Best PlacesSpalding, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Spalding, 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.
Spalding ranks 8,448th 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 Spalding
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.
Spalding's strengths and weaknesses
Where Spalding ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute17.8 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
Where Spalding ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Spalding
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Spalding home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,318, 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 Spalding's effective rate of 1.09%, 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 Spalding
Spalding 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 Spalding.
Who works in Spalding, and how
Work in Spalding centers on retail trade and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Spalding
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Spalding.
What the weather is like in Spalding, month by month
Spalding sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 24° | 16° |
| April | 64° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 65° | 50° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Spalding
The nearest airport, Central Nebraska Regional, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 131 miles away.
The best schools in and around Spalding
Schools across Spalding average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Riverside Elementary - SpaldingA+ · 75% proficient
- Boone Central Elem-albionA · 63% proficient
- Riverside Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Riverside Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- West Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Boone Central Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Boone Central High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Wheeler Central HighB+ · 58% proficient
- West High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Spalding school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Spalding 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 Spalding against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Spalding
Is Spalding a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Spalding ranks 8,448th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, walkability, and quiet, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Spalding expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $123,542. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $69,318 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Spalding safe?
Yes, Spalding is safer than 67% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $247 per resident a year.
Compare Spalding with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Spalding. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Spalding 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.
Spalding detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Spalding: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Spalding: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Spalding: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Spalding: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Spalding 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.