Dawson County vs Rains County

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

Dawson County and Rains County are counties in Texas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Rains County has the higher population (12,505 vs 12,311 in Dawson County). Rains County has the higher median household income ($64,874 vs $55,789 in Dawson County). Rains County has the higher median home value ($214,900 vs $90,800 in Dawson County).

Population, income & housing

	Dawson County	Rains County
Population	12,311	12,505
Median age	34.6 yrs	46.2 yrs
Median household income	$55,789	$64,874
Median home value	$90,800	$214,900
Median gross rent	$873	$895
Housing units	4,892	5,858
Homeownership rate	69.9%	82.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.5%	25.2%
Unemployment rate	7.9%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dawson County	Rains County
Population	12,813 → 12,311 (-3.9%)	11,766 → 12,505 (+6.3%)
Median household income	$43,239 → $55,789 (+29.0%)	$51,579 → $64,874 (+25.8%)
Median home value	$73,400 → $90,800 (+23.7%)	$127,900 → $214,900 (+68.0%)
Median gross rent	$645 → $873 (+35.3%)	$733 → $895 (+22.1%)

Dawson County

Population

12,81312,311

Median household income

$43,239$55,789

Median home value

$73,400$90,800

Median gross rent

$645$873

Rains County

Population

11,76612,505

Median household income

$51,579$64,874

Median home value

$127,900$214,900

Median gross rent

$733$895

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dawson County	Rains County
Under 5	6.6%	4.3%
5 to 17	17.3%	15.0%
18 to 24	10.8%	5.5%
25 to 34	16.3%	10.0%
35 to 44	14.0%	13.4%
45 to 54	10.5%	11.2%
55 to 64	10.9%	16.4%
65 to 74	7.6%	15.1%
75 and over	5.9%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dawson County	Rains County
White (non-Hispanic)	35.6%	83.0%
Black or African American	6.5%	2.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.5%
Asian	0.4%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.0%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	55.4%	9.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dawson County	Rains County
No high school diploma	27.7%	10.2%
High school graduate	35.1%	31.8%
Some college or associate's	22.7%	32.9%
Bachelor's degree	12.0%	19.2%
Graduate or professional degree	2.5%	6.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dawson County	Rains County
Drove alone	72.2%	71.9%
Carpooled	18.5%	14.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.0%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.3%	9.2%
Other means	5.1%	2.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dawson County	Rains County
1-unit, detached	88.6%	72.9%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	1.0%
2 to 4 units	2.1%	1.9%
5 to 19 units	2.4%	1.9%
20 or more units	1.8%	0.6%
Mobile home & other	4.9%	21.6%

Poverty & households

	Dawson County	Rains County
Poverty rate	17.7%	12.8%
Average household size	2.53	2.63
Mean commute (minutes)	22	40
Median year structure built	1965	1995