Dent County, Missouri Population and Demographics

In this article, we'll explore the population statistics for Dent County, Missouri, including popular demographics data like median age, number of households, household income, gender, employment and unemployment rates, occupations, religion, and more.

We are using the latest American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year survey data from the US Census Bureau, which is accurate up to 2021.

Table of Contents

Population

There is a lot of data that lets us see how many people live in Dent County, Missouri. The most basic data is the total population, which is the total number of people living in Dent County, Missouri. The estimated population of Dent County, Missouri is 14,585 people, with a median age of 44.2.

We can look at the total population in Dent County over the last 5 years to see how much it has changed.

Year Population Change 5-Year Change
2021
14,585
 -6.01% -6.30%
2020
15,518
 -0.17% -
2019
15,545
+0.26%
-
2018
15,504
 -0.4% -
2017
15,566
 - -

Population of Dent County, Missouri by Race and Ethnicity

We can also look at how the population has changed over the last 5 years by each of the race/ethnicity types as defined by the US Census Bureau.

Race 2021 2017 Change
White
92.7%
94.8%
 -2.22%
Black/African American
0.5%
0.4%
 +25.00%
Native
0.1%
0.9%
 -88.89%
Hispanic
1.9%
1.6%
 +18.75%
Asian
1%
0.4%
 +150.00%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
0.1%
0%
 0.00%
Two Or More Races
3.7%
1.9%
 +94.74%
Other
0%
0%
 0.00%

This data can be very important for a number of reasons, including social and economic research, planning and development, and marketing to a multi-cultural population.

Note that the Native group includes both Native American and Alaskan Native people.

Population of Dent County, Missouri by Age and Gender

The age and gender of a population is another interesting demographic statistic because it lets us track trends in the population over time. For example, we can see how the population has changed over the last 5 years by median age as a total, and also by male and female.

Year Total Male Female
2021 44.2 -3.07% 43.3 -0.23% 45.8 -2.76%
2020 45.6 +2.01% 43.4 +0.46% 47.1 +1.73%
2019 44.7 +0.68% 43.2 +3.6% 46.3 +0.87%
2018 44.4 +0.68% 41.7 -0.48% 45.9 +0.88%
2017 44.1 - 41.9 - 45.5 -

The median age of Dent County, Missouri gives you an idea of the age distribution, with half of the population being older than the median age and half being younger.

This can then be used to infer and compare against birth rates, parent ages, and more metrics to understand the population. For example, an increasing median age indicates an aging population, which can be a sign of a declining population in terms of birth rates and workforce participation.

Age 2021 2017
(Years) Male Female Male Female
0 to 9 1,005 -12.78% 925 -1.35% 869 911
10 to 19 1,081 -4.89% 910 -7.2% 1,010 838
20 to 29 746 -7.04% 817 -13.22% 689 713
30 to 39 858 -20.95% 730 +20.45% 679 888
40 to 49 847 +7.87% 933 -30.42% 904 679
50 to 59 1,210 -1.1% 1,182 -5.17% 1,186 1,105
60 to 69 1,110 -19.93% 1,111 -16.56% 900 932
70+ 917 +11.14% 1,184 +7.99% 1,017 1,265

Median Household Income

The latest median household income of Dent County, Missouri is $45,700.00.

In simple terms, the median income is the middle income of a group of people. Half of the people in the group make more than the median income, and half make less. The median income is a good indicator of the overall income of a group of people, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more.

Median Income by Age

We can also look at the median income by age to see how the median income varies by age, and how it compares to the overall median income for Dent County.

  • Under 25
    $34,663.00
  • 25 to 44
    $54,950.00
  • 45 to 64
    $49,657.00
  • 65 and over
    $33,291.00

Average Household Income

Whenever we ask what is the average household income in Dent County, we are actually talking about the mean household income.

This is calculated by adding up all the incomes of all the households in Dent County, and then dividing that number by the total number of households. This is a good way to get a general idea of the average income of a group of people, but it can be skewed by a very high or very low incomes.

The average household income of Dent County, Missouri is currently $59,468.00.

In terms of accurately summarizing income at a geographic level, the median income is a better metric than the average income because it isn't affected by a small number of very high or very low incomes.

If you had an area where the average income was greater than the median, it can mean that there is significant income inequality, with income being concentrated in a small number of wealthy households.

1.82% of households in Dent County are classed as high income households (making $200,000+ per year).

Household Income Tiers

The US Census Bureau divides households into income tiers based on the median income for the area. This is a good way to compare the income of Dent County against other areas.

  • Less than $24,999
    27.87%
  • $25,000 to $49,999
    26.88%
  • $50,000 to $74,999
    17.63%
  • $75,000 to $99,999
    13.71%
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    9.96%
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    2.13%
  • $200,000 or more
    1.82%

Per Capita Income

The per capita income in Dent County is $24,813.00.

Per capita income is the average income of a person in a given area. It is calculated by dividing the total income of Dent County by the total population of Dent County.

This is different from the average or mean income because it includes and accounts for all people in Dent County, Missouri, including people like children, the elderly, unemployed people, retired people, and more.

Education Levels

We can also look at the education levels in Dent County to see how many people have a high school degree, a bachelor's degree, or a graduate degree.

Educational attainment is a good indicator of the overall education level of a population, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more to see how education levels affect income, unemployment rates, and more.

  • Master's degree or higher
    7.96%
  • Bachelor's degree
    16.77%
  • Some college or associate's degree
    11.68%
  • High school diploma or equivalent
    59.57%
  • Less than high school diploma
    4.03%

Employment

Employment rates are all based around the total population in Dent County that are over the age of 16.

The total population of Dent County over the age of 16 is 11,640.

Of those people, a total of 54.40% are working or actively looking for work. This is called the labor force participation rate.

The participation rate is a useful market measure because it shows the relative amount of labor resources available to the economy.

The employment to total population rate in Dent County is 52.00%.

Employment by Age

We can look at the employment rates by age to see how it compares to the overall employment rate.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
16 to 19 years 683 50.40% 18.30%
20 to 24 years 684 73.70% 11.50%
25 to 29 years 718 83.80% 5.00%
30 to 34 years 755 68.50% 3.50%
35 to 44 years 1,613 83.50% 2.80%
45 to 54 years 1,738 73.40% 2.40%
55 to 59 years 1,335 67.00% 2.50%
60 to 64 years 949 46.40% 4.50%
65 to 74 years 1,756 17.90% 1.60%
75 years and over 1,409 7.00% 5.10%

Employment by Race

Another very interesting employment statistic we can look at is the employment and unemployment rates by race in Dent County. The table below shows the rates for each of the ethnicity groups types defined by the US Census Bureau.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
White 10,907 55.70% 4.40%
Black or African American 32 50.00% 0.00%
American Indian and Alaska Native 21 71.40% 0.00%
Asian 115 20.00% 0.00%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0 0.00% 0.00%
Other 109 66.10% 13.90%
Two or more races 456 29.20% 9.00%
Hispanic or Latino 188 51.10% 10.40%
Not Hispanic or Latino 10,853 56.00% 4.40%

Occupations

In this section we can look at the most common occupations in Dent County as well as the gender breakdown and earnings of them.

The total population of civilian employees that are 16 years old or older in Dent County is 6,048, with median earnings of $32,440.00.

Women in Dent County, Missouri earning approximately 73.10% of the men's earnings.

Population Earnings
Total 6,048 $32,440.00
Male 3,106 $35,387.00
Female 2,942 $25,861.00

Occupations by Category

In the table below, we can break down the population and earnings even further by occupation. The list of occupation categories below will show you how many people are employed in each category and the median earnings of each profession.

Occupation Employed Earnings
Management 426 $36,167.00
Business and Financial 127 $43,281.00
Computer and Mathematical 39 $59,750.00
Architecture and Engineering 23 $67,188.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 83 $80,772.00
Community and Social Service 162 $33,438.00
Legal 136 $0.00
Educational and Library 347 $35,795.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 6 $0.00
Healthcare Practitioners 411 $44,548.00
Healthcare Support 433 $21,540.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 45 $30,368.00
Law Enforcement 187 $50,892.00
Food Preparation and Serving 379 $6,443.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 295 $19,750.00
Personal Care and Service 109 $6,761.00
Sales 362 $22,895.00
Office and Administrative Support 638 $30,612.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 85 $16,920.00
Construction and Extraction 287 $38,583.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 215 $45,724.00
Production 408 $33,278.00
Transportation and Material Moving 352 $43,406.00

Occupations by Gender

The table below shows the same occupations from the list above, but we have split them by male and female to see how many male and females work in each occupation, the median earnings, and the male to female ratio of earnings.

That last metric is important because it can be used to look at the gender pay gap between men and women.

Occupation Male Female
Population Earnings Population Earnings
Management 175 $39,010.00 251 $29,896.00
Business and Financial 37 $14,813.00 90 $43,750.00
Computer and Mathematical 24 $0.00 15 $0.00
Architecture and Engineering 23 $67,188.00 0 $0.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 37 $74,861.00 46 $80,809.00
Community and Social Service 82 $36,071.00 80 $32,969.00
Legal 0 $0.00 136 $0.00
Educational and Library 101 $42,991.00 246 $33,716.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 0 $0.00 6 $0.00
Healthcare Practitioners 62 $31,490.00 349 $49,145.00
Healthcare Support 12 $0.00 421 $21,585.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 25 $31,250.00 20 $14,583.00
Law Enforcement 185 $50,910.00 2 $0.00
Food Preparation and Serving 59 $4,509.00 320 $6,568.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 191 $26,576.00 104 $14,762.00
Personal Care and Service 0 $0.00 109 $6,761.00
Sales 165 $38,689.00 197 $16,563.00
Office and Administrative Support 166 $33,438.00 472 $27,222.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 80 $16,696.00 5 $0.00
Construction and Extraction 282 $39,000.00 5 $0.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 215 $45,724.00 0 $0.00
Production 408 $33,278.00 0 $0.00
Transportation and Material Moving 342 $43,587.00 10 $0.00

Households and Family Size

A household defined bu the US Census Bureau is a group of people who occupy a housing unit. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, group of rooms, or single room occupied as separate living quarters.

There are currently 5,923 households in Dent County, with an average household size of 2.43 people.

A family is defined as a group of two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together in the same household.

There are 3,984 families in Dent County with an average family size of 3 people.

Households by Marital Status

The four categories of household by marital status are:

  • Married-couple family
  • Male householder with no spouse present
  • Female household with no spouse present
  • Nonfamily household

The table below shows the total number of households and families, with the average sizes of each.

Married Male Female Nonfamily
Total Households 2,938 368 678 1,939
Average Household Size 3.02 3.24 3.41 1.05
Total Families 2,938 368 678 0
Average Household Size 3 2.95 3.05 0

Poverty

Of the 3,984 families in Dent County, 11.00% are considered to be below the poverty threshold.

The table below shows the latest poverty thresholds in Dent County:

Household Size Poverty Threshold
1 Person $14,580.00
2 People $19,720.00
3 People $24,860.00
4 People $30,000.00
5 People $35,140.00
6 People $40,280.00
7 People $45,420.00
8 People $50,560.00

Housing

There are 6,878 housing units in Dent County, Missouri.

The table below shows the split between occupied and vacant units:

Total Percentage
Occupied 5,923 86.12%
Vacant 955 13.88%

20.57% of the total 6,878 housing units in Dent County are rental units. This is approximately 1,415 properties.

For owner-occupied housing units, a total of 4,256 are occupied by the owner - or 61.88% of the total.

Rental Rates

The median rent for a property in Dent County is $633.00.

In the chart below, we can look at the number of rental properties in Dent County that fall into a particular rent range. These can then be used to compare with other areas, or to see how they have changed over time.

  • No rent paid
    252
  • Less than $500
    513
  • $500 to $999
    843
  • $1,000 to $1,499
    59
  • $1,500 to $1,999
    0
  • $2,000 to $2,499
    0
  • $2,500 to $2,999
    0
  • $3,000 or more
    0

Property Value

The median value of a property in Dent County is $109,600.00.

Just like with rental rates, we can look at the number of properties in Dent County that fall into a particular value range.

  • Less than $50,000
    858
  • $50,000 to $99,999
    1,135
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    573
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    625
  • $200,000 to $299,999
    626
  • $300,000 to $499,999
    390
  • $500,000 to $999,999
    49
  • $1,000,000 or more
    0

Property Age

We can also look at the age of properties in Dent County. The chart below shows the number of properties in Dent County that fall into a particular age range.

  • 1939 or earlier
    607
  • 1940 to 1949
    297
  • 1950 to 1959
    600
  • 1960 to 1969
    1,082
  • 1970 to 1979
    1,204
  • 1980 to 1989
    636
  • 1990 to 1999
    1,189
  • 2000 to 2009
    836
  • 2010 to 2013
    422
  • 2014 or later
    5

Vehicles per Household

The number of vehicles available per household can be a good indicator of the level of affluence in an area. The chart below shows the number of households in Dent County that have a particular number of vehicles available.

  • No vehicles available
    338
  • 1 vehicle available
    1,545
  • 2 vehicles available
    2,537
  • 3 or more vehicles available
    1,503

Commuting to Work

In this section, we can also look at how people in Dent County get to work. The chart below shows the number of people in Dent County that commute to work in a particular way.

21.5 minutes is the average travel time to work for people in Dent County.

These commute times can be compared to other date like income and educational levels to see how they relate to each other and if there are any trends in the data that might suggest a correlation.

  • Less than 5 minutes
    471
  • 5 to 9 minutes
    1,122
  • 10 to 14 minutes
    950
  • 15 to 19 minutes
    734
  • 20 to 24 minutes
    616
  • 25 to 29 minutes
    127
  • 30 to 34 minutes
    400
  • 35 to 39 minutes
    179
  • 40 to 44 minutes
    178
  • 45 to 59 minutes
    517
  • 60 to 89 minutes
    233
  • 90 or more minutes
    102

Summary

We've covered a LOT of demographic and population data for Dent County, Missouri in this article! Hopefully you have found it very useful in your research of the area.

If you use any of the data found on this page, please consider linking back to USPopulation.org as the source and if you have any feedback or data requests, click here to contact us.

Places in Dent County, Missouri

We have data for 15 places in Dent County, Missouri. Click on a place below to see more information about the demographics of that place.