LivingCostFacts / state

Nebraska cost of living

Nebraska has an all-items price parity of 90.1 on the U.S. = 100 scale. Compare the statewide picture with county rents and metro price levels.

BEA 2024 · HUD FY2027 · ACS 2020–2024 · CPI through 2026-10

90.1
All-items price level

BEA 2024; U.S. = 100

$76,475
Median household income

ACS 2020–2024

$238,600
Median home value

Owner-occupied homes, ACS 2020–2024

$1,260
Typical 2BR benchmark

Population-weighted county FMR, FY2027

Read the local picture

Regional Price Parities (RPPs) compare prices across places in the same year. An index of 110 means prices are 10% above the U.S. level; 90 means 10% below. RPP measures relative price levels, while CPI measures price change over time.

Nebraska: RPP components

BEA 2024 regional context; each category is compared with its own U.S. = 100 benchmark. These are not county price estimates or spending shares.

  1. All items90.1
  2. Goods94.1
  3. Housing rents75.2
  4. Utilities75.6
  5. Other services93.0
0100.0

Black marker: U.S. benchmark = 100 in each row.

Put the benchmark in context

Fair Market Rent (FMR) is HUD’s estimate of the 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality rental homes occupied by recent movers. It includes rent and most tenant-paid utilities. A household’s actual rent can differ substantially by neighborhood, lease and property.

Monthly rent by bedroom

HUD FY2027 gross monthly FMR; includes most tenant-paid utilities. Dollars per month.

  1. Studio$977
  2. 1 bedroom$1,036
  3. 2 bedrooms$1,260
  4. 3 bedrooms$1,659
  5. 4 bedrooms$1,883
0$1,883

Income after benchmark rent is $61,352 a year: ACS median household income minus 12 months of the population-weighted 2BR FMR. This is a comparison between separate datasets and periods, before taxes and all other expenses; it is not disposable income.

The data in view

Price levels relative to the U.S.

BEA RPP, U.S. = 100 each year. This is not an inflation index.

View chart data
Period or categoryValue
200889.6
200990.6
201092.1
201191.4
201292.3
201391.8
201491.8
201591.2
201690.8
201789.8
201891.8
201992.5
202092.8
202192.0
202289.8
202390.3
202490.1

Price levels by category

Each category has its own U.S. benchmark of 100. Components are indexes, not spending shares.

Category2024 RPP
All items90.1
Goods94.1
Housing rents75.2
Utilities75.6
Other services93.0

Monthly Fair Market Rent by bedroom

HUD 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality units; includes tenant-paid utilities except telephone, cable and internet. These are benchmarks, not asking-rent medians.

Home sizeFY2027 monthly gross rent
Studio$977
1 bedroom$1,036
2 bedrooms$1,260
3 bedrooms$1,659
4 bedrooms$1,883

County cost comparison

Income: ACS 2020–2024. Rent: HUD FY2027. Rent / income = 12 × 2BR FMR ÷ median household income; it does not measure actual renter burden.

County or equivalent2BR rent / monthMedian household incomeRent / income
Adams County$1,014$68,36517.8%
Antelope County$1,014$66,10518.4%
Arthur County$1,014$76,25016.0%
Banner County$1,014$78,83915.4%
Blaine County$1,014$69,58317.5%
Boone County$1,014$74,94716.2%
Box Butte County$1,014$68,89217.7%
Boyd County$1,014$67,04518.1%
Brown County$1,014$54,67622.3%
Buffalo County$1,097$75,91117.3%
Burt County$1,014$63,68519.1%
Butler County$1,014$79,26815.4%
Cass County$1,450$91,83618.9%
Cedar County$1,014$73,57816.5%
Chase County$1,014$68,17317.8%
Cherry County$1,114$66,27020.2%
Cheyenne County$1,134$60,34822.5%
Clay County$1,014$78,98615.4%
Colfax County$1,247$82,53018.1%
Cuming County$1,014$71,10417.1%
Custer County$1,014$67,90617.9%
Dakota County$1,194$70,32920.4%
Dawes County$1,081$56,28023.0%
Dawson County$1,074$69,88018.4%
Deuel County$1,014$70,09617.4%
Dixon County$1,014$72,45416.8%
Dodge County$1,207$74,32919.5%
Douglas County$1,450$80,39121.6%
Dundy County$1,014$58,92220.7%
Fillmore County$1,014$76,29515.9%
Franklin County$1,014$60,19520.2%
Frontier County$1,014$70,13217.4%
Furnas County$1,014$61,04819.9%
Gage County$1,025$67,24718.3%
Garden County$1,014$41,88229.1%
Garfield County$1,014$62,80419.4%
Gosper County$1,014$77,50015.7%
Grant County$1,014$70,14717.3%
Greeley County$1,014$63,92919.0%
Hall County$1,210$69,25121.0%
Hamilton County$1,014$83,99414.5%
Harlan County$1,014$70,62517.2%
Hayes County$1,014$69,25017.6%
Hitchcock County$1,014$51,56723.6%
Holt County$1,014$68,51317.8%
Hooker County$1,014$49,46424.6%
Howard County$1,014$76,76715.9%
Jefferson County$1,014$59,04420.6%
Johnson County$1,062$57,63222.1%
Kearney County$1,056$78,63116.1%
Keith County$1,014$60,64520.1%
Keya Paha County$1,014$64,00019.0%
Kimball County$1,014$56,71221.5%
Knox County$1,014$64,63618.8%
Lancaster County$1,230$74,79319.7%
Lincoln County$1,099$65,14820.2%
Logan County$1,014$74,27116.4%
Loup County$1,014$71,66717.0%
Madison County$1,082$63,12820.6%
McPherson County$1,014$58,68420.7%
Merrick County$1,014$68,35417.8%
Morrill County$1,014$58,50020.8%
Nance County$1,014$65,17918.7%
Nemaha County$1,014$60,92420.0%
Nuckolls County$1,014$73,97616.4%
Otoe County$1,112$82,18816.2%
Pawnee County$1,014$62,18819.6%
Perkins County$1,014$72,77816.7%
Phelps County$1,014$68,91917.7%
Pierce County$1,014$72,35716.8%
Platte County$1,139$71,55219.1%
Polk County$1,014$69,76817.4%
Red Willow County$1,014$63,69719.1%
Richardson County$1,014$60,10820.2%
Rock County$1,014$58,12520.9%
Saline County$1,050$79,91015.8%
Sarpy County$1,450$103,32116.8%
Saunders County$1,153$94,06614.7%
Scotts Bluff County$1,023$63,61419.3%
Seward County$1,055$82,44415.4%
Sheridan County$1,014$60,12120.2%
Sherman County$1,014$63,57819.1%
Sioux County$1,014$53,92922.6%
Stanton County$1,201$80,68717.9%
Thayer County$1,014$66,21318.4%
Thomas County$1,014$65,00018.7%
Thurston County$1,014$69,17717.6%
Valley County$1,014$61,85219.7%
Washington County$1,450$94,39618.4%
Wayne County$1,014$66,21518.4%
Webster County$1,014$64,34718.9%
Wheeler County$1,014$70,25017.3%
York County$1,047$77,75716.2%

Metros with member counties in Nebraska

BEA 2024, U.S. = 100. Rent is a population-weighted mean of member-county benchmarks where available.

Metro areaAll-items RPPHousing RPP2BR rent / month
Grand Island, NE86.761.7$1,174
Lincoln, NE91.684.2$1,221
Omaha, NE-IA91.986.4$1,443
Sioux City, IA-NE-SD86.557.8$1,194