Lincoln, NE
Lincoln, NE Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Lincoln, NE Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Lincoln ranks 132nd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 159th for income. A household earns $74,935 a year while median rent runs $1,114/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 8% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is health (21st of 300), while household income is the soft spot (159th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 95th and home prices 129th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Lincoln, your take-home is worth about $63,702 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 159th of 300↑21.8%$74,935
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 80th of 30092 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $81,824
- Per-capita income
- $39,655
- Full-time pay
- $41,152
Housing
- Median rent
- 95th of 300↑30.1%$1,114/mo
- Home value
- 129th of 300↑45.7%$287,200
- Property tax
- $4,104/yr · 1.4%
- Sales tax
- 6.97%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 50th of 3003.3%
- Bachelor's+
- 38th of 30043.9%
- Avg commute
- 24th of 30020 min
People
- Population
- 351,919
- Population change
- +4.6%
- Median age
- 34.5 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 9.1%
- Broadband
- 93.4%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 80th of 30041
- Natural-hazard loss
- 151st of 300$12/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 21st of 30014.8%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.8%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Health
Watch-outs
- —
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — lincoln ap.
What jobs pay in Lincoln
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $209,990
- Pharmacists
- $149,590
- Financial managers
- $131,150
- IT managers
- $130,340
- Software developers
- $101,690
- Lawyers
- $101,300
- Civil engineers
- $95,560
- Police officers
- $93,680
- General & operations managers
- $92,780
- Registered nurses
- $87,530
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $81,790
- Web developers
- $81,630
- Accountants & auditors
- $65,170
- Secondary school teachers
- $62,920
- Elementary school teachers
- $61,940
- Electricians
- $60,680
- Plumbers
- $60,670
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $50,640
- Carpenters
- $49,910
- Construction laborers
- $46,700
- Customer service reps
- $41,430
- Janitors
- $36,730
- Waiters & waitresses
- $36,080
- Retail salespersons
- $30,990
- Cashiers
- $30,690
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Lincoln metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Nebraska are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Iowa1,093
- Missouri932
- South Dakota803
- California801
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Lincoln
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Lincoln metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Lincoln metro?
- Median gross rent across the Lincoln, NE Metro Area is $1,114 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Lincoln.
- What is the median household income in the Lincoln metro?
- A typical household in the Lincoln, NE Metro Area earns $74,935 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Lincoln expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Lincoln, NE Metro Area runs about 8% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Lincoln metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $81,824 (versus its face value of $74,935). CityLedger rates the Lincoln, NE Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Lincoln metro?
- The median home value across the Lincoln, NE Metro Area is $287,200 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Lincoln metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Lincoln, NE Metro Area is 3.3% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).