Would nebraskans accept a CA transplant? (Omaha, Lincoln: fit in, crime rate, home)

[future texan]

we are native Californians, and were considering texas as a move, but with the high taxes and other issues, we have been considering NE as a future home...but I have heard that the natives will be hostile towards us...is this true?

[MattDen]

Omaha is very accepting of newcomers as are the adjacent towns. The people in Omaha are very polite they can be reserved but not that reserved. Just not as outgoing as westerners, but most Omahans are very, very good people. I am sure as anywhere else it depends on the neighbors you have.

Lincoln is very, very insular. They dont like change, its a cesspool because they are so intolerant of people with different views and from anywhere else. Also Lincoln tends to have much lower levels of in-migration then Omaha (because of Lincoln's crappy job market, lack of amenities and higher violent crime rate compared to Omaha) so basically the most of the people in Lincoln have been here their entire lives and very few know anything else.

Most Lincolnites have this mentality that they higher then thou and the priviledge of associating with them is on the level of associating with baroness or baron. Omaha and Lincoln's personality traits of the people just could not be more different.

Rural central and western tend to have very rude and unhospitable people. I dont know what it but my thoery is because in my opinion the quality of living out there is so horrible that maybe the rural central and western Nebraskans are just hostile overall. Rural Eastern Nebraska (Beatrice and the eastern border counties tend to have more much nicer people)

Overall, Omaha is by far, far and away the most accepting city of newcomers in my opinion. They are also by far, far away the most polite and nice but a bit reserved people in the state. Omaha is in no way representive of the people who live in the rest of the state.

So basically the hostility towards newcomers tend to be strongest in Lincoln and the rest of the state, Omaha is very receptive towards newcomers.

[mattpoulsen]

Future Texan,

Don't listen to Mattden! If you go through his posts you'll see he has an absolute hatred for anything associated to Lincoln or western Nebraska. Many people would say that Lincolnites and western Nebraskans are some of the nicest and polite people in the U.S.! I'm not sure if your a college football fan or not, but if you are, then you have probably heard of the tradition of extreme politeness that occurs at Nebraska football games. On a regular basis, fans of opposing teams will write letters to the editor of the local newspaper going on and on about how polite the fans and the people of Lincoln were to them.

Mattden is just a bitter bitter person. And his posts pretty much exclude any possibility of objectivity.

Lincoln is very, very insular. They dont like change, its a cesspool because they are so intolerant of people with different views and from anywhere else. Also Lincoln tends to have much lower levels of in-migration then Omaha (because of Lincoln's crappy job market, lack of amenities and higher violent crime rate compared to Omaha) so basically the most of the people in Lincoln have been here their entire lives and very few know anything else.

Rural central and western tend to have very rude and unhospitable people. I dont know what it but my thoery is because in my opinion the quality of living out there is so horrible that maybe the rural central and western Nebraskans are just hostile overall. Rural Eastern Nebraska (Beatrice and the eastern border counties tend to have more much nicer people)


The funny thing about Mattden is he lives in Lincoln!! The reason he hates it is because he happens to live in one of the poorest and rundown areas of town, which is fine, but he tries to project the image that all of Lincoln is like that, which it absolutely is not!! The idea that Lincoln is a cesspool and has some sort of violent crime rate is just laughable!

Lincoln is your typical college town. It has a population that is pushing 300,000 and the quality of life is excellent. Per-capita income is right about the national average, but cost of living is much lower. I think in terms of per-capita income we rank at about 30 out of 360 metro areas. Just check out some of the standard of living rankings and things like that on CNN.com or Money Magazine. Lincoln and Omaha both do quite well.

I would add that obviously Omaha has a few more options, but it isn't a dramatic difference. Lincoln has a more of a small town feel to it and Omaha has more of a metropolitan feel to it. However, there are ample job opportunities in both places. In the end, I would suspect you would move where you had the best job offer anyway. Mattden's suggestion that Lincolnites are more rude than Omahans, is just silly! There is a constant back and forth migration from Omaha and Lincoln and the "type" of people that live in Omaha are exactly the same that live in Lincoln! So, don't worry about fitting in or being treated rudely. I wholeheartedly promise that you will be completely accepted!

As a disclaimer...I grew up in small town western Nebraska, have lived in Lincoln approximately 11 years, and will be moving to Omaha at the end of the summer.

[future texan]

thank you both for your differing opinions!...we are actually looking for a place to retire, so want to be around shopping, good medical facilities, and good city services...as well as a safe area to live...for the last 30 years we have lived in a rural area 60 miles north of Los Angeles, and have had to put up with septic tanks, pot holes, power outages, and a mom and pop grocery store, 10 miles from our house...so the idea of having ammenities close by is what we are interested in, plus friendly people...the people of Texas were so friendly, the shopping wonderful, but their property taxes were not...up to, and over 3% in places...

another objective of mine, is to locate in an area that sees a lot of severe weather, including tornados...could you fill me in on what I can expect as far as severe weather?? thanks for your help!!

[mattpoulsen]

Future Texan,

Well, from the sounds of it, I would say Lincoln or Omaha would be very nice destinations. The Omaha metro is about 800,000 and the Lincoln metro is about 300,000. Plus, they are only about 40 minutes apart. Mattden made it sound like Lincoln doesn't have shopping centers or any other amenities. It has plenty and about any store that exists in Omaha is also in Lincoln...Lincoln may just have less of them. Lincoln isn't some little prairie village. Its a city with about 300,000 people, a major university, and the state capital. That said, I really like Omaha too. It just depends on taste and ultimately you'd have to see for yourself.

As far as severe weather, well Nebraska is a place you'll find it! We actually just got a nice taste of it last night. I don't believe there were any tornado touchdowns, but they do happen. We get plenty of thunderstorms throughout the spring and summer.

[AZ_singlemother]

Omaha would probably be closer to what you are looking for. I have relatives from Lincoln and yes they are very nice; however, you will really need to aclimate to their customs coming from California - very different culture.

Texas may have the higher taxes; however, there are more jobs. Before moving to Nebraska, you must have a job lined up or lots of savings to live on.

[MattDen]

Property Tax in Nebraska: Omaha 2170 per 100,000 home value
Most of Eastern Nebraska ranges from 1900 to 2300 per 100,000 home value

Sales Tax: 7% (most food is excluded)
Income Tax rate: up to around 6.5%

[future texan]

thanks for the info on storms and taxes!....AZ, you said I need to learn to acclimate to their cultures to fit in...wish you would have expounded on that more to let me know how we may differ...we BBQ a lot, and I live in birkenstocks almost year round, but other than that, we are not the stereotypical californians that most of you have pictured...we have lived in a rural mountain town for almost 30 years now, and hate the LA scene, so I don't think we would ruffle anyone's feathers with our behavior!!.. but I have been told to change the CA liscense plate on our car before moving, to avoid problems...I hope this isn't true!

back to the weather! what is a typical spring like as far as severe weather goes?? have also heard that the bigger cities are 'heat islands' that tend to keep the severe storms away..is this true?? the whole idea of retiring and moving to a state with severe weather is to enjoy the excitement..would hate to move somewhere and be in a storm shadow, like I am here!!

[Earniefan]

You may want to look up pictures of tornado dammage online in rural Nebraska before you move. It may be more "excitement" than you can handle. Also, for hail excitement look up Aurora, they had football size hail a couple years ago, they hold the record for the largest hail in the U.S. if not the world. It was going right through people's roofs, pretty crazy.

[PetiteFleur]

Hi futuretexan-

While I'm no weather expert, I live in Lincoln and I believe we are not insulated from any of the midwest weather. Spring is one of my favorite times here since I live in a neighborhood with 100 year old trees and I love to see them bud after a long winter. Spring storms this year have been pretty intense, lots of strong winds and driving rain.

I'm a fairly recent transplant to Lincoln myself, having moved from Chicago 2 years ago. I have found the people here to be nothing but welcoming and friendly. I think someone has alarmed you unneccesarily. Coming from a large metropolitan area to Nebraska (even if Lincoln is the 2nd largest city in the State) was quite a change for me. The pace of life is slower to me and drivers are on a Sunday drive everyday in my opinion!

The one thing I wasn't expecting was the high taxes. Just registering our cars cost an arm and a leg! Our property tax is higher than it was in Chicago too.

As for your move, I believe you get back what you put out. There is no reason to believe you will be treated poorly based on where you come from. As for your license plate issue, I see license plates from all over when I'm driving around town. I don't think anyone will notice or care.

Best of luck to you!