Scotts Bluff, NebraskaPhoto: Cathy Cline, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Downtown in Douglas County, NebraskaPhoto: shannonpatrick17, CC BY-SA, via Flickr
Courthouse in Douglas County, NebraskaPhoto: JonClee86 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cost of living in Nebraska

Rent, income, home value and property tax for Nebraska, home to 1.98M people, then the same for each of its 93 counties. Every figure is the published one, with its source named.

Median rent: $1,072; Census ACS, B25064, monthly
Median household income: $76,475; Census ACS, B19013, yearly
Median home value: $238,600; Census ACS, B25077
Median property tax bill: $3,549; Census ACS, B25103, yearly, current owners
Mean commute: 19 min; Census ACS, DP03, one way
Unemployment: 3.0%; Census ACS, DP03

Nebraska's own published state rows, never an average of its counties. Prices overall run 10% below the national average (BEA regional price parity, 2024).

Census ACS 2024 five-year estimates, checked November 2026.

The three most populous counties in Nebraska

These are the most populous places in Nebraska, not a match to you. Set what matters to you on Find your fit and this becomes your three closest matches here. Made-up answers work too. This is a tool, not a survey.

Douglas County
Population
591K
Rent
$1,201
Household income
$80,391
Prop. tax (yearly)
$4,507
Plan
Lancaster County
Population
327K
Rent
$1,085
Household income
$74,793
Prop. tax (yearly)
$4,204
Plan
Sarpy County
Population
197K
Rent
$1,334
Household income
$103,321
Prop. tax (yearly)
$5,473
Plan

Nebraska, worth the trip

Admitted to the Union on March 1, 1867, as the 37th state. The Platte valley became a major migration route in the 1840s as thousands of settlers moved west to Oregon, California and Utah. The Union Pacific Railroad was completed in 1869.

Scotts Bluff National Monument
A bluff 800 feet above the North Platte River, a landmark on the Oregon, California and Mormon trails.
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument
The hills where paleontologists found full skeletons of extinct Miocene mammals in the early 1900s.
Homestead National Historical Park
The story of the Homestead Act of 1862, under which over 10 percent of the United States was homesteaded.

History: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Each place links to the page of the agency that looks after it.

Property tax in Nebraska

Current owners in Nebraska pay a median 1.49% of home value a year in property tax. Example: $3,549 a year, the median bill. By county, the median bill runs from $929 in Grant County to $5,473 in Sarpy County. These are bills that current owners pay, as the Census measures them. Each county's own figure is in the table below.

Health in Nebraska

Life expectancy: 78.1 yrs; County Health Rankings, from CDC NCHS vital statistics
No health insurance: 7.7%; County Health Rankings, from Census SAHIE, people under 65
Poor or fair health: 14.5%; County Health Rankings, from CDC BRFSS. Modeled, not counted
Injury deaths per 100K people: 65; County Health Rankings, from CDC NCHS, counted deaths

Each is the figure County Health Rankings publishes for Nebraska as a whole, never an average of its counties. Each county's own health readings are on its page.

Natural hazards in Nebraska

Expected yearly loss, statewide: $1.3B; All natural hazards, an average year. Larger states lose more
Building loss rate: $1.69; Per $1,000 of building value, each year. Fair to compare between states
Costliest hazard: Inland flooding; $401M of the expected yearly loss, the largest share of any hazard FEMA assesses
Air quality: —; The EPA publishes air quality by county and metro area, never by state. It is on each county's page

FEMA publishes a risk score for counties and none for states, so none is shown here. Each county's score is on its own page.

New homes permitted in Nebraska

Permitted in 2025

10,596homes

Per 1,000 residents

5.4

Single-family · larger buildings

5,561 · 5,035

9,4832020
11K2021
11K2022
8,8772023
10K2024
11K2025

Nebraska approved permits for 10,596 new homes in 2025. That is about 5.4 homes for every 1,000 people. 5,561 were single-family houses, and 5,035 were in buildings with two or more homes. From 2020 to 2025 the yearly count stayed between 8,877 and 11,115.

14th of the 50 states and DC by homes permitted per 1,000 residents in 2025.

A permit lets a home be built. It does not mean the home is finished. Some offices did not report, so part of this figure is a Census estimate. The offices that did report account for 10,354. Source: US Census Building Permits Survey, annual 2025 data.

Side by side

Douglas County, NE is the largest county here. Set it beside another place, reading by reading.

The largest counties in Nebraska

By population, from the Census release named below. Each opens its own page.

All 93 counties in Nebraska

Each has its published readings on its own page. Press a column to sort by it. Pick one, or open the map to see them shaded side by side.


Adams County	$857	$68,365	$193,100	$2,793	31.1K	119
Antelope County	$692	$66,105	$130,300	$1,608	6,305	20
Arthur County	$750	$76,250	$185,900	—	484	none
Banner County	$975	$78,839	$205,700	—	742	—
Blaine County	$873	$69,583	$116,900	$1,333	422	—
Boone County	$850	$74,947	$173,700	$1,781	5,356	22
Box Butte County	$752	$68,892	$166,600	$2,516	10.7K	1
Boyd County	$713	$67,045	$104,000	—	1,688	none
Brown County	$876	$54,676	$113,900	—	2,869	1
Buffalo County	$936	$75,911	$246,400	$3,555	50.6K	132
Burt County	$708	$63,685	$147,000	$1,937	6,740	12
Butler County	$776	$79,268	$184,200	$2,044	8,424	10
Cass County	$996	$91,836	$254,900	$3,652	27.2K	55
Cedar County	$716	$73,578	$185,000	$1,848	8,315	27
Chase County	$800	$68,173	$165,900	$2,131	3,671	16
Cherry County	$916	$66,270	$152,200	$1,505	5,498	16
Cheyenne County	$821	$60,348	$139,700	$2,301	9,533	7
Clay County	$645	$78,986	$155,600	$1,870	6,095	18
Colfax County	$980	$82,530	$144,700	$1,710	10.6K	65
Cuming County	$789	$71,104	$178,800	$1,784	8,975	22
Custer County	$853	$67,906	$157,800	$1,838	10.5K	25
Dakota County	$1,069	$70,329	$185,700	$2,854	21.4K	44
Dawes County	$900	$56,280	$150,900	$2,183	8,140	15
Dawson County	$925	$69,880	$166,200	$2,172	24.2K	31
Deuel County	$872	$70,096	$100,200	$1,431	1,847	none
Dixon County	$689	$72,454	$155,900	$1,874	5,545	7
Dodge County	$1,060	$74,329	$208,600	$2,643	37.4K	81
Douglas County	$1,201	$80,391	$266,100	$4,507	591K	3,963
Dundy County	—	$58,922	$143,400	—	1,736	2
Fillmore County	$716	$76,295	$151,000	$1,491	5,541	3
Franklin County	$691	$60,195	$95,600	$1,221	2,846	4
Frontier County	$666	$70,132	$149,800	$2,101	2,569	5
Furnas County	$763	$61,048	$98,400	$1,353	4,568	7
Gage County	$774	$67,247	$174,000	$2,447	21.6K	28
Garden County	$700	$41,882	$110,400	$1,113	1,761	4
Garfield County	$490	$62,804	$176,600	$2,383	1,718	4
Gosper County	$664	$77,500	$228,500	$2,403	2,040	7
Grant County	$867	$70,147	$136,700	$929	626	—
Greeley County	$613	$63,929	$120,000	$1,544	2,202	none
Hall County	$943	$69,251	$224,600	$3,120	62.5K	203
Hamilton County	$794	$83,994	$253,700	$2,407	9,464	45
Harlan County	$657	$70,625	$145,800	$1,876	2,847	1
Hayes County	$508	$69,250	$128,100	—	843	1
Hitchcock County	$714	$51,567	$96,700	$1,130	2,569	1
Holt County	$714	$68,513	$165,100	$1,828	10.1K	18
Hooker County	$592	$49,464	$93,800	—	647	4
Howard County	$777	$76,767	$209,100	$2,429	6,534	15
Jefferson County	$662	$59,044	$129,500	$1,886	7,161	8
Johnson County	$779	$57,632	$155,500	$2,052	5,261	4
Kearney County	$857	$78,631	$223,400	$2,740	6,713	10
Keith County	$771	$60,645	$168,000	$2,369	8,219	38
Keya Paha County	$875	$64,000	$108,800	—	822	none
Kimball County	$846	$56,712	$109,400	$1,828	3,248	19
Knox County	$647	$64,636	$127,700	$1,472	8,363	32
Lancaster County	$1,085	$74,793	$275,200	$4,204	327K	2,346
Lincoln County	$900	$65,148	$189,500	$2,788	33.8K	235
Logan County	$761	$74,271	—	—	773	none
Loup County	—	—	—	—	578	11
Madison County	$881	$63,128	$208,500	$2,854	35.5K	75
McPherson County	$588	$58,684	$121,600	$1,350	475	none
Merrick County	$750	$68,354	$175,900	$2,280	7,724	49
Morrill County	$768	$58,500	$116,100	$1,644	4,534	2
Nance County	$807	$65,179	$132,000	$1,451	3,324	8
Nemaha County	$772	$60,924	$131,700	$1,898	7,046	4
Nuckolls County	$585	$73,976	$96,500	$1,133	4,087	4
Otoe County	$914	$82,188	$201,600	$2,691	16.2K	24
Pawnee County	$706	$62,188	$79,400	—	2,530	7
Perkins County	$922	$72,778	$157,200	$1,574	2,821	1
Phelps County	$815	$68,919	$194,900	$2,573	9,009	9
Pierce County	$884	$72,357	$196,000	$2,234	7,325	13
Platte County	$897	$71,552	$223,900	$2,885	34.7K	409
Polk County	$681	$69,768	$189,900	$1,888	5,225	13
Red Willow County	$819	$63,697	$159,600	$1,879	10.6K	9
Richardson County	$691	$60,108	$100,300	$1,432	7,751	1
Rock County	$644	$58,125	$117,500	$1,262	1,319	3
Saline County	$914	$79,910	$197,400	$2,663	14.7K	34
Sarpy County	$1,334	$103,321	$314,100	$5,473	197K	1,594
Saunders County	$960	$94,066	$271,700	$3,531	23K	180
Scotts Bluff County	$909	$63,614	$168,500	$2,495	35.8K	40
Seward County	$980	$82,444	$241,300	$2,850	17.6K	56
Sheridan County	$738	$60,121	$113,400	$1,556	5,014	3
Sherman County	$818	$63,578	$152,000	$1,764	2,967	11
Sioux County	$745	$53,929	—	—	1,171	2
Stanton County	$902	$80,687	$195,400	$2,471	5,796	3
Thayer County	$766	$66,213	$122,800	$1,259	4,901	4
Thomas County	$638	$65,000	$109,200	—	564	1
Thurston County	$699	$69,177	$114,600	$1,682	6,627	2
Valley County	$626	$61,852	$154,600	$2,041	4,066	7
Washington County	$965	$94,396	$297,600	$4,142	21.1K	206
Wayne County	$800	$66,215	$221,600	$2,486	9,844	13
Webster County	$647	$64,347	$117,600	$1,707	3,360	6
Wheeler County	$509	$70,250	$146,500	$1,164	847	2
York County	$877	$77,757	$189,400	$2,263	14.3K	37

Household income, home value and population are on each county's own page, and in this table on a wider screen.

Where these numbers come from

Each reading is the published figure, not an estimate. A dash means the source did not publish one, or published one too uncertain to print.

State figures: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 20245-year estimates, the state's own row (tables B25064, B19013, B25077, B25103, B01003, DP03).
County figures: the same survey, each county's own row, as on every county page.
Price level: Bureau of Economic Analysis, regional price parities, 2024, all items, state-level.
Health: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025, University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, the state's own row. Poor or fair health is a modeled estimate from CDC survey data. The other three are counted or calculated.
Natural hazards: FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025, state table, expected annual loss. This product uses FEMA data but is not endorsed by FEMA.
Air quality has no state figure: the EPA publishes it by county and metro area only.
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons and the county photo feed, each credited to its photographer under its own licence, beneath the picture.

What to do with these numbers

Every number here is public. The site adds your side of it: Nebraska next to your own state, by what you value.

See Nebraska beside your own state
Find your fit puts it next to where you live and the states next door, by what matters to you. Made-up answers are fine, since this is a tool, not a survey. No account needed.
Find your fit
Pick a county here and make it your target
The three counties above each carry Set as target. From there the Journey lays out the runway and the steps. An account keeps it private and yours across devices.
See the three counties

Nebraska at a glance

The three most populous counties in Nebraska

Douglas County

Lancaster County

Sarpy County