Murders Per Capita By City In Nebraska For 2026

The cities with the most murder per capita in Nebraska are Schuyler and Beatrice for 2026.

Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Nebraska?

We all watch the news with horror when we hear about a homicide that happens not that far away from us. While a murder just blocks or even a couple of towns away from your house would make anyone uneasy, in the long run, most likely, where you live is relatively safe.

To find the cities in Nebraska with the most murders and the highest murder rates per capita, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the FBI crime data on murders for the 6 cities in the Cornhusker State with over 6,000 residents.

What city has the highest murder rate in Nebraska? The city with the highest murder rate in Nebraska is Schuyler with 15 murders per 100,000 people.

What is the city in Nebraska with highest number of murders? The city in Nebraska with the highest number of murders is Omaha with 19 murders.

Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in Nebraska ranked. There were ‘only’ 6 cities in Nebraska where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 24 places had no murder.

1

No. 1 highest murder rate in Nebraska

Schuyler, NE

6,529 peopleSnackAbility 8/10up 23
8/10
Schuyler, NE
Source: Public domain
15 per 100k · #1 highest murder rate in Nebraska
Map of Schuyler within Nebraska Located in Colfax County, Nebraska

Schuyler is a city in Colfax County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 6,211 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Colfax County. The city is named after former Vice President of the United States, Schuyler Colfax.

2

No. 2 highest murder rate in Nebraska

Beatrice, NE

12,272 peopleSnackAbility 6/10up 13
6/10
Beatrice, NE
Source: Public domain
8 per 100k · #2 highest murder rate in Nebraska
Map of Beatrice within Nebraska 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.

3

No. 3 highest murder rate in Nebraska

South Sioux City, NE

13,801 peopleSnackAbility 6/10up 11
6/10
South Sioux City, NE
Source: Public domain
7 per 100k · #3 highest murder rate in Nebraska
Located in Dakota County, Nebraska

South Sioux City is a city in Dakota County, Nebraska, United States. It is located immediately across the Missouri River from Sioux City, Iowa, and is part of the Sioux City, IA-NE-SD Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 13,353, making it the 14th largest city in Nebraska.

4

No. 4 highest murder rate in Nebraska

Omaha, NE

480,235 peopleSnackAbility 7/10
7/10
Omaha, NE
Source: Wikipedia User Raymond Bucko, SJ | CC BY 2.0
4 per 100k · #4 highest murder rate in Nebraska
Map of Omaha within Nebraska Located in Douglas County, Nebraska

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 10 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River. Omaha is the anchor of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, which includes Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the Missouri River from Omaha. According to the 2010 census, Omaha’s population was 408,958, making it the nation’s 44th-largest city; this had increased to 446,970 as of a 2016 estimate. Including its suburbs, Omaha formed the 60th-largest metropolitan area in the United States in 2013, with an estimated population of 895,151 residing in eight counties. The Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, Nebraska-IA Combined Statistical Area is 931,667, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 estimate. Nearly 1.3 million people reside within the Greater Omaha area, comprising a 50-mile radius of Downtown Omaha, the city’s center.

5

No. 5 highest murder rate in Nebraska

Kearney, NE

34,525 peopleSnackAbility 8/10up 3
8/10
Kearney, NE
Source: Public domain
3 per 100k · #5 highest murder rate in Nebraska
Map of Kearney within Nebraska 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.

6

No. 6 highest murder rate in Nebraska

Lincoln, NE

295,808 peopleSnackAbility 7.5/10down 2
7.5/10
Lincoln, NE
Source: Wikipedia User Hanyou23 | CC BY-SA 4.0
3 per 100k · #6 highest murder rate in Nebraska
Map of Lincoln within Nebraska 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.

The receipts

Compare the top ten

Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Nebraska’s statewide median.

City Population vs NE
1 Schuyler 6,529
2 Beatrice 12,272
3 South Sioux City 13,801
4 Omaha 480,235
5 Kearney 34,525
6 Lincoln 295,808
City Murders vs NE
1 Schuyler 1
2 Beatrice 1
4 Omaha 19
5 Kearney 1
6 Lincoln 8
City Murders /100k vs NE
1 Schuyler 15
2 Beatrice 8
4 Omaha 4
5 Kearney 3
6 Lincoln 3

On the map

Where Nebraska’s murders happen

Saturday Night Science

Methodology: How we calculated the murder capitals of Nebraska

While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in a state are the most dangerous, we wanted to rely on something other than speculation and opinion. Instead, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the hard numbers from the FBI’s last year of reporting. Specifically, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, which summarizes the number of murders in each city annually.

    We only looked at every single city in Nebraska for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 6 cities to rank.

    We took the number of murders per capita as the ranking factor. The place with the most murders per capita based on the most recent data is Schuyler. It is our eleventh time ranking the places with the most murders per capita in Nebraska. We updated the list for 2026.

    The full plate

    Murder Rates By City In Nebraska

    Click any column to sort. Search by city name.

    RankCityPopulationMurdersMurders/100K
    1Schuyler6,529115
    2Beatrice12,27218
    3South Sioux City13,80117
    4Omaha480,235194
    5Kearney34,52513
    6Lincoln295,80883

    Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report. 6 Nebraska cities that reported a murder.

    Summary

    Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In Nebraska For 2026

    If you’re looking at the places in Nebraska with the most murders, and where residents have the highest chances of being killed themselves, this is an accurate list. Again, these statistics are an indication of where crimes occur, not a statement about the effectiveness of the law enforcement in the areas they serve.

    The cities with the highest murder per capita in Nebraska are Schuyler, Beatrice, South Sioux City, Omaha, Kearney, Lincoln.

    Chris Kolmar
    About the author

    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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