Dakota County Government

The mission of the Dakota County government is to provide efficient, effective, responsive government that achieves the Board of Commissioners' vision for Dakota County: a premier place in which to live and work.

Founded in 1849, ​Dakota County is 587 square miles in area and has a population of approximately 400,000. Situated in the southeast corner of the Twin Cities Metropolitan area, it is the third most populous county in the state of Minnesota.

The County seat was first established in Kaposia in 1853, moved to Mendota in 1854, and moved again to Hastings in 1857, where it currently resides.

Our Facebook page policy:
At Dakota County, we pride ourselves on being a premier place to live, work and play; all are welcome here. The same is true of our Facebook page. This is your community—we hope you’ll participate here. When you do, please help us make it a place we can all be proud of. We ask that you refrain from posting material that contains: profanity or hate speech; deceptive or misleading information; advertisements or solicitation; and nudity or other suggestive content. Should a user violate these guidelines, we reserve the right to hide or delete your post and/or comment. Thanks for your cooperation; we hope you’ll return to our page soon.