Fairbury is a city in Jefferson County, Nebraska. It has 3,888 residents. Fairbury, Nebraska has a quality-of-life score of 56 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #6,931 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Nebraska it ranks #111 of 119 cities and towns. It ranks best on violent crime rate (low), firearm deaths (low) and drug overdose deaths (low). It ranks worst on reading scores (low), public EV charging ports (low) and broadband subscriptions (low).
56Moderate
Quality-of-life score
#6,931 of 15,651 cities and towns
Nebraska
#111 of 119 in NE
Population
3,888 (2020-2024)
Land area
3 mi²
Density
1,533.2 /mi²
FIPS code
3116410
Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.
Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.
Safety98#341/15,637
Economy30#10,868/15,631
Housing74#3,834/14,977
Health47#8,261/15,609
Healthcare55#7,120/15,650
Environment68#4,923/15,453
Education34#10,290/15,649
Infrastructure16#13,215/15,650
Community74#4,033/15,651
Leisure & amenities32#10,644/15,651
Strengths · Weaknesses
Indicators where Fairbury, Nebraska ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Jefferson 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.
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.
Cities and towns like Fairbury, Nebraska five years ago that improved
The places whose measures looked most like those of Fairbury, 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.
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).
Income
How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.
Homes
Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.
Getting to work
How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.
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.
Federal contracts performed here
Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Fairbury is mostly in Jefferson County.
Over about five years, Fairbury, Nebraska improved on 1 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 10 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.
Improved1
Household income+39%$38,160 → $52,995
Median household income
$38,160 → $52,9952015-2019 → 2020-2024
+39%Beyond the margin of error (±$6,353)
Standing among cities and towns: 15 → 20 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 72% of cities and towns
Declined1
Uninsured+9 points7.2% → 16.1%
Uninsured residents (under 65)
7.2% → 16.1%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
+9 pointsBeyond the margin of error (±6.3 points)
Standing among cities and towns: 64 → 19 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
Less favourable than 96% of cities and towns
All 12 measures
Change of every measure of Fairbury, Nebraska between two periods about five years apart
Measure
Before
After
Change
Reading
Favourable vs peers
Average commute time
14.1 min2015-2019
13.5 min2020-2024
−0.5 min
Within the margin of error
54%
Bachelor's degree or higher
16.3%2015-2019
17.3%2020-2024
+1 points
Within the margin of error
35%
Broadband subscriptions
78.2%2015-2019
80.8%2020-2024
+2.5 points
Within the margin of error
17%
Effective property tax rate
1.53%2015-2019
1.64%2020-2024
+0.1 points
Within the margin of error
6%
High school diploma or higher
85.7%2015-2019
91.8%2020-2024
+6.1 points
Within the margin of error
87%
Home price to income ratio
1.6×2015-2019
1.9×2020-2024
+0.3×
Within the margin of error
60%
Income inequality (Gini index)
0.4522015-2019
0.4182020-2024
−0.034
Within the margin of error
76%
Median household income
$38,1602015-2019
$52,9952020-2024
+39%
Improved
72%
Poverty rate
15.7%2015-2019
14.9%2020-2024
−0.8 points
Within the margin of error
51%
Rent as share of income
25.4%2015-2019
24.5%2020-2024
−0.9 points
Within the margin of error
62%
Rent-burdened households
38.0%2015-2019
42.7%2020-2024
+4.7 points
Within the margin of error
39%
Uninsured residents (under 65)
7.2%2015-2019
16.1%2020-2024
+9 points
Declined
4%
“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.
For comparison, Fairbury, Nebraska itself moved −0.7 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.
Household income
1,694 households (±131)
Fairbury, Nebraska
Nebraska share
Under $25k20%†340
Under $25k
20%±7.0 points
340 households±121 (90% margin of error)
14%in Nebraska
15%in United States
−16.9 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
$25k–50k25%422
$25k–50k
25%±6.6 points
422 households±116 (90% margin of error)
18%in Nebraska
17%in United States
−0.2 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
$50k–75k27%†459
$50k–75k
27%±9.3 points
459 households±161 (90% margin of error)
17%in Nebraska
16%in United States
+3.7 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$75k–100k7.6%†129
$75k–100k
7.6%±3.7 points
129 households±63 (90% margin of error)
14%in Nebraska
13%in United States
+0.7 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$100k–150k11%†187
$100k–150k
11%±5.5 points
187 households±94 (90% margin of error)
19%in Nebraska
18%in United States
+5.5 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$150k–200k8.1%†138
$150k–200k
8.1%±3.7 points
138 households±64 (90% margin of error)
9.1%in Nebraska
9.6%in United States
+7.6 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
$200k or more1.1%†19
$200k or more
1.1%±1.3 points
19 households±22 (90% margin of error)
9.4%in Nebraska
13%in United States
−0.4 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Under $25k (−16.9 points).
† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.
No federal contract obligations recorded here in FY2026.
The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Jefferson County, the county holding most of Fairbury's residents.
Jefferson County has 217 employer establishments, 306 for every 10,000 residents (1.23× the US rate of 248; 1.08× Nebraska's), with 2,435 paid employees at an average annual pay of $46,255. The Census Bureau also counts 474 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.
Establishments
217
474 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents
306
US 248 · Nebraska 284
Paid employees
2,435
Average annual pay
$46,255
US $68,342
Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Jefferson County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation
County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)
Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 7,094 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.
