Dakota County, NE

County Profile

21,354 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Dakota County, NE.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

54out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 23% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity741st of 1,255 counties measured51
Schools614th of 973 counties measured40
Growth922nd of 1,226 counties measured36
Housing affordabilityTop 25% of 1,255 counties measured99
Climate1104th of 1,254 counties measured56
Physical resilience1076th of 1,255 counties measured28
AccessTop 11% of 1,255 counties measured97
Economic stabilityTop 16% of 1,255 counties measured84
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.5% and median household income $70,329, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, tornado and hail.

A major airport is 9 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
21,354
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$70,329
Top 37% nationally
Density
81/sq mi
264.3 sq mi of land
Median age
32.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Dakota County
Nebraska
Metro area
Sioux City, IA-NE-SD
Nearest major airport
SUX
9 mi · Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Fld
Median home value
$185,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.5% is lower than 79% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 1.1% over the past year, to 10,837 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$4,068$70,329Top 37%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,838$32,253Bottom 36%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income$63,657Top 29%of 1,2062023
Poverty rate11.5%Bottom 36%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute15.3 minBottom 3%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher14.6%Bottom 11%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment10,837Bottom 6%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.8%Bottom 35%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.1%Bottom 40%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force11,226Bottom 6%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation71.5%Top 2%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.0%Bottom 45%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate3.5%Bottom 21%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/064.12.0
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.5% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202472k63k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $70,329 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Sioux City, IA-NE-SD
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers2,820$51,540
Retail Salespersons2,220$30,150
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,060$29,090
Food Processing Workers, All Other1,710$46,350
Cashiers1,700$29,470
Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers1,700$47,580

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

43% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 40% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.6 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
11
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
43.1%
Top 50% in Nebraska
Reading proficiency
40.1%
Bottom 8% in Nebraska
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
SOUTH SIOUX HIGH SCHOOLSO SIOUX CITY COMMUNITY SCHS1,19316.6
SOUTH SIOUX CITY MIDDLE SCHOOLSO SIOUX CITY COMMUNITY SCHS78112.847%47%
CARDINAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSO SIOUX CITY COMMUNITY SCHS42413.753%38%
COVINGTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSO SIOUX CITY COMMUNITY SCHS40812.426%34%
HARNEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSO SIOUX CITY COMMUNITY SCHS32810.641%32%
LEWIS & CLARK ELEMENTARY SCHSO SIOUX CITY COMMUNITY SCHS25311.528%21%
DAKOTA CITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSO SIOUX CITY COMMUNITY SCHS24611.249%41%
HOMER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLHOMER COMMUNITY SCHOOLS24512.349%53%
E N SWETT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSO SIOUX CITY COMMUNITY SCHS23823.8
HOMER HIGH SCHOOLHOMER COMMUNITY SCHOOLS20512.850%50%
JACKSON ELEMENTARYPONCA PUBLIC SCHOOLS11612.9

65.1% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Nebraska’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,069 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.6 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
18.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,069
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$185,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.64Bottom 35%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate63.9%Bottom 13%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±237,808Bottom 35%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$81$1,069Top 25%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$14,209$185,700Top 49%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.2%Top 36%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate4.5%Bottom 3%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
36/ 100
Ranks 922 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 3 consecutive years, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 1% since 2020, reaching 21,335 in 2024.

Permit activity has risen for 3 consecutive years.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
40
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.9
Bottom 33% nationally
Year over year
−9%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202422k21k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20222023202420255023
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+117%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 85°F and January a low of 10°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 29.3 inches, including 36.0 inches of snow.

0°20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station SIOUX CITY GATEWAY AP, 9.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation29.3"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall36.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low10°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing54°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

28 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and hail.

HailHigh
WildfireModerate
TornadoModerate
DroughtModerate
Heat waveModerate
Winter weatherModerate
Strong windModerate
Inland floodingModerate
Cold waveModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, ice storm, earthquake.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Dakota County records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 9.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
9.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
15.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Dakota County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Dakota County rather than Dakota County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 9 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day FldSUX9 mi9,002 ft
Eppley AirfieldOMA83 mi9,502 ft
Joe Foss FldFSD83 mi9,000 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
54
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

Cities in Dakota County, NE