[J1ndo]

Metro areas are more important to consider, because they determine the potential customer bases for businesses. I know this is stating the obvious, but a shop owner who opens his business in Omaha is looking at a potential customer base of that entire metro area, theoretically. This influences the amount and diversity of the services and goods on offer in the area.

The city I live in, Brea CA, has about 35k people. This number is completely irrelevant in getting an idea of the commercial and demographic makeup of the city, since it sits in a basin housing a continuous 15 or so million people.

In short, if the metro area population is significantly different than the city population, then the metro population is probably the more relevant number.

[ehenningsen]

Okay within Papillions boundaries a few years ago it was that way, however, let's just paint a picture here. Let's imagine that UP decided to start the railroad tracks in Sioux City and the capital of the Nebraska Territory were placed in Hastings instead of Omaha... These two things jump started Omaha and without it Omaha would never have been. With this in mind here, if that were the case Omaha would have no reason to draw people to the city, however Sioux City and Hastings would leaving Papillion no reason to be anything special, Bellevue wouldn't have been special either.
25 years ago Pappillion had just over 7,000 people, today it has just over 20,000 estimated, and La Vista as a town did not exist yet, 40-50 years ago Bellevue had like 8,000 people or around there, and Bellevue's only signficance in Nebraska came after people started to move south of the Douglas county line and was unable to annex the land due to the zoning laws, and then came Offutt.
Now if your telling me that Papillion has it's own identity and Omaha is a 'different' place, city whatever, then you obviously have an overzealous city pride, now I am not knocking at Papillion as a city at all, however, without Omaha, Papillion really had little if any chance at all of becoming what it is becoming...
To developers, if they choose Papillion, they choose Papillion not because it's special, it's because there is opportunity, such as an area of a city that grows by 20,000 in 30 years, there is opportunity to draw people away from Omaha and closer to home with a new development much closer...
By the way, if Sarpy county was a part of Douglas county.. Bellevue, Lavista, Papillion, and a self-called Chalco would not exist today, however they still would have 'community spirit' and call themselves by their old, but no longer legal names... like Benson, florence, Elkhorn, Millard etc...
The only town that survived annexation is Ralston and that is due to an agreement made by the two cities, Omaha could've annexed it, but decided to leave it a town if they agreed to not expand, and that agreement was reach... hence the population of Ralston still under 10,000.
Elkhorn had the opportunity to do the same, however, they felt that it was necessary to take the remaining growth in Douglas county because they 'had a right too', yes they did, however, because Elkhorn's growth depended ALL on Omaha being right next to it, Omaha also had 'legal' rights to annex it, but Elkhorn wanted to become one of the big daddy cities and completely and repeatedly turn down Omaha's offer until the last minute and wrote the council and mayor a letter stating they accept their offer, well there was too much money and years spent at this point, because Elkhorn exausted it's resources and too much of Omaha's resources for absolutely nothing, and an extremely obvious losing cause...
The point here is that many people claim to be 'different' from Omaha, claiming their city as a progressive city, and the funny thing is that they don't have to be anything, they are only growing because Omaha is nearby, and only exist because they are in a different county...
Be thankful that 'legally' Omaha could not annex the 'different' cities in Sarpy county, because if there was one difference in law, none of your cities would exist! And if Omaha wasn't what it started out to be, then your cities would still have only 300 people in them, so if anything.. You should be thankfull for almost everything that your 'different' city has, unless you don't like development and growth....

[yman97]

I was born and raised in Omaha but I lived in Lincoln for a while as well. Now I reside in La Vista (a little south of Omaha). All things being equal, I prefer Omaha. I like the feel of a city that is larger (but not huge). Each has its perks but Omaha has much more to offer in the way of night life, restaraunts and tends to attract young professional -- just check out the Old Market. It is a little easier finding jobs in Omaha and there are a number of Fortune 500 companies (when you decide to move on to another job).

Lincoln is more of a traditional college town. The population really drops during the summer. But there's something to be said for that college atmosphere. A lot of single women (obviously), parties, college bars in downtown, etc. And don't forget about Husker football! While I was attending UNL, I found it fairly difficult to find a decent job and they were lower paying because of the number of students trying to find one.

I'm not sure what the MIS market is in either town right now but five years ago the market was pretty saturated. I think it's a little better now so you should be okay.

Any other questions, let me know.

[vonnie b]

Six Fortune 500 companies in Omaha make it a better choice for long term employment that pays what you are worth. Always something to do here no matter what the weather. Summer Arts Festival this weekend with artists and crafters from across the country and free entertainment. Greatest Show on Dirt, College World Series, every June for baseball as it should be played, with heart, not dollar signs. World class zoo. Great place to raise kids, but the same can probably be said for Lincoln as I have been there a number of times and it is a very pretty town. Good park system, educational system, lots of established neighborhoods with trees, lots of trails for hiking, walking, biking, dog walking.

[nephthys]

You can do a lot in Omaha with 32k, believe me. You can also make more than that so like some of the above posters said, keep looking.

[sauerkraut145]

I'd pick Omaha because it more easy to drive to Iowa to fill up your fuel tank with cheaper gasoline.

[thatguy1]

Originally Posted by sauerkraut145

I'd pick Omaha because it more easy to drive to Iowa to fill up your fuel tank with cheaper gasoline.

Never mind on the gas you would use doing that, lol. I've always laughed my ass off when people do that. They will actually drive all the way to CB to save 15 cents on a gallon of gas and waste more gas than the money they saved.