QoL Rank
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Nebraska

Nebraska has a quality of life score of 74/100 (A, excellent) and ranks #1 of 51 states. Its strongest category is quality of life (80) and its weakest is safety (64). Its top-rated larger counties are Sarpy County, Holt County, Seward County.

  • Safety: 64
  • Cost of living: 79
  • Education: 73
  • Quality of life: 80

Key figures: violent crime 218.9 per 100,000 people a year (US 345.2); median rent $1,072 a month; median home value $238,600; median household income $74,727; life expectancy 78.1 years.

Counties in Nebraska, best first

  1. Perkins County 86
  2. Hamilton County 79
  3. Sarpy County 78
  4. Holt County 77
  5. Seward County 76
  6. Washington County 75
  7. Garfield County 74
  8. Cedar County 73
  9. Antelope County 73
  10. Polk County 72
  11. Harlan County 72
  12. Buffalo County 71
  13. Cass County 71
  14. Keith County 71
  15. Saunders County 71
  16. Nemaha County 70
  17. Furnas County 70
  18. Otoe County 70
  19. Colfax County 70
  20. Platte County 70
  21. Boone County 69
  22. Custer County 69
  23. Brown County 69
  24. Dundy County 69
  25. Cherry County 69
  26. Cheyenne County 69
  27. Chase County 69
  28. Wayne County 68
  29. Thayer County 68
  30. Lincoln County 68
  31. Merrick County 68
  32. Lancaster County 67
  33. Richardson County 67
  34. Greeley County 67
  35. Gage County 67
  36. Cuming County 67
  37. Red Willow County 66
  38. Butler County 66
  39. Knox County 66
  40. Dawes County 66
  41. York County 66
  42. Garden County 66
  43. Box Butte County 66
  44. Dixon County 65
  45. Morrill County 64
  46. Adams County 64
  47. Pierce County 64
  48. Madison County 63
  49. Deuel County 63
  50. Kimball County 63
  51. Jefferson County 63
  52. Johnson County 63
  53. Fillmore County 63
  54. Dawson County 62
  55. Sheridan County 62
  56. Nance County 62
  57. Clay County 61
  58. Nuckolls County 60
  59. Stanton County 60
  60. Saline County 59
  61. Gosper County 59
  62. Hall County 59
  63. Douglas County 59
  64. Kearney County 59
  65. Phelps County 58
  66. Dakota County 58
  67. Webster County 57
  68. Franklin County 57
  69. Frontier County 57
  70. Valley County 57
  71. Boyd County 57
  72. Pawnee County 55
  73. Dodge County 55
  74. Howard County 55
  75. Burt County 54
  76. Hitchcock County 54
  77. Scotts Bluff County 52
  78. Sherman County 49
  79. Thurston County 43
  80. Arthur County –
  81. Banner County –
  82. Blaine County –
  83. Grant County –
  84. Hayes County –
  85. Hooker County –
  86. Keya Paha County –
  87. Logan County –
  88. Loup County –
  89. McPherson County –
  90. Rock County –
  91. Sioux County –
  92. Thomas County –
  93. Wheeler County –

Your priorities

Choose how much each category counts toward the overall score. The map, rankings and every place’s overall score update as you go.

About the data

Every county is compared with every other US county, and every state with the other states.

Each measure becomes a percentile from 0 to 100, where 100 is always best. For crime, deaths, disaster risk, costs and commutes, the lowest value is best. A category score averages its measures’ percentiles and is then scaled so all four categories have the same spread around 50, so each counts equally. The overall score is the average of the four. 50 is a typical place, and most land between 35 and 65. Your priorities lets you weight the categories differently.

Grades: A 65 and up, B 55–64, C 45–54, D 35–44, F under 35.

Each category lists a county’s own figures next to its state’s and the US figures. Under the state and US columns, Difference shows whether the county is higher or lower, as a share of that figure (hover for the exact gap). Rank shows where it ranks instead: “ranked 75%” means it does better than 75% of the counties in its state, or in the US. A green arrow or dot means the county does better, red means worse.

Compare puts any two places side by side, counties or states, in any state. The better value in each row is highlighted.

A county gets an overall score only if all four categories have data and at least 60% of the measures are present. Small counties often have suppressed data, and without this rule they rank at the top on just a few numbers. Top 10 lists only include counties with at least 10,000 people.

What’s measured

Limitations

Sources