City · Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska

Gering, Nebraska

Gering is a city in Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska, part of the Scottsbluff, NE metro area. It has 8,550 residents. Gering, Nebraska has a quality-of-life score of 63 out of 100 (high), ranking #5,838 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Nebraska it ranks #99 of 119 cities and towns. It ranks best on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (low), average commute time (low) and median Air Quality Index (low). It ranks worst on distance to an airport (high), mental health care shortage (high) and drought exposure (high).

63High

Quality-of-life score: #5,838 of 15,651 cities and towns
Nebraska: #99 of 119 in NE
Population: 8,550 (2020-2024)
Land area: 6 mi²
Density: 1,532.9 /mi²
FIPS code: 3118580

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 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.

Safety18#12,895/15,637
Economy43#8,908/15,631
Housing69#4,649/14,977
Health48#8,116/15,609
Healthcare19#12,708/15,650
Environment85#2,356/15,453
Education67#5,108/15,649
Infrastructure69#4,813/15,650
Community78#3,377/15,651
Leisure & amenities85#2,272/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Gering, Nebraska ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Scotts Bluff 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

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · low4.0 µg/m³
99/100Nebraska 5.9 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyScotts Bluff County value
Average commute time · low15.1 min
98/100Nebraska 19.2 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Median Air Quality Index · low23
97/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyScotts Bluff County value
Loneliness · low32.4%
96/100Nebraska 29.8%United States 33.2%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Unemployment rate · low0.6%
95/100Nebraska 3.0%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
Social associations · high14.3 /10k
88/100Nebraska 13.4 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteScotts Bluff County value

Weaknesses

Distance to an airport · high148 mi
2/100Nebraska 65 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauScotts Bluff County value
Mental health care shortage · high19.0
4/100Nebraska 7.2United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationScotts Bluff County value
Drought exposure · high94%
5/100Nebraska 61%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAScotts Bluff County value
Distance to an emergency room · high17.8 mi
5/100Nebraska 5.1 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesScotts Bluff County value
Job growth · low-2.7%
8/100Nebraska -0.1%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataScotts Bluff County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high112 mi
8/100Nebraska 29 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauScotts Bluff County value

Trends

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

Child poverty rateWorsening
4.7% (2015-2019) → 20.5% (2020-2024)
+16 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
82.8% (2015-2019) → 93.1% (2020-2024)
+10 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
39.5% (2015-2019) → 47.7% (2020-2024)
+8.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
24.6% (2015-2019) → 32.6% (2020-2024)
+8 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Median household incomeImproving
$56,907 (2015-2019) → $75,093 (2020-2024)
+32%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Poverty rateWorsening
6.9% (2015-2019) → 12.4% (2020-2024)
+5.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%

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, Gering, Nebraska improved on 3 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 9 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.

Improved3

Bachelor's++8 points24.6% → 32.6%
Broadband+10 points82.8% → 93.1%
Household income+32%$56,907 → $75,093

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Gering, Nebraska between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	14.0 min2015-2019	15.1 min2020-2024	+1.1 min	Within the margin of error	36%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.6%2015-2019	32.6%2020-2024	+8 points	Improved	84%
Broadband subscriptions	82.8%2015-2019	93.1%2020-2024	+10 points	Improved	61%
Effective property tax rate	1.65%2015-2019	1.62%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	20%
High school diploma or higher	93.2%2015-2019	90.4%2020-2024	−2.8 points	Within the margin of error	12%
Home price to income ratio	2.4×2015-2019	2.5×2020-2024	+0.1×	Within the margin of error	76%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4642015-2019	0.4122020-2024	−0.052	Within the margin of error	85%
Median household income	$56,9072015-2019	$75,0932020-2024	+32%	Improved	60%
Poverty rate	6.9%2015-2019	12.4%2020-2024	+5.4 points	Within the margin of error	11%
Rent as share of income	25.9%2015-2019	29.1%2020-2024	+3.2 points	Within the margin of error	31%
Rent-burdened households	39.5%2015-2019	47.7%2020-2024	+8.2 points	Within the margin of error	28%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	9.9%2015-2019	14.2%2020-2024	+4.3 points	Within the margin of error	13%

“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 Gering, Nebraska five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Gering, 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, Gering, Nebraska itself moved −1.3 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

8,550 residents (±27)

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

3,368 households (±200)

Gering, Nebraska
Nebraska share

Under $25k15%†497
$25k–50k15%†501
$50k–75k20%

Homes

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

Owners and renters

3,368 households (±200)

Gering, Nebraska
Nebraska share

Own72%2,434
Rent28%934

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

4,190 workers (±278)

Gering, Nebraska
Nebraska share

Drive alone89%3,719
Carpool5.4%†226
Public transit0.2%†10

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Scottsbluff, NE

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 Scotts Bluff County, the county holding most of Gering's residents.

Scotts Bluff County has 1,017 employer establishments, 285 for every 10,000 residents (1.15× the US rate of 248; 1.00× Nebraska's), with 12,822 paid employees at an average annual pay of $44,367. The Census Bureau also counts 2,733 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,017; 2,733 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 285; US 248 · Nebraska 284
Paid employees: 12,822
Average annual pay: $44,367; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	80	22.4	1.08×About typical	898	$72,245	116
Restaurants and other eating places	79	22.1	1.20×About typical	1,361	$19,375	15
Specialty trade contractors	66	18.5	1.19×About typical	515	$50,868	227
Truck transportation	40	11.2	2.22×More than typical	288	$56,691	131
Religious organizations	37	10.4	1.87×More than typical	201	$20,055	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	36	10.1	2.00×More than typical	136	$43,603	60
Limited-service restaurants	36	10.1	1.26×More than typical	666	$21,545	6
Full-service restaurants	34	9.5	1.24×About typical	616	$17,869	7
Insurance agencies and brokerages	32	9	2.04×More than typical	124	$53,847	43
Lessors of real estate	32	9	0.73×Fewer than typical	53	$34,151	297
Offices of other health practitioners	30	8.4	1.38×More than typical	158	$51,772	55
Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors	27	7.6	2.40×More than typical	218	$56,674	58

Rank places for an industry Open Scotts Bluff County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 35,701 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 $5,352 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Gering, Nebraska: $0.63 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $5,352; +35% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.63; US $1,994
Sole-source: 55%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; 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

Department of Energy$4,65287%
Department of Veterans Affairs$70013%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

6.8KFY2017
93.6KFY2018
36.1KFY2019
9.7KFY2020
2.9KFY2021
990.9FY2022
33.4KFY2023
18.3KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Utility system construction · 2371$2,38345%
Services to buildings and dwellings · 5617$2,26942%
Ventilation, heating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration equipment manufacturing · 3334$70013%

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 Gering, Nebraska, so they do not add up across cities.

Gering, Nebraska's figures are part of those of Scotts Bluff County, NE ($9.7M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.1% of that total.

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

See federal money in Scotts Bluff 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.

Gering, 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.

Scotts Bluff County69100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Scottsbluff, NE57

Other cities and towns in Scotts Bluff 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/3118580

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends