Nebraska real estate - jobs? (Omaha, Lincoln: homes, unemployment rate, college)

[us2indaup]

We're considering relocating from the Great Lakes area to the midwest, and have heard Nebraska has a very low unemployment rate - can anyone tell me if this is true, and what sorts of non-professional jobs we should look into? Also, I've been trying to find data on the lowest priced Real Estate (rural homes with a couple of acres), but can't find any info online. Not interested in any city over 5,000 people. Can anyone help? Thanks!

[Gretchen B]

The reason you're having a hard time finding info on real estate in the smaller towns is because alot of the smaller communities are not part of an MLS. You might try a search for a town you're interested in and see what real estate companies are there. Some probably have their own website. Also, have you tried Realtor.com? Last time I looked for homes in Ogallala, most of the real estate companies' listings were in there. Realtor.com allows you to set a minimum acreage, but it doesn't always work very well. Also, in those smaller communities, you'll probably have a big jump from a regular lot (which some of those can be huge) to probably 10-acres, then you're probably looking at 20-acres+. When they subdivide in Nebraska it's usually into 10-acre minimums.

I'm sure the unemployment rate in Nebraska is low. Nebraskans have a very strong work-ethic. Be prepared that wages in rural Nebraska are really, really low. When we moved there from Denver, I was looking for an administrative secretarial position. What I found was the going rate was about $1.00 above minimum wage. I would imagine $10/hr is a good wage for such a job now in a small Nebraska town. There's exceptions, of course, and the cost of housing (under $100k) helps offset the low wages.

[ehenningsen]

While Gretchen is absolutely right on the rural towns out of the Omaha/Lincoln area...

Unemployment is extremely low in Nebraska, and something to keep in mind is that the cost of living is extremely low also, but if you play your cards right, you could get a really low cost of living with a very decent non-professional job and live it up!!

There are a few cities that you should really consider that are fairly close to either city...
1. Ashland.. city of just over 2,000 almost exactly in between Omaha and Lincoln and just a short 15-20 minute drive to either city and has many recreation oppurtunities set up there...
2. Gretna.. just under 2,000 but is booming as it is just a few miles from Omaha's SW edge.. LOTS of real estate just miles away
3.Wahoo.. population growing very slowly at just over 4,000 is 15-20 minutes west of west Omaha, you can live there and work in Omaha, it's also just 35 minutes north of Lincoln...
4.Springfield just under 2,000 and growing little by little.. and it is under 10 miles south of Omaha
5.Bennington about 1,500 people about 1.5 northwest of Omaha, however most developments are going on the west and south side of Omaha, so development does occur in the area, but it is few and really drags its feet..
6.Waterloo under 1,000 people about 2 miles from the furthest western edge of omaha (what used to be elkhorn) but safe from dragstic growth for awhile
7.Valley just under 2,000 people 3 miles west of waterloo and 5 miles west of old elkhorn, seeing some growth, but not drastic, it'll be a pretty long while before any real growth occurs here..
8.Waverly just 2-3 miles east of Lincoln and is growing, it has about 2,500 people and landed some pretty good large-scale job opportunities lately

All of these cities here that I have mentioned are close to some really good real estate opportunities and good jobs...

[us2indaup]

You've been really helpful, I'll definately research the towns you mentioned. I do use Realtor.com, but I didn't know which towns to look up, and looking up every small town isn't practical, I didn't know where to start. Now I have a starting point.
We would be interested in jobs like service industry or manufacturing type jobs - what sorts of industries are common in Nebraska? The wages can't be lower than they are here in Upper Michigan, where most nonprofessional jobs pay between $7.00 and $9.00 an hour.

[ehenningsen]

Originally Posted by us2indaup

You've been really helpful, I'll definately research the towns you mentioned. I do use Realtor.com, but I didn't know which towns to look up, and looking up every small town isn't practical, I didn't know where to start. Now I have a starting point.
We would be interested in jobs like service industry or manufacturing type jobs - what sorts of industries are common in Nebraska? The wages can't be lower than they are here in Upper Michigan, where most nonprofessional jobs pay between $7.00 and $9.00 an hour.

In the towns mentioned or close to.. There actually is a pretty good variety of jobs and the pay around Omaha is actually above average to the rest of the US, You really should apply at Paypal which is a callcenter in LaVista which is almost at the very edge of the Omaha extended area.. they start at 12.00 for a few jobs, most pay 13.00 or higher per hour, they are needing 2,000+ people.. Also check out careerlink.org as alot of the local employers use this site to advertise their positions they are hiring for... including the small town mentioned if any available...

[Coaster]

Whatever happened to that abandoned college campus in Wahoo? I remember visiting it in the mid-1970s and all the buildings were empty and open, even the office buildings. We found copies of the last issue of the campus newspaper in one of the rooms.

Fremont, a few miles beyond Valley, is another possibility for jobs, although it might be a little larger than you're looking for as a home. Midland Lutheran College is there and might be a source of nonprofessional jobs.

Omaha has expanded hugely since my days there. I hear that Boys Town has been competely surrounded by subdivisions, along with Papillion and Elkhorn. Even Gretna uses the Omaha street sign system now, and when we were there it was way out in the countryside surrounded by farmland.

[mtgman3mil]

Check out Kimball. It's rural western Ne. About 60 miles from Cheyenne, Wy and about 120 miles from Denver. It's a beautiful place