City · Nemaha County, Nebraska

Auburn, Nebraska

Auburn is a city in Nemaha County, Nebraska. It has 3,470 residents. Auburn, Nebraska has a quality-of-life score of 76 out of 100 (high), ranking #3,778 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Nebraska it ranks #77 of 119 cities and towns. It ranks best on gyms and fitness centers (high), drug overdose deaths (low) and grocery stores (high). It ranks worst on mental health providers (low), new business applications (low) and adult obesity (high).

76High

Quality-of-life score: #3,778 of 15,651 cities and towns
Nebraska: #77 of 119 in NE
Population: 3,470 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 1,591.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 3102655

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety85#2,323/15,637
Economy39#9,522/15,631
Housing83#2,523/14,977
Health42#9,066/15,609
Healthcare48#8,111/15,650
Environment95#768/15,453
Education62#5,897/15,649
Infrastructure38#9,751/15,650
Community66#5,264/15,651
Leisure & amenities98#356/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Auburn, Nebraska ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Nemaha County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Gyms and fitness centers · high4.2 /10k
100/100Nebraska 1.4 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsNemaha County value
Drug overdose deaths · low0.0 /100k
99/100Nebraska 6.6 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataNemaha County value
Grocery stores · high4.2 /10k
98/100Nebraska 2.0 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsNemaha County value
Distance to an emergency room · low2.6 mi
98/100Nebraska 5.1 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesNemaha County value
Property crime rate · low227 /100k
98/100Nebraska 1,379 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationNemaha County value
Home price to income ratio · low1.7×
96/100Nebraska 3.1×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077

Weaknesses

Mental health providers · low43 /100k
4/100Nebraska 362 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteNemaha County value
New business applications · low8.2 /1k
8/100Nebraska 11.3 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauNemaha County value
Adult obesity · high42.5%
11/100Nebraska 39.8%United States 38.2%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high17.9%
12/100Nebraska 8.2%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
New homes permitted · low0.0 /1k
13/100Nebraska 5.3 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Access to exercise opportunities · low58.2%
17/100Nebraska 84.8%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteNemaha County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

New homes permittedWorsening
0.3 /1k (2021) → 0.0 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−100%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Uninsured residents (under 65)Worsening
10.1% (2015-2019) → 17.9% (2020-2024)
+7.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
77.6% (2015-2019) → 85.2% (2020-2024)
+7.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Average commute timeWorsening
16.4 min (2015-2019) → 22.6 min (2020-2024)
+38%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
High school diploma or higherWorsening
91.6% (2015-2019) → 86.3% (2020-2024)
−5.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Child poverty rateWorsening
13.4% (2015-2019) → 17.1% (2020-2024)
+3.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Auburn, Nebraska improved on 0 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 13 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved0

No measure improved by more than its margin of error.

Declined1

Uninsured+7.8 points10.1% → 17.9%

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Auburn, Nebraska between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	16.4 min2015-2019	22.6 min2020-2024	+6.2 min	Within the margin of error	7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.6%2015-2019	24.3%2020-2024	−3.3 points	Within the margin of error	12%
Broadband subscriptions	77.6%2015-2019	85.2%2020-2024	+7.6 points	Within the margin of error	47%
Child poverty rate	13.4%2015-2019	17.1%2020-2024	+3.7 points	Within the margin of error	24%
Effective property tax rate	1.57%2015-2019	1.33%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	65%
High school diploma or higher	91.6%2015-2019	86.3%2020-2024	−5.3 points	Within the margin of error	5%
Home price to income ratio	1.6×2015-2019	1.7×2020-2024	+0.1×	Within the margin of error	72%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4222015-2019	0.4762020-2024	+0.054	Within the margin of error	15%
Median household income	$57,7272015-2019	$57,5312020-2024	−0.3%	Within the margin of error	7%
Poverty rate	13.6%2015-2019	14.1%2020-2024	+0.5 points	Within the margin of error	38%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	20.4%2015-2019	24.1%2020-2024	+3.7 points	Within the margin of error	29%
Rent-burdened households	36.8%2015-2019	40.4%2020-2024	+3.5 points	Within the margin of error	43%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	10.1%2015-2019	17.9%2020-2024	+7.8 points	Declined	5%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Auburn, Nebraska five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Auburn, Nebraska in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Auburn, Nebraska itself moved −16.8 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

3,470 residents (±40)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,583 households (±145)

Auburn, Nebraska
Nebraska share

Under $25k21%†338
$25k–50k25%†389
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,583 households (±145)

Auburn, Nebraska
Nebraska share

Own50%788
Rent50%795

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (−18.2 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,695 workers (±201)

Auburn, Nebraska
Nebraska share

Drive alone83%1,413
Carpool6.3%†107
Public transit0.0%0

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Nemaha County, the county holding most of Auburn's residents.

Nemaha County has 178 employer establishments, 251 for every 10,000 residents (1.01× the US rate of 248; 0.88× Nebraska's), with 1,346 paid employees at an average annual pay of $42,464. The Census Bureau also counts 530 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 178; 530 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 251; US 248 · Nebraska 284
Paid employees: 1,346
Average annual pay: $42,464; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Nemaha County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	13	18.3	1.00×About typical	132	$17,417	3
Specialty trade contractors	13	18.3	1.18×About typical	40	$51,075	63
Insurance agencies and brokerages	12	16.9	3.85×More than typical	31	$52,484	16
Ambulatory health care services	11	15.5	0.74×Fewer than typical	100	$60,460	15
Religious organizations	8	11.3	2.03×Too few to compare	19	$11,000	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	6	8.5	1.68×Too few to compare	27	$31,333	10
Child day care services	6	8.5	3.47×Too few to compare	46	$11,522	18
Lessors of real estate	6	8.5	0.69×Too few to compare	9	$17,889	31
Offices of other health practitioners	6	8.5	1.39×Too few to compare	38	$34,579	4
Amusement, gambling and recreation industries	5	7.1	2.65×Too few to compare	21	$10,667	4
Banks and credit unions	5	7.1	2.18×Too few to compare	57	$44,035	4
Construction of buildings	5	7.1	0.93×Too few to compare	19	$25,105	20

Rank places for an industry Open Nemaha County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 7,088 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Auburn, Nebraska: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

8.1KFY2017
9.1FY2018

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Auburn, Nebraska, so they do not add up across cities.

Auburn, Nebraska's figures are part of those of Nemaha County, NE ($43.7M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Auburn is mostly in Nemaha County.

See federal money in Nemaha County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Auburn, Nebraska is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Adrian SmithR-NE-3 · 100% of residentsWith party 98%Missed 1.6%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Nemaha County94100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Nemaha County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/3102655

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends