8,003 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.9% since 2020)
1,396 square miles of land · 6 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
6 active community water systems list Dawes County in the area they serve, reporting 7,515 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| CHADRON, CITY OF surface water · local government · NE3104507 | 6,257 served |
| CRAWFORD, CITY OF groundwater (surface-influenced) · local government · NE3104505 | 840 served |
| PINE RIDGE JOB CORPS groundwater · federal · NE3104508 | 250 served |
| DAWES CO RWD 1 groundwater · local government · NE3104502 | 59 served |
| WHITNEY, VILLAGE OF buys groundwater · local government · NE3104501 | 57 served |
| EAGLES NEST ESTATES groundwater · private · NE3120840 | 52 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 15 people were held in Dawes County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 272 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 10.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
2 school districts have their office in Dawes County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $15.2 million — $14.5 million to run schools, about $15,412 per student, plus $629,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.1 million local (mostly property tax), $6.1 million state, $2 million federal. Long-term debt: $337,000.
Spent $3.9 million — $3.8 million to run schools, about $21,908 per student, plus $18,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.7 million local (mostly property tax), $1.1 million state, $428,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1.6 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Dawes County about $4.3 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Low; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
90 bridges in Dawes County: 59 in good condition, 21 fair, and 10 poor (11.1%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| S23A WHITNEY SPUR over WHITE RIVER · built 1937 | 225 vehicles a day |
| MAIN STREET over WHITE RIVER · built 1935 | 100 vehicles a day |
| AIRPORT ROAD over WHITE RIVER · built 1936 | 50 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY HIGHWAY over WHITE RIVER · built 1935 | 40 vehicles a day |
| PINEVIEW ROAD over BIG BORDEAUX CREEK · built 1935 | 25 vehicles a day |
| MANN ROAD over CHADRON CREEK · built 1935 | 15 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $12.8 million of work in Dawes County in fiscal 2025, about $1,565 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Nebraska are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Dawes County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Dawes County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Nebraska: the state government and every county in Nebraska.
Nearby counties: Sioux County (35 mi) · Box Butte County (35 mi) · Fall River County, SD (40 mi) · Sheridan County (41 mi) · Oglala Lakota County, SD (52 mi) · Scotts Bluff County (66 mi).