Best PlacesSeward County, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Seward County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Seward County ranks 309th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Seward 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.
Seward County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Seward County ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 93% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 88% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of counties
Where Seward County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 21% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 26% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 27% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 29% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Seward County
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Seward County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,846, 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 Seward County's effective rate of 1.20%, 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 Seward County
Seward County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Seward County.
Who works in Seward County, and how
Work in Seward County centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Seward County
Seward County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Seward County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Seward County growing, and who is moving in?
Seward County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Lincoln, NE metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Seward County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Seward County, month by month
Seward 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 Seward County
The nearest airport, Lincoln, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 70 miles away.
The best schools in and around Seward County
Schools across Seward County average an A−, better than 93% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Friend Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Seward Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Malcolm Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Seward Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Woodrow Wilson Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Intermediate School At Jr/sr High SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Seward High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Exeter-milligan High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Malcolm Jr/sr High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Seward County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Seward 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 Seward County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Seward County
Is Seward County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Seward County ranks 309th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and population health, and lowest on property taxes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Seward County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $254,691. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $85,846 median income, cost of living beats 85% of counties.
Is Seward County safe?
Yes, Seward County is safer than 88% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $257 per resident a year.
Compare Seward County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Seward County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Seward 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.
Seward County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Seward County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Seward County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Seward County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Seward County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Seward 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.