Here's How Much Money You Need To Make To Live Comfortably In Nebraska
By Catherine Armstrong|Published July 27, 2019
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Catherine Armstrong
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Writer, editor and researcher with a passion for exploring new places. Catherine loves local bookstores, independent films, and spending time with her family, including Gus the golden retriever, who is a very good boy.
When it comes to the cost of living, Nebraska isn’t the cheapest state in the nation, but it’s far from the most expensive. Do you feel like you’re doing well financially? Take a look at these graphics designed by HowMuch.net to see where Nebraskans fall when it comes to income, housing, debt, and more.
Housing is, without a doubt, the biggest drain on your paycheck. In Nebraska, to buy a home, you'll need a salary of just $51,520 per year. The numbers were calculated assuming that you'd come in with a 10 percent down-payment, and that you'd take out a standard, 30-year mortgage. That's not too bad, considering that in neighboring Colorado, the average salary needed is nearly double!
Of course, not everyone wants to buy a home, and some people don't have the credit worthiness or income to do so. HowMuch.net took a look at what kind of monthly salary you'll need to rent a home. Considering that you should only spend around 30 percent of your after-tax income on housing, the website calculated that Nebraskans should be earning $4,137 per month in order to afford the average rental property in the state. Our rental costs are higher than those of our Kansas neighbors to the south, but we're faring much better than residents in Colorado or Wyoming. And of course, rural areas of Nebraska will be much less expensive than our larger cities. We love our small towns!
There's more good news. When it comes to debt, Nebraskans average just $40.3K per capita. That includes mortgage, credit cards, auto loans, and student loans. Compared to Colorado's average of $71.3k, and Wyoming's average of $46.4k, we feel pretty good about that. Of course, we could always try to pay down some of our debt so we can hang with states like Arkansas, which has an average of just $32.7k, or the lowest in the nation, West Virginia, with an average of a stunning $29. 4k!
Auto loans are an increasingly large factor in the personal finances of people all over the country, but Nebraskans are doing a pretty good job of holding back when it comes to spending a lot of money on vehicles. The average debt for auto loans in Nebraska is just over $4,000 per capita, so if you're eyeing that $65,000 truck, you might want to think twice.
Utilities always seem to hit the pocketbook where it hurts. It's simply no fun to pay for electricity instead of buying new shoes. Of course, you can always go without shoes, but it's impossible to live without lights! In Nebraska, we pay 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour, lower than the average of 12.7 cents. We're not going to complain - crank up the air-conditioning, and flip on that light switch.
You won't be surprised at all to see where most of the money comes into our state. Our biggest industry is meat, and we know why. Is there a better place to get a juicy, delicious steak? We think not.
Overall, Nebraskans can be pretty happy about our cost of living. We’re just below the average in almost every factor when it comes to spending our hard-earned money on the things we can’t do without. While it costs more to be comfortable here in Nebraska than it does in places like West Virginia, we’re content knowing that we’re also paying only about half of what it costs to live in Colorado. We’ll stay here, thank you very much!
Learning about “average” cost of living is helpful, but it doesn’t apply directly to your situation. To get a better feel for your personal cost of living in Nebraska, use this tool created by HowMuch.net to see your true cost of living.
What do you think? Are you happy to hear this news? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
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