Dawson County vs Saunders County

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

Dawson 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.

Dawson County has the higher population (24,020 vs 22,761 in Saunders County). Saunders County has the higher median household income ($89,395 vs $65,383 in Dawson County). Saunders County has the higher median home value ($241,100 vs $157,800 in Dawson County).

Population, income & housing

	Dawson County	Saunders County
Population	24,020	22,761
Median age	35.8 yrs	40.4 yrs
Median household income	$65,383	$89,395
Median home value	$157,800	$241,100
Median gross rent	$861	$930
Housing units	9,905	10,154
Homeownership rate	64.7%	81.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.5%	30.3%
Unemployment rate	1.9%	2.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dawson County	Saunders County
Population	23,733 → 24,020 (+1.2%)	21,165 → 22,761 (+7.5%)
Median household income	$53,721 → $65,383 (+21.7%)	$68,682 → $89,395 (+30.2%)
Median home value	$102,600 → $157,800 (+53.8%)	$165,600 → $241,100 (+45.6%)
Median gross rent	$730 → $861 (+17.9%)	$745 → $930 (+24.8%)

Dawson County

Population

23,73324,020

Median household income

$53,721$65,383

Median home value

$102,600$157,800

Median gross rent

$730$861

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)

	Dawson County	Saunders County
Under 5	7.8%	6.2%
5 to 17	20.0%	18.7%
18 to 24	8.1%	6.8%
25 to 34	12.5%	10.3%
35 to 44	12.6%	13.2%
45 to 54	11.3%	11.3%
55 to 64	11.3%	15.3%
65 to 74	8.9%	10.8%
75 and over	7.5%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dawson County	Saunders County
White (non-Hispanic)	53.9%	93.0%
Black or African American	6.3%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.6%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.1%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	36.3%	2.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dawson County	Saunders County
No high school diploma	22.2%	3.9%
High school graduate	31.1%	29.6%
Some college or associate's	29.2%	36.2%
Bachelor's degree	13.5%	19.3%
Graduate or professional degree	4.1%	11.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dawson County	Saunders County
Drove alone	78.0%	78.1%
Carpooled	15.5%	8.2%
Public transit	0.6%	0.7%
Walked	1.5%	3.1%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.3%
Worked from home	1.9%	9.0%
Other means	2.0%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dawson County	Saunders County
1-unit, detached	75.7%	86.3%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	4.2%	2.8%
5 to 19 units	6.6%	4.1%
20 or more units	3.9%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	8.2%	3.8%

Poverty & households

	Dawson County	Saunders County
Poverty rate	12.3%	6.4%
Average household size	2.64	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	18	26
Median year structure built	1968	1973