A Few Kearney Questions (Omaha, Lincoln: apartments, rental, low crime)

[dakota79]

I currently live in Kentucky and am looking to move to a location between North Dakota and Colorado, where I have family and friends. I work for a company that has stores all over the country, and they have agreed to take me in Kearney if I want. I have been there before, but mostly just while passing through.

Here are a few questions I have:

1. Are apartments really hard to come by because of UNK? The online newspaper has three pages of rental listings, but you never know how old they are. Has anyone had any problems finding a place?

2. Is there a part of town I should avoid? Kearney seems pretty safe and low crime statistically.

3. Is Kearney large enough that you don't feel like you're in a small town. What I mean is, I was recently in Scottsbluff, which is about half the size of Kearney, and I kept running into the same people everywhere I went, and that was only during a 4 night visit. It almost felt like I had no privacy.

4. Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms! I know Kearney is prone to both and gets its fair share. How do you survive without panicing when you know it will happen eventually? Are you constantly doing repairs from storm damage? I know that everyone says to have a plan, but when you live in an apartment, options can be limited. I am a bit paranoid because my apartment building in Kentucky took a direct hit from an F3 in 2000, and they are not even that common here.

5. I know Kearney's population is growing. Would you say it is at a healthy rate? I don't want to live in a place that is growing too fast, and five or ten years from now will become unaffordable. I have seen it happen in Colorado and all over the West.

Anyway, those were some of the questions I had about the area? If you any insight about any of them, I would appreciate it.

[dsrich98]

Originally Posted by dakota79

I currently live in Kentucky and am looking to move to a location between North Dakota and Colorado, where I have family and friends. I work for a company that has stores all over the country, and they have agreed to take me in Kearney if I want. I have been there before, but mostly just while passing through.

Here are a few questions I have:

1. Are apartments really hard to come by because of UNK? The online newspaper has three pages of rental listings, but you never know how old they are. Has anyone had any problems finding a place?

2. Is there a part of town I should avoid? Kearney seems pretty safe and low crime statistically.

3. Is Kearney large enough that you don't feel like you're in a small town. What I mean is, I was recently in Scottsbluff, which is about half the size of Kearney, and I kept running into the same people everywhere I went, and that was only during a 4 night visit. It almost felt like I had no privacy.

4. Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms! I know Kearney is prone to both and gets its fair share. How do you survive without panicing when you know it will happen eventually? Are you constantly doing repairs from storm damage? I know that everyone says to have a plan, but when you live in an apartment, options can be limited. I am a bit paranoid because my apartment building in Kentucky took a direct hit from an F3 in 2000, and they are not even that common here.

5. I know Kearney's population is growing. Would you say it is at a healthy rate? I don't want to live in a place that is growing too fast, and five or ten years from now will become unaffordable. I have seen it happen in Colorado and all over the West.

Anyway, those were some of the questions I had about the area? If you any insight about any of them, I would appreciate it.

1. Kearney has an abundance of affordable housing and aprtments. You should have no problem finding a quality place for a reasonable price.

2. Kearney is overall a very clean and safe town. There are small pockets on the southeast side of town that are less desireable. However, unless you have kids that would be in school I wouldn't even worry about that part of town.

3. Kearney can seem small, but there are enough people coming and going that you are not going to feel like you are being stalked, especially if you are new to town. If you live there for 20 years you'll recognize a lot of the same faces.

4. I lived in Kearney for 24 years and only twice did I ever experience any significant storm damage. Tornadoes are really more hype than an ever present danger.

5. I would say the growth of Kearney is very sustainable and they bringing the right kind of people in. As opposed to many other communities in Nebraska that are attracting folks to work in meatpacking plants, Kearney attarcts a higher caliber of new residents. Kearney actually has the highest percentage of College graduates of any city in the state, and that includes Lincoln and Omaha. The area around Kearney is sparsley populated so even as the city grown you do not need to be afraid of skyrocketing land or housing prices. Kearrney will remain an affordable clean town for he foreseeable future.


Overall I enjoyed my time in Kearney and go back often. I prefer living in Omaha just because I enjoy the variety that a bigger city offers. But I would not want to discourage anyone from choosing to live in Kearney. And as far as a midsize town in Nebraska goes, Kearney outhsine EVERY other comparable community in the state. Certainly better than Scottsbluff!!

[Go Ne]

Out of the 3 central Nebraskan towns, I would say Kearney is the most white collar, it truly is a beautiful city, and it has a perfect growth rate, not too fast, not too slow, it almost reminds me of a mini Omaha but with less crime, and of course smaller.

[dakota79]

Thanks for the informative replies. They were very helpful and put me at ease on a lot of things, especially the apartment situation.

Hopefully, Kearney is not too "white collar". After all, I by no means have a high paying job. I have a budget and stick to it. I live a pretty simple life and find pleasure in mostly non-material things.

By the way, I want to make sure I get this right. What is the true correct pronounciation of Kearney?

A. K"ear"ney
B. K"er"ney
C. K"are"ney
D. None of them

I live in Grand Junction, CO for a while, and when UNK would play Mesa State, they always said C. I have heard the airlines say A. And I have heard others say B. Which one is correct?

[omahajosh618]

Originally Posted by dakota79

Thanks for the informative replies. They were very helpful and put me at ease on a lot of things, especially the apartment situation.

Hopefully, Kearney is not too "white collar". After all, I by no means have a high paying job. I have a budget and stick to it. I live a pretty simple life and find pleasure in mostly non-material things.

By the way, I want to make sure I get this right. What is the true correct pronounciation of Kearney?

A. K"ear"ney
B. K"er"ney
C. K"are"ney
D. None of them

I live in Grand Junction, CO for a while, and when UNK would play Mesa State, they always said C. I have heard the airlines say A. And I have heard others say B. Which one is correct?

The correct answer is "C" - K"are"ney.

"C" is always the right answer.

[Go Ne]

If spelled as said it would be Car-ne, and I just said it was the most white collar, but it still has a lot of blue collar people.