Best PlacesFarnam, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Farnam, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Farnam ranks 25,346th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Farnam
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.
Farnam's strengths and weaknesses
Where Farnam ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute20.0 minutes each way, better than 88% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 131 pleasant days a year, better than 85% of towns
Where Farnam ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 18% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Farnam
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Farnam home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,386, 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 Farnam's effective rate of 1.25%, 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 Farnam
Farnam's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Farnam.
Who works in Farnam, and how
Work in Farnam centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Farnam
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Farnam.
What the weather is like in Farnam, month by month
Farnam sees roughly 131 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 26° | 17° |
| April | 66° | 50° | 36° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 67° | 51° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Farnam
The nearest airport, North Platte Regional/Lee Bird Field, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 227 miles away.
The best schools in and around Farnam
Schools across Farnam average a C, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Medicine Valley ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Dudley Elementary SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Maywood Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cozad Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Maywood High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Gothenburg Secondary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Cozad High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Farnam school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Farnam 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 Farnam against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Farnam
Is Farnam a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Farnam ranks 25,346th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, short commutes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Farnam expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $227,946. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $72,386 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Farnam safe?
Farnam is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $413 per resident a year.
Compare Farnam with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Farnam. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Farnam 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.
Farnam detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Farnam: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Farnam: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Farnam: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Farnam: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Farnam 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.