Best PlacesLyman, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lyman, 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.
Lyman ranks 22,698th 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 Lyman
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.
Lyman's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lyman ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 95% of towns
- Short commute17.7 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 132 pleasant days a year, better than 86% of towns
Where Lyman ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 14% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lyman
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lyman home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,686, 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 Lyman's effective rate of 1.38%, 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 Lyman
Lyman 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 Lyman.
Who works in Lyman, and how
Work in Lyman centers on other services and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lyman
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lyman.
What the weather is like in Lyman, month by month
Lyman sees roughly 132 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 27° | 15° |
| April | 65° | 46° | 30° |
| July | 94° | 74° | 58° |
| October | 68° | 48° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Lyman
The nearest airport, Scottsbluff/Western Nebraska Regional/Wm B Heilig Field, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 143 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lyman
Schools across Lyman average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lagrange ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Morrill ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Banner County Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southeast Junior High SchoolA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Southeast High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Banner County High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Potter-dix Jr/sr High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lyman school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lyman 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 Lyman against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lyman
Is Lyman a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lyman ranks 22,698th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, a strong job market, and short commutes, and lowest on tree cover and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lyman expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $186,085. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $67,686 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Lyman safe?
Lyman is safer than 41% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $325 per resident a year.
Compare Lyman with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lyman. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lyman 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.
Lyman detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lyman: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lyman: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lyman: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lyman: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lyman 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.