Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The best of Dakota City’s subject grades is an A− for cost of living; the weakest is a C− for schools. Only 7 of Nebraska’s 127 towns score lower on civic life. Emmanuel Lutheran Church is on the National Register of Historic Places. Dakota City has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Dakota City beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Nebraska), ordered by how far Dakota City is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 58 in 1860, 2,081 in 2020. The archive holds 1 old photo or paper going back to 2005 and 2 maps from 1976 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Dakota City, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Dakota City.
The public schools here belong to the So Sioux City Community Schs school district. Its one school is below. Enrollment at Dakota City’s public school: 246 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dakota City Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 246 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NE on state tests and graduation
The seasons in Dakota City: cold, snowy winters, warm summers. Summer afternoons peak near 86° in July, and January nights bottom out around 11°; snowfall runs to about 36 inches a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Half of commuters travel less than 6 miles. Jobs in Dakota City grew by 668 from 2013 to 2023, reaching 1,129. Most people who work leave Dakota City to do it: just 4% work in town. The town’s mean commuting time is 15 minutes, below both the Nebraska town median (17 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes).
| Dakota City | Nebraska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 4.3% | 34% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 15 minutes | 17 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 7.3% | 11% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Values rose 8.7% in the 12 months to September 2026. For households in Dakota City, the share who live in a home they own is 81%.
| Dakota City | Nebraska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $635 a month | $914 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 81% | 67% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected losses in Dakota City break down as 38% from inland flooding and 32% from tornadoes. Paid flood insurance claims here since 1998: 5. Its FEMA risk score is 56 of 100, against 55 of 100 in Nebraska’s towns and 44 of 100 across U.S. towns. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Dakota City once, in 2011.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
14% of adults report frequent mental distress in Dakota City. Of 32 CDC measures, Dakota City beats the Nebraska average on 2 and trails it on 11. Among 58 Nebraska towns, just 3 have a higher share of adults who have obesity than Dakota City.
| Dakota City | Nebraska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 9.7% | 8.1% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 18% | 23% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 40% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 74% | 76% | 79% |
| What stands out | Dakota City | NE |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.5% | 8.3% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 20.7% | 24% |
| More uninsured adults | 15.8% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
5 within 15 miles of the center of Dakota City
About 5 of every 100 Dakota City residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Nebraska.
City in Dakota County, Nebraska, United States
Dakota City is a city in and the county seat of Dakota County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 2,081 at the 2020 census. Tyson Foods' largest beef production plant is located in Dakota City.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Dakota City.
| Town | NE rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dakota City | — | — | A− | — | C− | B− |
| South Sioux City | #54 | C− | B− | C | C− | C+ |
Dakota City has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Dakota City reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Dakota City with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.