Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetNE-DAWSON-NE · Dawson, NE 193 pop · income 33rd pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Dawson
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Dawson on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Prestonville · lowest
17,315
Prestonville · lowest
17,315 median HH income
11.1% of the leader · rank #1
Lockesburg · near
58,313
Lockesburg · near
58,313 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #2
Dawson · this city
58,317
Dawson · this city
58,317 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #3
Barnesville · near
58,317
Barnesville · near
58,317 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #4
Alma · near
58,320
Alma · near
58,320 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #5
Gustine · near
58,321
Gustine · near
58,321 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #6
Martell · highest
156,094
Martell · highest
156,094 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Dawson on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 193.
Dawson ranks in the 33rd percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
33rd
percentile, household income
15th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Dawson, NE
193 people live in Dawson, Nebraska - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Dawson report a median income of $58,317 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. The median resident age is 53.2 years. About 11.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 55.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Living costs in Nebraska run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Nebraska at 90.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,001 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Nebraska's average monthly utility costs around $207 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 25.8 out of 100 (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Dawson's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from population change to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Dawson, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Dawson growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -7 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.9% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What does the journey to work look like in Dawson?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 69.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Dawson?
Within Nebraska, the closest population matches are Stamford (191 residents, $32,917 income); Harrison (196 residents, $48,571 income); Pickrell (190 residents, $66,250 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Goodmanville, CA (193 residents); Martell, CA (193 residents); Harrison Lake, IN (193 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Below median income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.1 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Nebraska average
C
City profile score · Dawson, NE
58/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living A
90.1 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income F
$58,317
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
11.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Dawson profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Household income: 32/100 (F) · $58,317
Bachelor's+ share: 10/100 (F) · 11.4%
How does Dawson compare to other US cities?
Where Dawson sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income33% higher than other cities
Median rent15% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Dawson against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Nebraska only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Nebraska-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Dawson near the bottom of Nebraska's cities
Among the 450 Nebraska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Dawson ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Dawson only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#284 of 439
35th percentile in Nebraska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 450
0th percentile in Nebraska
Poverty Rate
#388 of 450
0th percentile in Nebraska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#375 of 450
17th percentile in Nebraska
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Nebraska only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
33rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$58,317Dawson, NE median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Dawson, NE median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Dawson, NE.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)11.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
193
Median Income
$58,317
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
53.2
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
55.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
11.4%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Dawson's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
144 residents
2021
143 residents
2022
142 residents
2023
141 residents
2024
138 residents
2025
137 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
69.8%
Carpool
25.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
4.7%
Based on 86 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Nebraska statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $207
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Nebraska at $207 (electricity about $100 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Nebraska statewide averages, not a meter reading for Dawson. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Nebraska's BEA cost-of-living index is 90.1 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Dawson is $1,001/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Nebraska statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 25.8 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Nebraska statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Dawson sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Dawson compares to similar-size Nebraska cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.