The 10 Worst Small Towns In Nebraska For 2022


Using science and data, we can tell you which teeny specks in NE are the pits.

Nick Johnson, RoadSnacks
April 7, 2022 - 34,529 views
RoadSnacks is reader-supported. When you click through real estate links on our site, we earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.
Editor’s Note: This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out we updated this article for 2022. This is our ninth time ranking the worst small places to live in Nebraska.

Most Americans have never been to Nebraska. However, as the people who live there know, Nebraska is an awesome state.

But is it all roses? Definitely not. Just like any other state, Nebraska has its trouble spots. This article aims to determine, using science, the absolute worst small towns to live in the Cornhusker State. Don't shoot the messenger, this is all using data.

After analyzing more than 90 of Nebraska's smallest cities, we came up with this list as the 10 worst small towns in Nebraska where you'd never want to live:

These are the worst small towns in Nebraska for 2022:

  1. Kimball
  2. Terrytown
  3. Ogallala
  4. Plainview
  5. Gordon
  6. Tecumseh
  7. Oakland
  8. Falls City
  9. Fullerton
  10. Superior

So what is the worst small town to call home in Nebraska for 2022? According to the most recent census data, Kimball is the worst small town to live in Nebraska.

Of course, many of these cities would rank highly if they were in other states, since Nebraska has its stuff figured out.

Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers, or scroll to the bottom to see how your town ranked.

And if you already know about the small towns, check out the best places to live in Nebraska or the worst places to live in Nebraska.

If you're looking for something more national, check out the worst cities in America or the worst states in America.

The 10 Worst Small Towns In Nebraska For 2022

1. Kimball

Kimball, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,276
Rank Last Year: 6 (Up 5)
Median Home Value: $73,900 (9th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 6.7% (9th worst)
More on Kimball:  Data | Photos

2. Terrytown

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 1,013
Rank Last Year: 2 (No Change)
Median Home Value: $81,400 (16th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 7.2% (7th worst)
More on Terrytown:  Data

3. Ogallala

Ogallala, NE

Source: Wikipedia User Coemgenus | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 4,509
Rank Last Year: 9 (Up 6)
Median Home Value: $108,100 (44th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 5.7% (11th worst)
More on Ogallala:  Data | Photos

4. Plainview

Plainview, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 1,440
Rank Last Year: 11 (Up 7)
Median Home Value: $80,300 (14th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 9.7% (2nd worst)
More on Plainview:  Data | Photos

5. Gordon

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 1,764
Rank Last Year: 5 (No Change)
Median Home Value: $66,400 (4th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 3.4% (3worst)
More on Gordon:  Data

6. Tecumseh

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 1,818
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 1)
Median Home Value: $90,000 (24th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 3.6% (29th worst)
More on Tecumseh:  Data

7. Oakland

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 1,575
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 3)
Median Home Value: $94,700 (27th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 7.8% (5th worst)
More on Oakland:  Data

8. Falls City

Falls City, NE

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 4,139
Rank Last Year: 15 (Up 7)
Median Home Value: $72,700 (7th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 3.8% (27th worst)
More on Falls City:  Data | Photos

9. Fullerton

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 1,569
Rank Last Year: 14 (Up 5)
Median Home Value: $72,500 (6th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 3.4% (30th worst)
More on Fullerton:  Data

10. Superior

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 1,826
Rank Last Year: 22 (Up 12)
Median Home Value: $69,000 (5th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 2.6% (46th worst)
More on Superior:  Data

How do you decide if a place is lousy or not?

In order to rank the worst small towns to live in Nebraska, we had to determine what criteria people like or dislike about a place. It isn't a stretch to assume that people like low crime, solid education, things to do and a stable economy.

So we scraped the internet for those criteria, and it spit out the answer. Like magic.

How we determined the worst small towns to live in Nebraska for 2022

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using FBI crime data and the Census's 2016-2020 American Community Survey, this is the criteria we used:

  • Population Density (The lower the worse)
  • Highest Unemployment Rates
  • Low housing costs (meaning there's no demand)
  • Adjusted Median Income (Median income adjusted for the cost of living)
  • Education (Number of high school dropouts)
  • High Crime

We looked at cities with populations between 1,000 and 5,000 people, of which, there were a lot - 90 to be exact.

Additional note: We get the crime numbers from the FBI, which gets its crime numbers from the cities themselves. Dropout numbers are based on the adult population, not just the current graduation rates of teenagers.

This list is a scientific analysis based on real data and is completely unbiased.

There You Have It - The Worst Small Towns In Nebraska

If you're analyzing teeny places in the Cornhusker State with the worst economic situations, where there's high crime and there's not a lot to do, this is an accurate list.

If you're curious enough, here are the best small towns to live in Nebraska, according to science:

  1. Waverly (Pop. 3,941)
  2. Bennet (Pop. 1,088)
  3. Hickman (Pop. 2,432)

For more Nebraska reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Worst Small Towns In Nebraska

Rank Town Population Unemployment Rate Home Value
1 Kimball 2,276 6.7% $73,900
2 Terrytown 1,013 7.2% $81,400
3 Ogallala 4,509 5.7% $108,100
4 Plainview 1,440 9.7% $80,300
5 Gordon 1,764 3.4% $66,400
6 Tecumseh 1,818 3.6% $90,000
7 Oakland 1,575 7.8% $94,700
8 Falls City 4,139 3.8% $72,700
9 Fullerton 1,569 3.4% $72,500
10 Superior 1,826 2.6% $69,000
11 Harvard 1,184 4.3% $78,800
12 Fairbury 3,657 2.6% $73,300
13 Bridgeport 1,414 9.4% $88,600
14 Loup City 1,004 0.9% $81,200
15 Auburn 3,306 3.9% $84,200
16 Wood River 1,503 4.8% $95,300
17 Red Cloud 1,091 2.1% $49,200
18 Madison 2,239 4.0% $92,200
19 Wymore 1,385 3.1% $46,400
20 Tilden 1,079 3.0% $75,800
21 Crawford 1,020 1.2% $63,600
22 Tekamah 1,727 4.2% $96,300
23 Cozad 3,776 1.7% $89,100
24 Imperial 2,163 4.6% $147,000
25 Mitchell 1,907 2.9% $97,200
26 Ravenna 1,465 1.6% $95,000
27 Broken Bow 3,503 2.9% $114,500
28 Shelton 1,241 11.0% $101,800
29 Cambridge 1,285 2.1% $75,900
30 Gothenburg 3,469 2.4% $107,600
31 Bayard 1,319 3.0% $88,800
32 Central City 2,906 3.0% $114,900
33 Ord 2,112 1.4% $93,900
34 Neligh 1,586 2.4% $82,700
35 Gibbon 1,971 5.4% $121,500
36 Arapahoe 1,242 1.3% $79,600
37 Laurel 1,027 1.7% $96,700
38 Ainsworth 1,655 0.8% $83,000
39 Kenesaw 1,088 7.6% $116,200
40 Weeping Water 1,011 7.0% $140,800
41 Hebron 1,654 0.9% $86,200
42 West Point 3,282 2.0% $126,900
43 Woodland Park 1,418 5.9% $119,600
44 Burwell 1,215 0.5% $96,700
45 Dakota City 2,249 2.6% $118,500
46 Atkinson 1,403 2.8% $114,800
47 Wisner 1,364 3.2% $104,300
48 North Bend 1,453 2.6% $114,600
49 Creighton 1,253 0.7% $98,500
50 Stromsburg 1,028 2.4% $105,700
51 Randolph 1,084 0.4% $95,000
52 Sutton 1,368 1.3% $113,400
53 Wakefield 1,375 2.4% $103,900
54 Valley 2,834 3.0% $278,000
55 Minden 2,906 0.0% $149,700
56 Elm Creek 1,136 2.1% $119,600
57 David City 2,824 1.3% $120,300
58 Alma 1,410 0.4% $137,300
59 Grant 1,393 0.8% $108,900
60 Stanton 1,847 1.6% $104,000
61 Waterloo 1,066 4.8% $153,700
62 Cairo 1,123 0.9% $142,600
63 Hartington 1,522 1.4% $110,900
64 St. Paul 2,638 3.9% $142,300
65 Milford 2,417 1.5% $166,000
66 Valentine 2,768 0.0% $135,800
67 Ashland 2,834 3.9% $173,200
68 O'neill 3,594 1.3% $124,300
69 Yutan 1,075 8.1% $141,800
70 Geneva 1,955 0.5% $100,600
71 Albion 1,511 2.7% $134,700
72 Wilber 2,086 1.7% $131,700
73 Arlington 1,657 4.1% $171,600
74 Friend 1,173 3.7% $148,800
75 Utica 1,069 4.6% $148,100
76 Battle Creek 1,503 0.7% $145,900
77 Doniphan 1,010 5.4% $159,800
78 Pender 1,216 1.3% $101,800
79 Sutherland 1,597 1.0% $119,300
80 Pierce 1,973 1.3% $116,300
81 Wahoo 4,520 0.9% $157,800
82 Springfield 1,582 4.6% $170,100
83 Louisville 1,425 2.0% $161,000
84 Bennington 2,075 2.7% $235,600
85 Aurora 4,523 2.2% $157,600
86 Ceresco 1,343 3.9% $144,600
87 Syracuse 2,043 0.0% $141,900
88 Waverly 3,941 1.3% $207,400
89 Bennet 1,088 0.5% $180,400
90 Hickman 2,432 0.2% $216,800
Download The Entire Nebraska Ranking Data

How Is The Area In ?

About Nick Johnson

Nick Johnson earned his masters in Business Administration from the Drucker School At Claremont Graduate University. He has written for 39 publications across the country and ran the media relations department at Movoto, a real estate portal based in San Francisco. He has been featured in over 500 publications as an expert in real estate and as an authority on real estate trends.

Nick's the creator of the HomeSnacks YouTube channel that now has over 260,000 subscribers and is an excellent source to learn about different parts of the country.

 Worst