Impossible to find a good job! (Omaha, Lincoln: apartments, low crime, how much)

[MattDen]

Ehen,

I am using Census numbers from the 2005 American community survey from the census
www.census.gov

Massachusetts median household has 35,812 after their median housing expenses for mortgaged units, in Nebraska its
30,565 after their median housing expenses so Nebraskans have 5,300 less per year for the median households after their housing expenses.

Hamilton County, Indiana is a fast growing county in Indiana. I can why people are moving there and they have in-migration with those high household incomes coupled with low housing costs.

I am not twisting anything around, those were the census numbers.

For median housing costs for mortgaged units I used the monthly times 12 for each and every place.

I guess the reaility of it is Omaha is in a major state of denial I didnt think it was the situation in Omaha was in such shape until I started looking at the Census numbers.

Counties comperable size to Douglas County (Omaha) in size 400,000-600,000 people:
Dakota, MN median housing costs: 18504 median household income: 66467
after median housing costs left over for median household: 47,963

Polk, IA median housing costs: 14484 median household income: 51948
after median housing costs 37,464

Johnson County, KS: median housing costs 17688 median household income: 66685
after median housing costs 48,997

Douglas County, NE: median housing costs 15036 median household income: 45794
after median housing costs: 30,758

www.census.gov American community survey 2005 data

[ehenningsen]

once again.. here is where I got my information... above each link is what you will find in the link, at least some of it...




I am just beginning to tip the iceberg with all the high ratings Omaha is getting....

Qwest Center: Top 10 busiest arenas in the world
http://www.csufresno.edu/journal/vol...savemart.shtml

Facts from the Omaha chamber
http://www.accessomaha.com/pdf/Markets.pdf (broken link)

Omaha: Another best city ranking: #17 by time.com
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...3502-2,00.html

Omaha: One of the highest percentages of yuppies in America
http://themediaaudit.com/yuppies2.htm

OMaha: Most Golf courses per capita in US
http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/meet/omaha.html
http://www.embassysuitesomaha.com/meetingsevents.aspx
http://www.creightonmedical.org/content/blogcategory/72/69/ (broken link)
http://www2.agribank.com/Annual/Documents/DiscoverOmaha.pdf (broken link)
http://www.campbellcommunications.com/mag%20omaha.html

Omaha: Home to more millionaires per capita than any other US city
http://www.omahahomesguide.com/

National: per capita income: 36,048
OMaha: per capita income 37,373 rank #41 out of 361

#18 for standard of living which is money vs cost of living
www.business.duq.edu/faculty/davies/theses/curcio.doc (broken link)

#8 for Uhaul growth :-)
http://eomahaforums.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6211

#12 for lowest cost of living and #15 for jobs #32 for median income
Omaha is 21% below average for housing costs
http://www.accessomaha.com/pdf/Omaha-Cost-of-Living-2007.pdf (broken link)

Omaha: 5 star metro
http://www.expansionmanagement.com/c...77/default.asp

Omaha: Link to more top rankings
http://www.mmqb.com/tcmmqbnew/tcmmqb...=0703130753809 0140&toload=tcm&system=ResiIOS&loadlook=179512&ses sionid=587425&dll=ros

Omaha: #18 for relocating singles
http://primacy.com/primacy_americas....=Primacy+Ameri cas+Home&ID2=Primacy+News&CategoryID=2&NewsID=32

Omaha: On a yearly basis, one of the cleanest cities in the US
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...id=chix-sphere

most walkable city in america
http://www.prevention.com/article/0,...7792-6,00.html

Omaha: #5 in the nation to have a baby
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16775895/

OMaha: Featured destination...
http://www.retirementtrends.com/feature.html

More top rankings for Omaha!!
Eleventh best city for business and careers (Forbes – 2004)
Third “Best Place to Locate Your Company” (Expansion Management – 2003)
Consistent ranking in top 20% of best places to live as rated by Places Rated Almanac.
and more rankings....
http://www.businessfacilities.com/bf_05_08_news2.asp
http://www.marketsphere.com/marketsphere.aspx?pgID=883

Omaha: #18 in the Nation for Standard of living
www.business.duq.edu/faculty/davies/theses/curcio.doc (broken link)

Proof new construction is low cost in Omaha:
http://www.mickeymartin.com/Nav.aspx...s/Default.aspx
this listing is housing built 2005 to current and is being sold for 125,000-150,000
sorry you'll have to go to search only new homes and select that range yourself in Douglas County built 2005 and sooner...

Omaha rated #7 in best places to live
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/money...PL3137000.html

Lot's of demographic information
http://www.omahachamber.org/pdf/EconomicOutlook.pdf

Nebraska: #24 in total taxes per capita:
http://www.census.gov/govs/statetax/05staxrank.html

Omaha:#30 fun place in america (3 lower than Vegas)
http://www.nbc30.com/news/2608638/detail.html
some of the attractions:
http://www.omahachamber.org/enjoy/Attractions.aspx

[ehenningsen]

actually here's the link to Omaha being #32 for household income #12 for lowest cost of living and #15 for business:


http://www.forbes.com/home/2007/02/1...obs_table.html

[mattpoulsen]

Mattden,

You can go through and cherry pick all sorts of counties which have better median income to median living costs differentials than Douglass County, but there are 100's and 100's of counties in the U.S.!!! Also, you must that metropolitan communities do no stop at county borders. Omaha is dominated by Douglass AND Sarpy counties. I'm not even going to bother to look up the numbers, but I bet Sarpy county numbers are more impressive than Douglass county. If you're going to compare metro area to metro area then use metro area data...not just bits and pieces of one set versus bits and pieces of another. I'm sure it would take me about 3 seconds to find a county that Douglass county outperforms. To claim that because Tupelo, Mississippi has better numbers than Douglass county means that Omahans are deluding themselves is laughable!! Since, when is Tupelo the standard??

Not to mention the worth of the statistics you are using is questionable. I can't remember the exact year, but while in highschool (approximately 1993 or 1994) my home county was in the top 10 richest counties (per capita) in the U.S. I believe the county that possessed Chevy Chase, Maryland was right ahead of us, which is a phenomenally wealthy suburb just outside D.C. My father, an influential businessman in my hometown, was interviewed by several newspapers who wanted to know where all the Mercedes and BMWs were. There were some wealthy folks around the county, but nothing excessive. Basically, we lacked any poor individuals. Everyone had a job and that was it!! No extremes to either end of the spectrum! That is what Nebraska is in a nutshell. There certainly is no Rodeo Drive in Nebraska, but there is also no Skid Row either. The worst places in Nebraska are nothing compared to the roughest areas of L.A., NY, Chicago,...etc. Nebraska doesn't try to be L.A.....they can't be. But L.A. can't be Nebraska either!

Omaha is a clean and easy town to live in. Period. You can quote a bunch of statistics referencing different counties across the U.S. I or anyone else could also do the same. Look at the big picture...don't cherry pick.

[MattDen]

I used to state to state comparisons also.

I also used the census numbers from counties similar in size to Douglas County. Dakota (MN), Polk (IA) and Johnson (KS) and Omaha fell short by 6,000 dollars to 17,000 dollar in those places all of similar populations.

Besides, Hamilton County, Indiana (population 240,000) is in the same league as Lancaster County, Nebraska.
Lancaster County, Nebraska 32,723 after median housing costs (47,039-14,316)
Hamilton County, Indiana 61,400 after median housing costs (78,932-17,532)

[MattDen]

About bad areas in Nebraska compared to other states and larger cities.

Metro area crime rate
Lincoln MSA 5389.5
Los Angeles MSA 3328.3
New York MSA 2429.1

Lincoln, Nebraska MSA has over double the crime rate of New York MSA.

Omaha and Lincoln have alot of very bad areas. Its just that Nebraskans tend to ever go through them. Back in Denver and Columbus, Ohio its not as socially and economically segregated. In Lincoln and Omaha the poor and rich live far, far away but that tends not to be the case in alot of larger cities.
Omaha also has a low wage scale compared to other cities, so its as rough as alot of larger cities when it comes to financial conditions.
Food Stamp per 100,000 people in last 12 months
Omaha, Nebraska 4302.3
Boston 3892.5/100,000
Denver 2810.4/100,000
Virginia Beach 1465.81/100,000

www.census.gov

Omaha has high poverty issues and Lincoln with high violence compared to the national average.

I guess the thing about Nebraska is basically because its so economically and socially segregated people dont ever go to all the very rough areas of Omaha and Lincoln they tend to avoid them and take the route that they have to be subjected to run-down high poverty and high violence neighborhoods.

[Earniefan]

Mattden

How about cost of living? They may have more money left over after housing costs but there are other costs that go into cost of living.

[star_gazer]

Heh, heh... without posting any numbers... that's your way of explaining the higher crime rates in Denver and Columbus?? :P

Columbus sure as hell is segregated... it may have a larger population of 'integrated' neighborhoods... but once again... we're talking about a metropolitan area of double the size (how about comparing the other two major cities in your favorite state while your at it as well?). Omaha has plenty of 'happily' integrated neighborhoods as well, you just choose to pretend they don't exist.

As for Denver... it only relatively recently even had any ethnic diversity. Heck, the city of Omaha has a higher percentage of black people, and we're considered low by most, and that doesn't even take into account the fact that the urban population has been 'diluted' by years of suburban annexation by the city. Let's face it... with the exception of the even more recent arrival of hispanics to Denver, it's been one big rich, white people's party until now.


Omaha is no champ on crime, that's for sure... but it's no worse than average either. Why don't you post a complete list of crime statistics for everyone here... rather than comparing the two largest cities... which can both attribute their crime fighting success stories to one man (not to speak of both posessing huge suburban components which dilute their crime rates as well... how about posting city figures for all cities over 100,000 Matt).


Wow... I just found these metro figures from the Denver tourism bureau:
Metro Denver has an ethnic population of 5% Black; 18% Hispanic; 3% Asian; 1% Native American and 3% multi-racial

Denver is even whiter than I thought... of course with plenty of lawn mowers, roofers, maids arriving on the scene... to take care of their suburban homes.

[Katiana]

[quote]

Originally Posted by star_gazer

As for Denver... it only relatively recently even had any ethnic diversity. Heck, the city of Omaha has a higher percentage of black people, and we're considered low by most, and that doesn't even take into account the fact that the urban population has been 'diluted' by years of suburban annexation by the city. Let's face it... with the exception of the even more recent arrival of hispanics to Denver, it's been one big rich, white people's party until now.

Not true. When we came to Colorado in 1980, there was already a sizable Hispanic population. In the neighborhood where we lived in West Denver, the menus at McDonald's were in English and Spanish, as were the signs at the voting polls. There are many Hispanic families who have been here longer than the Anglos, such as that of one of our senators, Ken Salazar. Denver had a Hispanic mayor, Federico Pena in the 1980s. Denver County proper has a black population of 11.1%, similar to that of Douglas Co. Nebraska.

The slur on Denver was uncalled for and a bit racist. Not all Hispanics are mowing lawns, roofing and cleaning houses. Some are doctors, nurses and engineers. Just like the Anglos.

[Rumblebelly]

City-data.com crime indexes, 2005 numbers:

Denver: 550.3
Lincoln: 400.2
Omaha: 443.0
LA: 402.3
Compton CA: 660.6
Oakland CA: 750.1
NYC: 275.2 (btw, is notorious for fudging it's crime data)
Camden NJ: 854.9
Columbus OH: 660.8
Cincinnati OH: 688.3
Cleveland OH: 734.1
Dayton OH: 655.6

Have fun in Ohio Matt!