Dakota County vs Washington County

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

Dakota County and Washington 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 20,989 in Washington County). Washington County has the higher median household income ($90,188 vs $71,655 in Dakota County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($278,300 vs $168,100 in Dakota County).

Population, income & housing

	Dakota County	Washington County
Population	21,331	20,989
Median age	32.1 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$71,655	$90,188
Median home value	$168,100	$278,300
Median gross rent	$1,053	$958
Housing units	7,795	8,665
Homeownership rate	64.6%	82.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.1%	36.5%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	1.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dakota County	Washington County
Population	20,173 → 21,331 (+5.7%)	20,361 → 20,989 (+3.1%)
Median household income	$59,231 → $71,655 (+21.0%)	$71,430 → $90,188 (+26.3%)
Median home value	$119,600 → $168,100 (+40.6%)	$196,100 → $278,300 (+41.9%)
Median gross rent	$813 → $1,053 (+29.5%)	$739 → $958 (+29.6%)

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

Washington County

Population

20,36120,989

Median household income

$71,430$90,188

Median home value

$196,100$278,300

Median gross rent

$739$958

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dakota County	Washington County
Under 5	8.4%	5.5%
5 to 17	21.0%	18.8%
18 to 24	9.0%	7.3%
25 to 34	15.0%	9.4%
35 to 44	12.3%	13.1%
45 to 54	9.6%	12.3%
55 to 64	11.7%	14.8%
65 to 74	7.7%	11.6%
75 and over	5.3%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dakota County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	43.3%	93.3%
Black or African American	8.1%	0.2%
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%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.6%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	41.2%	3.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dakota County	Washington County
No high school diploma	18.9%	4.1%
High school graduate	35.5%	25.3%
Some college or associate's	30.4%	34.2%
Bachelor's degree	11.5%	25.7%
Graduate or professional degree	3.6%	10.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dakota County	Washington County
Drove alone	77.0%	81.6%
Carpooled	13.0%	4.7%
Public transit	0.8%	0.2%
Walked	1.1%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.4%	10.8%
Other means	1.4%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dakota County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	66.7%	83.6%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	1.1%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	6.5%
20 or more units	3.9%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	9.3%	3.1%

Poverty & households

	Dakota County	Washington County
Poverty rate	11.2%	6.9%
Average household size	2.90	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	14	23
Median year structure built	1974	1978