Everyone wants a bit of a blissful breeze or a scoop of sunny sanctuary when looking for a place to live in Nebraska.
The more sun, the more you can go outside. The more you go outside, the more you’ll feel at peace. The more you’ll feel at peace, the more you’ll enjoy where you live.
So it makes sense to try and find the places with the best weather in Nebraska. We used Saturday Night Science to compare the number of sunny days, total precipitation, and the deviation from the ideal 70-degree weather for 17 places in Nebraska over 10,000 people.
Grab your shades and put away your raincoat as we look at the cities with the best weather in Nebraska.
318.5 sunny days · 62.5 degree average high
Located in
Buffalo County, Nebraska
Kearney is a city in and the county seat of Buffalo County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 30,787 at the 2010 census. It is home to the University of Nebraska at Kearney. The westward push of the railroad as the Civil War ended gave birth to the community.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
311.8 sunny days · 63.6 degree average high
Located in
Gage County, Nebraska
Beatrice is a city in and the county seat of Gage County, Nebraska. Its population was 12,459 at the 2010 census. It is located 40 miles south of Lincoln on the Big Blue River. It is surrounded by agricultural country.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
314.8 sunny days · 62.6 degree average high
Located in
Dawson County, Nebraska
Lexington is a city in Dawson County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 10,230 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Dawson County. Lexington is located in southern Nebraska, on the Platte River, southeast of North Platte. It sits along the route of U.S. Route 30 and the Union Pacific Railroad. In the 1860s it was the location of a stop along the Pony Express.
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318.3 sunny days · 62.8 degree average high
Located in
Lincoln County, Nebraska
North Platte is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is located in the southwestern part of the state, along Interstate 80, at the confluence of the North and South Platte Rivers forming the Platte River. The population was 24,733 at the 2010 census.
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313.4 sunny days · 62.4 degree average high
Located in
Adams County, Nebraska
Hastings is a city and county seat of Adams County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 24,907 at the 2010 census. It is known as the town where Kool-Aid was invented by Edwin Perkins in 1927, and celebrates that event with the Kool-Aid Days festival every August. Hastings is also known for Fisher Fountain, and during World War II operated the largest Naval Ammunition Depot in the United States.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
312.3 sunny days · 62.6 degree average high
Located in
Lancaster County, Nebraska
Lincoln is the capital of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers 93.46 square miles with a population of 280,364 in 2016. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 71st-largest in the United States. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area in the southeastern part of the state called the Lincoln Metropolitan and Lincoln-Beatrice Combined Statistical Areas. The statistical area is home to 348,720 people, making it the 105th-largest combined statistical area in the United States.
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314.5 sunny days · 62.2 degree average high
Located in
Hall County, Nebraska
Grand Island is a city in and the county seat of Hall County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 48,520 at the 2010 census.
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324.9 sunny days · 63.4 degree average high
Located in
Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska
Scottsbluff is a city in Scotts Bluff County, in the western part of the state of Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. The population was 15,039 at the 2010 census. Scottsbluff is the largest city in the Nebraska Panhandle, and the 13th largest city in Nebraska.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
308.1 sunny days · 61.4 degree average high
Located in
Sarpy County, Nebraska
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
314.4 sunny days · 61.2 degree average high
Located in
Platte County, Nebraska
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Platte County, in the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. The population was 22,111 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Nebraska’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Nebraska’s best weather is
Saturday Night Science
How We Determined The Cities In Nebraska With The Best Weather
To rank the most fair weather cities in Nebraska, we used Saturday Night Science and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) database, to see which cities in the Cornhusker State get the best weather.
We used the following criteria to find the best weather:
- Number of sunny days
- Highest average low
- Average high deviation from 70 degrees
- Least amount of rain
- Least amount of snow
We ranked each city of over 10,000 people in Nebraska from best to worst on each criterion. We then averaged each ranking into a weather quality index. The city with the best index, Kearney, was anointed the city with the best weather in Nebraska.
Before we get too far, here are the annual precipitation rates for major cities: Omaha (31.3 inches), Lincoln (30.5 inches), and Bellevue (31.8 inches).
The cities with the best weather in Nebraska are Kearney, Beatrice, Lexington, North Platte, Hastings, Lincoln, Grand Island, Scottsbluff, Bellevue, and Columbus.
There’s a complete chart at the bottom.
The full plate
Detailed List Of Places With The Best Weather In Nebraska
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Sunny Days | Avg. High | Precipitation (Inches) | Snow (Inches) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kearney | 32,217 | 318.5 | 62.5 | 25.3 | 23.9 |
| 2 | Beatrice | 12,355 | 311.8 | 63.6 | 31.2 | 19.3 |
| 3 | Lexington | 10,152 | 314.8 | 62.6 | 23.5 | 22.3 |
| 4 | North Platte | 24,420 | 318.3 | 62.8 | 20.6 | 29.4 |
| 5 | Hastings | 24,973 | 313.4 | 62.4 | 27.7 | 26.6 |
| 6 | Lincoln | 269,726 | 312.3 | 62.6 | 30.5 | 25.9 |
| 7 | Grand Island | 50,582 | 314.5 | 62.2 | 27.0 | 27.7 |
| 8 | Scottsbluff | 14,955 | 324.9 | 63.4 | 14.8 | 41.6 |
| 9 | Bellevue | 54,067 | 308.1 | 61.4 | 31.8 | 25.6 |
| 10 | Columbus | 22,584 | 314.4 | 61.2 | 29.2 | 27.6 |
| 11 | Norfolk | 24,393 | 315.3 | 60.1 | 28.2 | 28.2 |
| 12 | Papillion | 19,463 | 307.6 | 61.5 | 31.6 | 31.2 |
| 13 | La Vista | 16,895 | 309.1 | 61.3 | 31.4 | 31.8 |
| 14 | South Sioux City | 13,315 | 318.3 | 59.9 | 28.5 | 32.8 |
| 15 | Omaha | 440,034 | 307.5 | 61.2 | 31.3 | 30.0 |
| 16 | Fremont | 26,483 | 306.4 | 61.3 | 30.4 | 31.3 |
| 17 | Chalco | 11,258 | 306.3 | 61.4 | 31.0 | 36.7 |
Source: NOAA climate data. 17 Nebraska cities with more than 10,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: The Cities With The Best Weather In Nebraska For 2026
If you’re looking for the Nebraska cities with the most sunny days, the least rain and snow, and highs closest to a perfect 70 degrees, this is an accurate list.
The cities with the best weather in Nebraska are Kearney, Beatrice, Lexington, North Platte, Hastings, Lincoln, Grand Island, Scottsbluff, Bellevue, and Columbus.
