Dakota County, Nebraska Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Dakota County
U.S. county
Dakota County courthouse in Dakota City
Location within the U.S. state of Nebraska
Nebraska's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Nebraska
Founded	March 7, 1855
Named for	Dakota people
Seat	Dakota City
Largest city	South Sioux City
Area
• Total	267 sq mi (690 km²)
• Land	264 sq mi (680 km²)
• Water	3.2 sq mi (8 km²) 1.2%%
Population (2020)
• Total	21,582
• Density	76.5/sq mi (29.5/km²)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	3rd

Dakota County is a county in the state of Nebraska, USA. In 2020, about 21,582 people lived there. The main town, or county seat, is Dakota City.

Dakota County is part of the larger Sioux City metropolitan area. This means it's connected to Sioux City, a bigger city nearby.

In Nebraska, cars used to have license plates with numbers that showed which county they were from. Dakota County was number 70. This meant it had the 70th most registered vehicles in 1922. Even though some counties changed to letters and numbers, Dakota County decided to keep its number system.

History of Dakota County
Geography and Location
- Main Roads in Dakota County
- Neighboring Counties
Population and People
Towns and Villages
Politics and Voting
See also

History of Dakota County

For thousands of years, different groups of Native Americans lived along the Missouri River. Around 1775, the Omaha people settled west of the Missouri River. They built a large village called Ton-wa-tonga, which means "Big Village." About 1,100 people lived there.

The Omaha people were important in fur trading. They traded with other tribes and with French-Canadian traders. They were also one of the first tribes on the Northern Plains to use horses.

European-American settlers officially created Dakota County in 1855. They named it after the Dakota Sioux tribe. This tribe was very powerful in the areas that are now Nebraska and South Dakota. By this time, the Omaha people lived further south in Nebraska.

In May 2020, Dakota County had a high number of COVID-19 cases for its size. Many of these cases were linked to a large meat packing plant in Dakota City. By July 2020, there were 1,634 cases and 38 deaths reported.

Geography and Location

Dakota County is located in the northeast part of Nebraska. Its eastern border is the Missouri River. Across the river are the states of South Dakota and Iowa. The county has rolling hills and flat areas near the river.

The US Census Bureau says Dakota County covers about 267 square miles. Most of this is land (264 square miles), and a small part is water (3.2 square miles). It is the second smallest county in Nebraska by land area.

Dakota County and its features

Main Roads in Dakota County

Interstate 129
U.S. Highway 20
U.S. Highway 75
U.S. Highway 77
Nebraska Highway 9
Nebraska Highway 12
Nebraska Highway 35
Nebraska Highway 110

Neighboring Counties

Union County, South Dakota - to the northeast
Woodbury County, Iowa - to the east
Thurston County - to the south
Dixon County - to the west

Population and People

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1860	819	—
1870	2,040	149.1%
1880	3,213	57.5%
1890	5,386	67.6%
1900	6,286	16.7%
1910	6,564	4.4%
1920	7,694	17.2%
1930	9,505	23.5%
1940	9,836	3.5%
1950	10,401	5.7%
1960	12,168	17.0%
1970	13,137	8.0%
1980	16,573	26.2%
1990	16,742	1.0%
2000	20,253	21.0%
2010	21,006	3.7%
2020	21,582	2.7%
2022 (est.)	21,042	0.2%
US Decennial Census 1790-1960 1900-1990 1990-2000 2010-2013 2020-2022

In 2020, the population of Dakota County was 21,582 people. The county is very diverse. About 43.3% of people were non-Hispanic White. About 40.8% of people were Hispanic. There were also African American and Asian residents.

In 2010, about 39.7% of the people were Hispanic or Latino. Many people in the county have German or Irish family backgrounds.

Towns and Villages

Cities

Dakota City (This is the county seat, the main town for county government.)
South Sioux City

Villages

Emerson (part of this village is in another county)
Homer
Hubbard
Jackson

Unincorporated Communities

These are smaller places that are not officially cities or villages.

Goodwin
Nacora
Willis

Politics and Voting

For many years, people in Dakota County have mostly voted for the Republican Party in national elections. Since 1952, the county has voted Republican more than 80% of the time. However, because there is a large Hispanic population, the difference in votes is not as big as in some other rural counties in Nebraska.

United States presidential election results for Dakota County, Nebraska
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	3,934	64.09%	2,109	34.36%	95	1.55%
2020	3,926	57.59%	2,744	40.25%	147	2.16%
2016	3,616	57.59%	2,314	36.85%	349	5.56%
2012	3,094	50.42%	2,922	47.62%	120	1.96%
2008	3,292	51.47%	2,994	46.81%	110	1.72%
2004	3,526	53.30%	3,027	45.76%	62	0.94%
2000	3,119	51.46%	2,695	44.46%	247	4.08%
1996	2,592	43.31%	2,632	43.98%	761	12.72%
1992	2,793	43.21%	2,335	36.12%	1,336	20.67%
1988	2,744	48.17%	2,942	51.64%	11	0.19%
1984	3,467	57.76%	2,510	41.82%	25	0.42%
1980	3,165	57.67%	1,930	35.17%	393	7.16%
1976	2,631	52.67%	2,292	45.89%	72	1.44%
1972	2,879	62.22%	1,748	37.78%	0	0.00%
1968	2,383	56.60%	1,541	36.60%	286	6.79%
1964	1,906	41.80%	2,654	58.20%	0	0.00%
1960	2,977	56.13%	2,327	43.87%	0	0.00%
1956	2,516	53.08%	2,224	46.92%	0	0.00%
1952	2,643	57.38%	1,963	42.62%	0	0.00%
1948	1,379	36.76%	2,372	63.24%	0	0.00%
1944	1,703	46.13%	1,989	53.87%	0	0.00%
1940	2,140	46.91%	2,422	53.09%	0	0.00%
1936	1,264	29.52%	2,741	64.01%	277	6.47%
1932	863	21.92%	3,044	77.32%	30	0.76%
1928	1,709	49.35%	1,754	50.65%	0	0.00%
1924	1,235	39.38%	964	30.74%	937	29.88%
1920	1,525	62.58%	873	35.82%	39	1.60%
1916	612	36.45%	1,032	61.47%	35	2.08%
1912	408	28.53%	612	42.80%	410	28.67%
1908	729	48.96%	716	48.09%	44	2.96%
1904	855	63.52%	399	29.64%	92	6.84%
1900	692	46.35%	777	52.04%	24	1.61%

Dakota County, Nebraska facts for kids

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