The 10 Richest Cities In Nebraska For 2024


The richest cities in Nebraska are Gretna and Papillion for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

Gretna, Papillion, Valley: These cities aren’t just some of the best places to live in Nebraska. They are also home to some of the richest people in the Cornhusker State.

Gretna in particular houses the richest residents in the state thanks, in part, to a median household income of $117,553 and a ridiculously low poverty rate of 2.9995539696699383%.

If you’re thinking of moving to one of these towns, you’ll probably need to start saving. The richest places in Nebraska share common characteristics such as having a genius level populous, sky high home prices, and a Pleasantville level of married couples.

How did we come up with these mega wealthy cities? We analyzed Census data from the 2018-2022 American Community Survey for the 48 places in Nebraska with more than 3,000 people.


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 Richest Places In Nebraska For 2024

  1. Gretna
  2. Papillion
  3. Valley
  4. Waverly
  5. Ashland
  6. La Vista
  7. Blair
  8. Bellevue
  9. Seward
  10. Wahoo

Richest Cities In Nebraska Map

For more on how we calculated the top ten, read on or skip to the end for the full list of the richest cities in Nebraska.

Rich people not your cup of tea? Feel free to check out some more reading about Nebraska:

The 10 Richest Cities In Nebraska For 2024

1. Gretna

Gretna, NE

Source: Wikipedia User Jared Winkler | CC BY-SA 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 9,019
Median Income: $117,553
Median Home Values: $416,052
More on Gretna: Data | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

2. Papillion

Papillion, NE

Source: Wikipedia User Atomic Energy505 | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

9.5
/10

Population: 24,016
Median Income: $104,608
Median Home Values: $379,982
More on Papillion: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

3. Valley

Valley, NE

Source: Wikipedia User Paltron | CC BY-SA 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 3,032
Median Income: $80,319
Median Home Values: $409,091
More on Valley: Crime | Real Estate

4. Waverly

Waverly, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 4,289
Median Income: $103,373
Median Home Values: $320,113
More on Waverly: Data | Real Estate

5. Ashland

Ashland, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 3,130
Median Income: $78,966
Median Home Values: $381,241
More on Ashland: Data | Crime | Real Estate

6. La Vista

La Vista, NE

Source: Wikipedia User Paltron | CC BY-SA 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 16,713
Median Income: $77,748
Median Home Values: $286,712
More on La Vista: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

7. Blair

Blair, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 7,813
Median Income: $74,058
Median Home Values: $322,377
More on Blair: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

8. Bellevue

Bellevue, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7.5
/10

Population: 63,336
Median Income: $79,839
Median Home Values: $270,139
More on Bellevue: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

9. Seward

Seward, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 7,667
Median Income: $76,755
Median Home Values: $271,510
More on Seward: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

10. Wahoo

Wahoo, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 4,832
Median Income: $75,052
Median Home Values: $254,338
More on Wahoo: Data | Crime | Real Estate

Methodology: How We Determined The Richest Places In Nebraska For 2024

Map Of The Richest Places To Live In Nebraska
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the richest places is simply identifying personal incomes. After all, rich people have really high salaries.

However, we don’t believe that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “richest places.” So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2018-2022 American Community Survey and applied Saturday Night Science:

  • Median Home Values
  • Median Household Income

Median household income is the most digestible way to understand how rich a place is. And home values are a measure of wealth. The two combine to define a “Rich City.”

After we collected the data for all 48 places with more than 3,000 people in Nebraska, we ranked each place from 1 to 48 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the richest.

We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Rich Score,” with the place having the lowest overall Rich Score, Gretna, crowned the “Richest City In Nebraska For 2024.”

The data has been updated for 2024. This is our tenth time ranking the wealthiest cities in Nebraska.

You can skip to the end to see the rankings for all 48 places.

Summary: The Wealthiest Places In Nebraska For 2024

Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the richest places in Nebraska, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Nebraska.

The richest cities in Nebraska are Gretna, Papillion, Valley, Waverly, Ashland, La Vista, Blair, Bellevue, Seward, and Wahoo.

When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very top of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.

If you’re curious enough, here are the poorest cities in Nebraska, according to data:

Poorest: Falls City
2nd Poorest: Fairbury
3rd Poorest: Sidney

For more Nebraska reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Richest Cities In Nebraska

Rank City RichScore Median Income Average Home Price
1 Gretna 1.0 $117,553 $416,052
2 Papillion 3.0 $104,608 $379,982
3 Valley 3.5 $80,319 $409,091
4 Waverly 4.5 $103,373 $320,113
5 Ashland 5.0 $78,966 $381,241
6 La Vista 7.5 $77,748 $286,712
7 Blair 8.0 $74,058 $322,377
8 Bellevue 8.5 $79,839 $270,139
9 Seward 9.5 $76,755 $271,510
10 Wahoo 12.0 $75,052 $254,338
11 Omaha 12.5 $70,202 $268,796
12 Kearney 12.5 $66,843 $282,103
13 Lincoln 14.0 $67,846 $267,971
14 Aurora 17.5 $66,328 $232,392
15 West Point 17.5 $66,771 $231,219
16 Columbus 18.0 $65,341 $247,049
17 Gothenburg 19.0 $84,615 $177,230
18 Plattsmouth 19.5 $58,989 $284,852
19 Schuyler 19.5 $71,275 $190,114
20 York 19.5 $68,794 $196,159
21 Ralston 22.0 $61,554 $239,447
22 Fremont 23.5 $62,226 $227,388
23 Crete 24.0 $62,468 $220,582
24 South Sioux City 24.5 $62,650 $201,174
25 Gering 24.5 $65,743 $182,745
26 Grand Island 24.5 $59,061 $227,607
27 Lexington 26.5 $63,939 $180,138
28 Minden 27.5 $65,345 $175,321
29 Norfolk 28.0 $57,479 $225,933
30 Nebraska City 30.0 $63,732 $174,481
31 O’neill 30.0 $63,867 $170,336
32 Ogallala 31.0 $57,045 $192,368
33 North Platte 32.5 $56,890 $184,800
34 Wayne 33.0 $51,399 $202,182
35 Hastings 33.0 $57,554 $178,264
36 Central City 34.5 $54,063 $182,987
37 Holdrege 36.0 $58,375 $159,861
38 Auburn 37.5 $59,167 $136,016
39 Chadron 37.5 $53,728 $177,823
40 Scottsbluff 38.5 $55,744 $164,115
41 Alliance 38.5 $58,214 $153,789
42 Mccook 39.5 $53,750 $168,997
43 Cozad 41.0 $54,485 $154,020
44 Beatrice 43.5 $49,537 $157,701
45 Broken Bow 43.5 $49,425 $158,927
46 Sidney 44.5 $49,866 $146,360
47 Fairbury 47.0 $47,518 $101,773
48 Falls City 48.0 $40,222 $82,867
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.