5.3%	7.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dakota County	Seward County
White (non-Hispanic)	43.3%	94.0%
Black or African American	8.1%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.9%	0.1%
Asian	2.8%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.6%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	41.2%	2.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dakota County	Seward County
No high school diploma	18.9%	5.1%
High school graduate	35.5%	28.2%
Some college or associate's	30.4%	35.1%
Bachelor's degree	11.5%	22.3%
Graduate or professional degree	3.6%	9.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dakota County	Seward County
Drove alone	77.0%	78.5%
Carpooled	13.0%	9.2%
Public transit	0.8%	0.0%
Walked	1.1%	4.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	1.2%
Worked from home	6.4%	6.2%
Other means	1.4%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dakota County	Seward County
1-unit, detached	66.7%	80.8%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	3.1%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	5.7%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	4.2%
20 or more units	3.9%	3.9%
Mobile home & other	9.3%	2.2%

Poverty & households

	Dakota County	Seward County
Poverty rate	11.2%	6.9%
Average household size	2.90	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	14	21
Median year structure built	1974	1970