Best PlacesNuckolls County, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Nuckolls 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.
Nuckolls County ranks 1,351st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Nuckolls 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.
Nuckolls County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Nuckolls County ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 83% of counties
Where Nuckolls County ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 16% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 17% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Nuckolls County
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Nuckolls County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,776, 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 Nuckolls County's effective rate of 0.95%, 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 Nuckolls County
Nuckolls County 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 Nuckolls County.
Who works in Nuckolls County, and how
Work in Nuckolls County centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Nuckolls County
Nuckolls County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Nuckolls County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Nuckolls County growing, and who is moving in?
Nuckolls County has lost about 6% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Nemaha County, NE.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Nuckolls County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Nuckolls County, month by month
Nuckolls County 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 Nuckolls County
The nearest airport, Central Nebraska Regional, is about 60 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 140 miles away.
The best schools in and around Nuckolls County
Schools across Nuckolls County average a C, better than 30% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Thayer Central ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Pike Valley ElemA− · 60% proficient
- Bruning-davenport Elem/davenptB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bruning-davenport Middle SchB+ · 50% proficient
- Lawrence - Nelson Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Superior Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Lawrence/nelson High SchB+ · 58% proficient
- Thayer Central High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Deshler High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Nuckolls County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Nuckolls 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 Nuckolls County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Nuckolls County
Is Nuckolls County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Nuckolls County ranks 1,351st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state finances, a stable housing market, and health care access, and lowest on cell coverage and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Nuckolls County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $100,787. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $74,776 median income, cost of living beats 86% of counties.
Is Nuckolls County safe?
Nuckolls County is safer than 31% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $387 per resident a year.
Compare Nuckolls County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Nuckolls County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Nuckolls 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.
Nuckolls County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Nuckolls County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Nuckolls County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Nuckolls County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Nuckolls County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Nuckolls 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.