Scotts Bluff County, NE
County Profile
35,843 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Scotts Bluff County, NE.
Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.
How this area ranks
Data updated · 14 sourcesEmployment conditions sit below most comparable counties measured: unemployment is 3.7% and the Opportunity signal places Scotts Bluff County in the bottom 28%.
In the public schools here, 50% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 14.3 students for every teacher.
Rent takes 30% of renter income here, at the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 2.1 times what its owners earn.
These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 3.7%, lower than in 65% of the 1,467 measured US counties.
Employment fell 2.5% over the past year, to 16,279 employed residents.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023 | $51,101 | 25th percentileof 1,417 | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023 | $54,279 | 38th percentileof 1,417 | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Median household income ±$4,1762024 ACS 5-Year | $63,614 | Bottom 46%of 3,221 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$2,3822024 ACS 5-Year | $36,688 | Top 41%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per-capita personal income2023 | $57,550 | Top 44%of 1,389 | 2023 |
| Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year | 13.1% | Bottom 48%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute ±0.9 min2024 ACS 5-Year | 16.6 min | Top 5%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year | 27.0% | Top 31%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Drove alone to work ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 81.9% | 81st percentileof 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| EmploymentJuly 2026 | 16,279 | Bottom 23%of 1,467 | July 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years)July 2026 | −3.0% | Bottom 16%of 1,467 | July 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year)July 2026 | −2.5% | Bottom 13%of 1,467 | July 2026 |
| Labor forceJuly 2026 | 16,900 | 23rd percentileof 1,467 | July 2026 |
| Labor force participation ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year | 82.6% | Top 15%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Public transit to work ±0.1%2024 ACS 5-Year | 0.1% | 33rd percentileof 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026 | 0.0% | Bottom 40%of 1,467 | July 2026 |
| Unemployment rateJuly 2026 | 3.7% | Top 35%of 1,467 | July 2026 |
| Worked from home ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year | 5.9% | 25th percentileof 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Unemployment rate
Median household income, successive ACS releases
50% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 47% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 14.3 students for every full-time teacher across 22 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scottsbluff Senior High School | SCOTTSBLUFF PUBLIC SCHOOLS | 1,064 | 16.9 | 45% | 42% |
| Bluffs Middle School | SCOTTSBLUFF PUBLIC SCHOOLS | 754 | 15.1 | 37% | 43% |
| Gering High School | GERING PUBLIC SCHOOLS | 546 | 13.7 | 52% | 52% |
| Gering Middle School | GERING PUBLIC SCHOOLS | 408 | 15.7 | 39% | 38% |
| Westmoor Elementary School | SCOTTSBLUFF PUBLIC SCHOOLS | 408 | 15.1 | 57% | 52% |
| Longfellow Elementary School | SCOTTSBLUFF PUBLIC SCHOOLS | 379 | 15.8 | 66% | 58% |
| Mitchell Elementary School | MITCHELL PUBLIC SCHOOLS | 345 | 14.4 | 68% | 66% |
| Lincoln Elementary School | GERING PUBLIC SCHOOLS | 319 | 16.8 | 57% | 47% |
| Geil Elementary School | GERING PUBLIC SCHOOLS | 305 | 15.3 | 62% | 52% |
| Northfield Elementary School | GERING PUBLIC SCHOOLS | 299 | 14.2 | 47% | 47% |
| Roosevelt Elementary School | SCOTTSBLUFF PUBLIC SCHOOLS | 280 | 12.2 | 42% | 32% |
| Lincoln Heights Elementary Sch | SCOTTSBLUFF PUBLIC SCHOOLS | 279 | 12.1 | 62% | 47% |
52.5% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.
Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Nebraska’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated — housing affordability →The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Nebraska is up 46% over five years, and up 3.4% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.
Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $2,495 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.48% of the median home value.
HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $987, some 9% above the $909 tenants already here pay.
At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $987 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $39,500 a year, about 62% of the median household income here of $63,614.
The typical renter household here spends 30% of its income on rent, at the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $909 a month.
A median home at $168,500 costs 2.1 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $78,474, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.
The figures above are measured against Scotts Bluff County’s median household income of $63,614, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Nebraska’s figure2026 Q2 | +3.4% | 43rd percentileof 1,431 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Nebraska’s figure2026 Q2 | +45.6% | 54th percentileof 1,431 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Nebraska’s figure2026 Q2 | +86.2% | 34th percentileof 1,431 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price to income ±0.22024 ACS 5-Year | 2.1 | Top 30%of 3,217 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year | 69.3% | 27th percentileof 3,221 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±332024 ACS 5-Year | 16,480 | 59th percentileof 3,221 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Market rent, one bedroomFY2026 | $758 | Top 16%of 1,423 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, three bedroomFY2026 | $1,314 | Top 27%of 1,423 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, two bedroomFY2026 | $987 | Top 25%of 1,423 | FY2026 |
| Median gross rent ±$392024 ACS 5-Year | $909 | Bottom 43%of 3,215 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$9,1542024 ACS 5-Year | $168,500 | 43rd percentileof 3,219 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median property taxes ±$1342024 ACS 5-Year | $2,495 | 76th percentileof 3,172 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Owner household income ±$3,6432024 ACS 5-Year | $78,474 | Top 46%of 3,218 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Property tax rate ±0.11%2024 ACS 5-Year | 1.48% | 89th percentileof 3,126 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 29.5% | Bottom 32%of 3,216 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Seasonal and second homes ±1302024 ACS 5-Year | 202 | 36th percentileof 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year | 1.2% | 30th percentileof 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year | 7.3% | 35th percentileof 3,221 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacant housing units ±2702024 ACS 5-Year | 1,402 | 42nd percentileof 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated — growth →Development Momentum
An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.
Population has fallen 1% since 2020, to 35,734 in 2024.
Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before: 38 units authorized in 2025, up 15% on the prior year.
New construction is predominantly single-family: of 43 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.
Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Scotts Bluff County in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $51,101, below the $54,279 of households that moved out.
At 1.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US counties.
Population, annual estimates
People moving in and out
Where newcomers came from
- Morrill County, NE 82 people · 6.5% of arrivals
- Goshen County, WY 65 people · 5.2% of arrivals
- Box Butte County, NE 60 people · 4.8% of arrivals
- Lancaster County, NE 60 people · 4.8% of arrivals
- Larimer County, CO 36 people · 2.9% of arrivals
Where people who left went
- Lancaster County, NE 88 people · 6.9% of departures
- Morrill County, NE 78 people · 6.1% of departures
- Goshen County, WY 52 people · 4.1% of departures
- Box Butte County, NE 41 people · 3.2% of departures
- Laramie County, WY 30 people · 2.4% of departures
Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.
Housing units permitted per year
Weather & climate
5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 91°F and January a low of 15°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 15.7 inches, including 42.5 inches of snow.
Air quality measures a median index of 16, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.
Precipitation
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| 90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year | 52 | 2024 calendar year |
| Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals | 15.7" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals | 42.5" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low1991-2020 Normals | 15°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high1991-2020 Normals | 91°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals | 5 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year | 0 | 2024 calendar year |
| Median air quality index2024 calendar year | 16 | 2024 calendar year |
| Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals | 47°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Air quality
A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hail, inland flooding and drought, with hail alone responsible for 34% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.
Low or minimal exposure: ice storm, strong wind, wildfire, lightning, tornado, inland flooding, heat wave, landslide, hurricane, volcanic activity, coastal flooding, tsunami, avalanche.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.
Scotts Bluff County has a modeled homicide rate of about 3.6 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.
Firearm deaths of all intents run at about 16.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at about 11.0 per 100,000 residents in Scotts Bluff County.
Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.
Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Scotts Bluff County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.
What this profile does not cover
Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.
- Reported crime
- Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
- Cost of living
- Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
- Taxes
- Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
- Anything about a specific address
- Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.
Access
3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Scottsbluff/Western Nebraska Rgnl/Wm B Heilig Fld at 6 miles.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year | 85.7% | Bottom 41%of 3,221 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Distance to major airportNASR current cycle | 6 mi | Top 3%of 1,463 | NASR current cycle |
| Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle | 3 | Bottom 35%of 1,463 | NASR current cycle |
| No internet access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year | 11.0% | Bottom 44%of 3,221 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scottsbluff/Western Nebraska Rgnl/Wm B Heilig Fld | BFF | 6 mi | 8,279 ft |
| Alliance Muni | AIA | 48 mi | 9,203 ft |
| Cheyenne Rgnl/Jerry Olson Fld | CYS | 75 mi | 9,270 ft |
Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.
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Similar places
Matched on AreaProfile signals, not geographyData & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) |
| Demographics, Income | Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county) | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Income | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional price parities and county personal income | 2023 |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | July 2026 |
| Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate |
| Safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026 |
| Schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year |
| Housing | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research Fair Market Rents | FY2026 |
| Climate | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System Daily Air Quality Index by county | 2024 calendar year |
| Housing | U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions) | 2026 Q2 |
| Current conditions | NOAA National Weather Service National Weather Service current conditions | Live observation, read when the page opens |
Profile recalculated October 8, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.
Cities in Scotts Bluff County, NE
ZIP areas
Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.