Dawson County vs Washington County

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

Dawson 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.

Dawson County has the higher population (24,020 vs 20,989 in Washington County). Washington County has the higher median household income ($90,188 vs $65,383 in Dawson County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($278,300 vs $157,800 in Dawson County).

Population, income & housing

	Dawson County	Washington County
Population	24,020	20,989
Median age	35.8 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$65,383	$90,188
Median home value	$157,800	$278,300
Median gross rent	$861	$958
Housing units	9,905	8,665
Homeownership rate	64.7%	82.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.5%	36.5%
Unemployment rate	1.9%	1.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dawson County	Washington County
Population	23,733 → 24,020 (+1.2%)	20,361 → 20,989 (+3.1%)
Median household income	$53,721 → $65,383 (+21.7%)	$71,430 → $90,188 (+26.3%)
Median home value	$102,600 → $157,800 (+53.8%)	$196,100 → $278,300 (+41.9%)
Median gross rent	$730 → $861 (+17.9%)	$739 → $958 (+29.6%)

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

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)

	Dawson County	Washington County
Under 5	7.8%	5.5%
5 to 17	20.0%	18.8%
18 to 24	8.1%	7.3%
25 to 34	12.5%	9.4%
35 to 44	12.6%	13.1%
45 to 54	11.3%	12.3%
55 to 64	11.3%	14.8%
65 to 74	8.9%	11.6%
75 and over	7.5%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dawson County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	53.9%	93.3%
Black or African American	6.3%	0.2%
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%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.1%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	36.3%	3.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dawson County	Washington County
No high school diploma	22.2%	4.1%
High school graduate	31.1%	25.3%
Some college or associate's	29.2%	34.2%
Bachelor's degree	13.5%	25.7%
Graduate or professional degree	4.1%	10.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dawson County	Washington County
Drove alone	78.0%	81.6%
Carpooled	15.5%	4.7%
Public transit	0.6%	0.2%
Walked	1.5%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	1.9%	10.8%
Other means	2.0%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dawson County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	75.7%	83.6%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	1.1%
2 to 4 units	4.2%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	6.6%	6.5%
20 or more units	3.9%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	8.2%	3.1%

Poverty & households

	Dawson County	Washington County
Poverty rate	12.3%	6.9%
Average household size	2.64	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	18	23
Median year structure built	1968	1978