Best PlacesDickens, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dickens, 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.
Dickens ranks 19,484th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Dickens
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.
Dickens' strengths and weaknesses
Where Dickens ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of towns
- Short commute21.0 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 124 pleasant days a year, better than 82% of towns
Where Dickens ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dickens
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dickens home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,635, 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 Dickens' effective rate of 1.34%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Dickens
Dickens 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 Dickens.
Who works in Dickens, and how
Work in Dickens centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Dickens
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dickens.
What the weather is like in Dickens, month by month
Dickens sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 25° | 12° |
| April | 68° | 49° | 32° |
| July | 92° | 76° | 61° |
| October | 70° | 50° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Dickens
The nearest airport, North Platte Regional/Lee Bird Field, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 206 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dickens
Schools across Dickens average a B−, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sutherland Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Hayes Center Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Hershey Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Maywood High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Hershey High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Sutherland High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dickens school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dickens 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 Dickens against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dickens
Is Dickens a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dickens ranks 19,484th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, clean air, and state infrastructure, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dickens expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $175,605. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $76,635 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Dickens safe?
Yes, Dickens is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $240 per resident a year.
Compare Dickens with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dickens. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dickens 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.
Dickens detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dickens: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dickens: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dickens: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dickens: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dickens 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.