Best PlacesBox Butte County, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Box Butte County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Box Butte County ranks 851st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Box Butte County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Box Butte County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Box Butte County ranks high
- Short commute11.3 minutes each way, better than 99% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 88% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 83% of counties
Where Box Butte County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Box Butte County
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Box Butte County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,058, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Box Butte County's effective rate of 1.37%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Box Butte County
Box Butte County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Box Butte County.
Who works in Box Butte County, and how
Work in Box Butte County centers on transportation & warehousing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Box Butte County
Box Butte County has more parkland per resident than 73% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Box Butte County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Box Butte County growing, and who is moving in?
Box Butte County has lost about 5% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Platte County, NE.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Box Butte County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Box Butte County, month by month
Box Butte County sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 23° | 9° |
| April | 63° | 44° | 27° |
| July | 92° | 73° | 55° |
| October | 66° | 46° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Box Butte County
The nearest airport, Alliance Municipal, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 182 miles away.
The best schools in and around Box Butte County
Schools across Box Butte County average a C+, better than 52% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Bridgeport Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Hemingford Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Grandview Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Alliance Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Bridgeport High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Hemingford High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Alliance High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Box Butte County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Box Butte County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Box Butte County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Box Butte County
Is Box Butte County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Box Butte County ranks 851st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on short commutes, state finances, and walkability, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Box Butte County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $178,144. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $73,058 median income, cost of living beats 70% of counties.
Is Box Butte County safe?
Yes, Box Butte County is safer than 61% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $301 per resident a year.
Compare Box Butte County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Box Butte County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Box Butte County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Box Butte County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Box Butte County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Box Butte County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Box Butte County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Box Butte County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Box Butte County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.