The 10 Best Places To Buy A House In Nebraska For 2022


Using science and data, we can tell you which places in Nebraska have seen home prices rising and people flocking over the past year.

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Editor’s note: This is not investment advice and we are not financial advisers. Article updated for 2022.

There's a the age old question everyone thinks about when they decide to move to a city in Nebraska:

Should I buy a place or rent? Well, we aren't here today to solve that problem for you exactly. We are just assuming you'll do the right thing and a buy a place. And while we are happy to tell you the best place to live in Nebraska, this analysis is going to tackle the question of the best place to buy a house as an investor. That is we are going to try and determine the up and coming cities in the Cornhusker State.

To do that we are going to look at places in Nebraska that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average. In every day terms, the "deals". The best deal in Nebraska at the moment? That would be Gretna according to our analysis.

Here's a look at the top ten places to buy a home in Nebraska for 2022.

The 10 Best Places To Buy A Home In Nebraska For 2022

  1. Gretna
  2. Holdrege
  3. Chadron
  4. Wayne
  5. Schuyler
  6. Sidney
  7. Plattsmouth
  8. Crete
  9. Seward
  10. Nebraska City

What's the best place to buy a home in Nebraska for 2022? According to our analysis, would the the ideal place to buy a home looking into the future.

The methodology that wen't into this can be a bit complicated, so we'll break it down for you in as much detail as we can below. If you're not worried about finding a deal on good places to live, check out the most expensive places to live in Nebraska and, for those of you on a budget, the cheapest places to live in Nebraska.

For more Nebraska reading, check out:

The 10 Best Cities To Buy A House In Nebraska For 2022

1. Gretna

Gretna, NE

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

6
/10

Population: 5,039
Median Home Price: $181,200
Population Change: 0.0%
Home Price Change: -2.3%
More on Gretna: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

2. Holdrege

Holdrege, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 5,406
Median Home Price: $131,900
Population Change: -0.9%
Home Price Change: 3.7%
More on Holdrege: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

3. Chadron

Chadron, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 5,482
Median Home Price: $123,700
Population Change: -1.9%
Home Price Change: -2.8%
More on Chadron: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

4. Wayne

Wayne, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,603
Median Home Price: $138,000
Population Change: 0.8%
Home Price Change: 3.8%
More on Wayne: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

5. Schuyler

Schuyler, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 6,269
Median Home Price: $87,700
Population Change: -0.2%
Home Price Change: -14.7%
More on Schuyler: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

6. Sidney

Sidney, NE

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

6
/10

Population: 6,451
Median Home Price: $101,800
Population Change: -1.8%
Home Price Change: -8.3%
More on Sidney: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

7. Plattsmouth

Plattsmouth, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 6,453
Median Home Price: $122,200
Population Change: 0.1%
Home Price Change: 6.8%
More on Plattsmouth: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

8. Crete

Crete, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 7,013
Median Home Price: $104,300
Population Change: -0.4%
Home Price Change: 7.1%
More on Crete: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

9. Seward

Seward, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 7,210
Median Home Price: $168,300
Population Change: 0.5%
Home Price Change: 6.0%
More on Seward: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

10. Nebraska City

Nebraska City, NE

Source: Wikipedia User Workman at en.wikipedia | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 7,270
Median Home Price: $120,000
Population Change: -0.0%
Home Price Change: 2.6%
More on Nebraska City: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Nebraska for 2022?

We were in real estate for almost five years and have been working on this site for another three. Suffice is to say, we've put a lot of thought into what goes into finding a good place to buy a home.

So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we'd approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in Nebraska. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in Nebraska with undervalued homes relative to pent up demand.

Safest Places In Nebraska

To do that we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2016-2020 and compared it to the previous vintage (2012-2016). Specifically, we used the following criteria:

  • Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
  • Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
  • Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It's still kinda cheap)

We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still "cheap" for Nebraska with the following caveats:

So of the 0 cities and towns in Nebraska, only 32 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.

We then ranked each place from 1 to 32 for the criteria mentioned above with 1 being the best for that criteria. We averaged the rankings to create a "best place to buy" index with the place having the lowest index being the best. You can download the data here.

Turns out that Gretna is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Cornhusker State.

Read on for more on these places.

Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In Nebraska for 2022

There's our analysis of the best places to buy a house in Nebraska. And, to be clear, we aren't necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.

In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 0 places in the state.

So if we'd could rent or buy in these cities, we'd definitely buy.

For more Nebraska reading, check out:

Home Prices By City In Nebraska

City Rank Median Home Price Population Change Home Price Increase
Gretna 1 $181,200 0.0% -2.3%
Holdrege 2 $131,900 -0.9% 3.7%
Chadron 3 $123,700 -1.9% -2.8%
Wayne 4 $138,000 0.8% 3.8%
Schuyler 5 $87,700 -0.2% -14.7%
Sidney 6 $101,800 -1.8% -8.3%
Plattsmouth 7 $122,200 0.1% 6.8%
Crete 8 $104,300 -0.4% 7.1%
Seward 9 $168,300 0.5% 6.0%
Nebraska City 10 $120,000 -0.0% 2.6%
Ralston 11 $151,800 -0.2% 3.3%
Mccook 12 $111,100 -0.4% 1.9%
York 13 $136,600 -0.4% 3.3%
Blair 14 $161,300 0.6% 8.6%
Alliance 15 $124,500 -1.2% 17.9%
Gering 16 $139,600 -0.9% 1.0%
Lexington 17 $114,500 -0.3% 23.9%
Beatrice 18 $115,100 -0.1% 8.0%
South Sioux City 19 $124,300 -0.2% 7.0%
Scottsbluff 20 $116,400 -0.5% -0.2%
La Vista 21 $169,100 0.0% 9.6%
Columbus 22 $155,400 0.4% 6.8%
North Platte 23 $126,400 -0.7% 6.3%
Papillion 24 $222,300 19.0% 17.1%
Norfolk 25 $155,600 -0.1% 7.0%
Hastings 26 $127,300 -0.1% 6.3%
Fremont 27 $140,400 -0.3% 5.8%
Kearney 28 $188,800 1.0% 5.5%
Grand Island 29 $148,200 0.2% 5.3%
Bellevue 30 $165,900 20.0% 11.4%
Lincoln 31 $180,400 0.9% 6.2%
Omaha 32 $167,800 0.8% 5.1%
Download The Entire Nebraska Ranking Data

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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.

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