Recently updated U.S. Census Bureau statistics for Dawsonville and Dawson County confirm trends that are also present around the country. 

The federal government’s largest statistical agency published American Community Survey results for the years 2016-2020 on March 17, 2022. This was in addition to partially-published statistics for the decennial census. 

Results for both the city of Dawsonville and Dawson County are available through their geography profiles at www.census.gov.

Income and housing

The median income is $72,260 for those in Dawson County and $63,598 within the city, up about $20,000 and $30,000 respectively. At the county level, families make $86,206, while nonfamily households make $41,240. Married-couple families make $102, 404.

Within Dawsonville, families earn $75,417 and nonfamily households earn $47,026. Spouses specifically make $88,636.

Of those surveyed, 9.5 percent are experiencing poverty in the county, and 5.3 percent are in Dawsonville. In both cases, the poverty rate has decreased over the past several years. 

Median gross rent costs residents across the county $1,039, an increase of $211 from 2010. Those renting in Dawsonville pay $839, an increase of $142. 

The home ownership rate grew in the county by 2.6 percent, now to 81.5 percent, and the residential vacancy rate declined by .2 percent. 

As for Dawsonville, 9.8 percent more people now own homes at 66.3 percent, and the vacancy rate was down 9.4 percent. 

Education

Dawsonville hosts more people with educational levels of high school or the equivalent, some college and associate’s degrees at 67.5 percent versus the county’s 54.7 percent. 

In the county, more people have bachelor’s and graduate or other professional degrees at 33.6 percent versus the city’s 24.5 percent. 

A little over three-fourths, or 76.7 percent of Dawson County’s school-enrolled population is in grades K-12. The proportion of K-12 children has increased by about 3 percent since 2010. 

During the Development Authority of Dawson County’s March meeting, ex-officio member and Dawson County School District Superintendent Dr. Damon Gibbs cautioned against narratives about schools being at or over capacity. 

In an email response to DCN, he explained that Dawson County Schools has roughly “30 percent remaining capacity” before the school district reaches its 6,100-student capacity. 

Jobs

The county’s top five industries are:

• Educational, health care and social services: 22.5 percent

• Professional, scientific, management, admin and waste services: 13.6 percent

• Retail: 12.2 percent

• Manufacturing: 10.5 percent

• Construction: 8.6 percent

A large majority of county residents, a little over 80 percent, work for private companies. Six percent less people were working for their own, unincorporated business at 4.2 percent. Additionally, 15.3 percent of county people work for either the local, state or federal governments. That’s an increase of 546 people or 1.9 percent. 

For both city and county residents, over half of people surveyed have to travel over 30 or more minutes to work, with roughly four-fifths of them driving alone to their jobs. 

Not surprisingly, the number of people working from home increased for both municipalities. The county’s percentage of work-from-home people increased by roughly 300 individuals, while the city amount jumped by 6.6 percent or about 100 people.