Best PlacesLancaster County, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lancaster 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.
Lancaster County ranks 151st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on state finances and few empty homes. The weaker spots are property taxes, childcare costs, and tree cover.
The best neighborhoods in Lancaster 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.
The best areas in Lancaster County
The parts of Lancaster County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Hickman
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more residents vote.
Waverly
Fewer adults hold degrees and biking is worse.
Lincoln
Streets are more walkable, though crime runs higher.
Lancaster County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 6% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Lancaster County's strengths and weaknesses
Lancaster County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. State finances is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. Few empty homes and biking follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Property taxes, childcare costs, and tree cover hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Lancaster County ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 97% of counties
- BikingBetter than 97% of counties
- TransitBetter than 96% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of counties
Where Lancaster County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,085 a month, better than only 12% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 30% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 31% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 43% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lancaster County
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lancaster County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,890, 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 Lancaster County's effective rate of 1.43%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lancaster County
Lancaster County runs younger 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 Lancaster County.
Who works in Lancaster County, and how
Work in Lancaster County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Lancaster County
Lancaster County has more parkland per resident than 98% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 86% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lancaster County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lancaster County growing, and who is moving in?
Lancaster County has grown about 10% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Omaha, NE.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lancaster County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lancaster County, month by month
Lancaster County sees roughly 109 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 26° | 15° |
| April | 69° | 53° | 38° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 65° |
| October | 71° | 55° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Lancaster County
The nearest airport, Lincoln, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 53 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lancaster County
Schools across Lancaster County average a B, better than 78% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- West Elementary SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Adams Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Kloefkorn ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Moore Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Glenwood Middle SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Scott Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Glenwood Senior High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Fremont-mills Middle And Senior High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Southwest High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lancaster County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lancaster 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 Lancaster County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Lancaster County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 84% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 67% of counties and health care access beats 64%.
Common questions about living in Lancaster County
Is Lancaster County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lancaster County ranks 151st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state finances, few empty homes, and biking, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lancaster County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $286,536. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $82,890 median income, cost of living beats 84% of counties.
Is Lancaster County safe?
Yes, Lancaster County is safer than 76% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $294 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lancaster County?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 15. That works out to about 109 pleasant days a year, more than 67% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lancaster County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Hickman, Waverly, and Lincoln. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Lancaster County good for families?
Schools beat 78% of counties, crime safety beats 76%, and childcare runs $1,085 a month.
Is Lancaster County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 84% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 69% of counties. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Lancaster County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lancaster County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lancaster 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.
Lancaster County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lancaster County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lancaster County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lancaster County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lancaster County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lancaster 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.