Best PlacesBruning, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bruning, 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.
Bruning ranks 22,769th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bruning
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.
Bruning's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bruning ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of towns
- Short commute20.8 minutes each way, better than 85% of towns
Where Bruning ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bruning
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bruning home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,634, 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 Bruning's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bruning
Bruning runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bruning.
Who works in Bruning, and how
Work in Bruning centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Bruning
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bruning.
What the weather is like in Bruning, month by month
Bruning sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 27° | 19° |
| April | 68° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Bruning
The nearest airport, Lincoln, is about 55 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bruning
Schools across Bruning average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Shickley Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Bruning-davenport Elem/davenptB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bruning-davenport Middle SchB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Shickley High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bruning school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bruning 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 Bruning against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bruning
Is Bruning a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bruning ranks 22,769th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, a strong job market, and walkability, and lowest on noise and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bruning expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $128,436. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $73,634 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Bruning safe?
Bruning is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $368 per resident a year.
Compare Bruning with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bruning. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bruning 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.
Bruning detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bruning: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bruning: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bruning: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bruning: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bruning 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.
- 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.