Nebraska median home price 2026: $308,400, or $276,477

You looked up Nebraska's median home price and got two different answers. Redfin says $308,400. Zillow's Home Value Index says $276,477. That is an 11% spread on the single number your whole budget hangs off, and neither source is wrong: they measure different things. Then you pull an insurance quote on an actual Omaha address and discover a third number nobody warned you about.

This page covers what Nebraska homes actually sell for and which median to trust, what the state's tight Omaha market means if you are trying to buy, what income it really takes here, and where the investor math survives contact with the tax and insurance bill. Nebraska figures below were last checked August 10, 2026.

Nebraska median home price and market snapshot

Two credible sources disagree, so use both. Redfin puts Nebraska's statewide median at $308,400, and $320,000 across 7,235 closings over the trailing six months. Zillow's Home Value Index puts the statewide typical value at $276,477. Redfin measures actual closed sale prices, which are dominated by Omaha and Lincoln where most transactions happen; Zillow values the entire housing stock, including sparse western counties where very little trades. In a state with two dominant metros and 90 thin counties, the closed-sale median describes the metros and the index describes the state.

At metro level the numbers are firmer. Omaha closed at a median $289,000 over the three months ending June 2026, up 5.0% year over year, with homes selling in around 14 days and averaging two offers. Lincoln closed at $302,000 over the three months ending May 2026, up just 0.6%, sitting 26 days on market against 18 a year earlier (Redfin, 2026). Grand Island's most recent monthly median was $250,000. So what for you: quote the source alongside the number whenever you use it, and if you are comparing a Nebraska listing to a national median, make sure you are not comparing Redfin's closed-sale figure to Zillow's index.

Is Nebraska a buyer's or seller's market?

Omaha is still a seller's market by every standard measure: homes moving in roughly two weeks, two offers on average, and inventory that has never loosened the way coastal metros have. If you are making an offer there, expect to compete and expect a seller with other options if your terms are not clean.

Lincoln has gone the other way. Days on market stretched from 18 to 26 over the past year while price growth flattened to 0.6%, which is a market handing negotiating room back to buyers even though nothing is falling. So what for you: the two Nebraska metros no longer move together, so pick your city based on which condition you need — Lincoln if you want room to negotiate repairs and a price cut, Omaha if you want the appreciation and can move on a listing the day it lands.

Can you actually afford a home in Nebraska?

At Omaha's $289,000 median, 10% down, and the current 6.69% national rate (Freddie Mac PMMS, August 6, 2026), principal, interest, tax, insurance and PMI run approximately $2,708 a month once Douglas County's 1.75% property tax and Nebraska's $6,015 average annual insurance premium are included. Under the standard 28% front-end rule that requires roughly $116,000 in household income, against Nebraska's $76,376 median household income (U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 American Community Survey). Lincoln runs slightly higher at about $2,784 a month and $119,300 in required income, because Lancaster County's 1.66% rate is close to Douglas County's and Lincoln costs more to buy.

Two line items, not the purchase price, create that gap. Property tax adds about $421 a month in Omaha, and insurance adds about $501: together, $922 a month before a dollar of principal. Nebraska's prices are not unusually high, but its carrying costs are. So what for you: if your income sits below roughly $116,000, shop the outer edges of Omaha and Lincoln or a smaller metro like Grand Island, and get a bound insurance quote on the specific address before you set your price ceiling — in this state that quote will move your budget more than a quarter point of rate will.

Nebraska cities to watch

Omaha is the state's growth engine, anchored by an unusually durable employer base for a metro its size: Berkshire Hathaway, Union Pacific, Mutual of Omaha, and Kiewit are all headquartered there, giving it a white-collar renter and buyer pool that doesn't churn with the broader economy.

Bellevue and the Offutt corridor, just south of Omaha in Sarpy County, benefit from Offutt Air Force Base and US Strategic Command — a source of steady, BAH-backed rental demand that holds up even when the broader market slows.

Lincoln offers a steadier, slower story built on state government and the University of Nebraska, useful if you want less competition and don't need Omaha's growth rate. For a direct look at how Omaha stacks up against a similarly sized out-of-state peer, our Kansas City vs Omaha comparison found Omaha's lower sticker price gets erased by Nebraska's hail-driven insurance costs, which run roughly double Missouri's. So what for you: don't assume Nebraska's lower price tag is the whole story — insurance and tax costs here routinely close the gap that the purchase price alone suggests.

Rent vs buy in Nebraska

A 3-bedroom single-family rental in Omaha runs about $1,880 a month and Lincoln about $1,714 (Rentometer, 2026), against buy payments of roughly $2,708 and $2,784 at 10% down. That is a gap of $828 a month in Omaha and $1,070 in Lincoln, both in renting's favor, and both wider than the same comparison looked a year ago because insurance and rates rose while rents did not.

Omaha's gap can still close, because Omaha rents have room to rise in a market with two-week days on market and 5% price growth. Lincoln's gap is harder to close on a short horizon with prices up just 0.6%. So what for you: run your specific numbers in our rent vs buy calculator with the real Nebraska insurance figure rather than a national default, because a national default understates the buy side here by roughly $256 a month and will tell you to buy earlier than the math actually supports.

First-time buyers in Nebraska

Nebraska's income tax is graduated and now tops out at 4.55% for 2026 following several years of legislated rate cuts (Nebraska Legislature, 2026) — a modest but real improvement in take-home pay compared to a few years ago. The bigger first-time-buyer trap here is treating the property tax bill as an afterthought: at 1.75% in Omaha's Douglas County, it adds hundreds of dollars a month that a simple mortgage calculator using national averages will understate.

Nationally, 2,679 active down payment assistance programs were tracked as of Q1 2026, averaging an $18,000 benefit, and Nebraska has its own state-level programs on top of that. So what for you: before you get too attached to your credit score as the thing standing between you and a Nebraska home, read our credit score and mortgage rate breakdown — for most Omaha and Lincoln buyers, the property tax line is the bigger surprise, not the rate you qualify for.

Real estate investors in Nebraska

Nebraska is a strong housing market and a poor rental investment, and it is two costs doing the damage, not one. At the $289,000 Omaha median, 25% down and 6.69% financing, PITI runs $2,320 against $1,880 in rent, landing at roughly negative $684 a month once 8% management and 5% vacancy apply, for a DSCR of 0.81. Lincoln is worse at negative $888 and DSCR 0.72, because it costs $13,000 more and rents for $166 a month less. Grand Island at $250,000 is the least bad at negative $587. Nothing in the state clears the 1.0 DSCR floor most lenders write to.

Nebraska's LB 34 does hand every property owner, including landlords, a 30% cut on school district property taxes applied straight to the statement. But home insurance here averages $6,015 a year against a $2,948 national figure, and Insurify measured Nebraska premiums up 20% since 2023 with another 13% projected by year end. That $256-a-month gap versus the rest of the country is worth about a tenth of a point of DSCR on its own. So what for you: if you want monthly cash flow, the math points to Indianapolis or Wichita, where the tax and insurance stack runs several hundred dollars a month lighter on a comparable property. If you want Nebraska anyway, buy under $175,000 in east Omaha or take the BAH-backed occupancy stability of the Bellevue and Offutt corridor, and check the roof age before anything else. Our full Nebraska investor breakdown has the market-by-market numbers, and our DSCR loan guide explains how lenders read a deal like this.