Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetNE-HARVARD-NE · Harvard, NE 1,001 pop · income 47th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Harvard
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Harvard on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Garrison · lowest
39,167
Garrison · lowest
39,167 median HH income
29.1% of the leader · rank #1
Harvard · this city
67,813
Harvard · this city
67,813 median HH income
50.3% of the leader · rank #2
Waiohinu · near
67,813
Waiohinu · near
67,813 median HH income
50.3% of the leader · rank #3
Aberdeen · near
67,813
Aberdeen · near
67,813 median HH income
50.3% of the leader · rank #4
Windom · near
67,813
Windom · near
67,813 median HH income
50.3% of the leader · rank #5
Cove · near
67,813
Cove · near
67,813 median HH income
50.3% of the leader · rank #6
Simonton · highest
134,750
Simonton · highest
134,750 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Harvard on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 1,001.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Harvard lands in the 47th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
47th
percentile, household income
9th
percentile, home value
15th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Harvard, NE
Harvard is a small town in Nebraska, home to 1,001 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Harvard report a median income of $67,813 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.7%. Home values in Harvard run a median of $98,400, and the median resident age is 37.1 years. About 16.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 65.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 3 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Living costs in Nebraska run below the national norm: the state registers 90.1 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,001 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Nebraska run around $207, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 25.8 out of 100 (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Harvard's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from housing and income to population change to schools and households to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Harvard, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Harvard?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +6 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.6% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 16.8% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Which cities make useful reference points for Harvard?
Within Nebraska, the closest population matches are Stromsburg (1,007 residents, $61,182 income); Arapahoe (1,010 residents, $63,173 income); Red Cloud (991 residents, $50,536 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ashland, IL (1,001 residents); Richmondville, NY (1,001 residents); Garrison, TX (1,001 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Harvard?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 85.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
4.2%
Drive alone
85.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 529 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 7.7% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.1 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Nebraska average
C-
City profile score · Harvard, NE
53/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A
90.1 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Poverty rate D
7.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income D
$67,813
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Harvard profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Poverty rate: 49/100 (D) · 7.7%
Household income: 46/100 (D) · $67,813
Bachelor's+ share: 25/100 (F) · 16.8%
How does Harvard compare to other US cities?
Harvard measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income47% higher than other cities
Home value9% pricier than other cities
Median rent15% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Harvard against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Nebraska only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Nebraska-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Harvard near the bottom of Nebraska's cities
Among the 450 Nebraska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Harvard ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Harvard only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#189 of 439
57th percentile in Nebraska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 450
0th percentile in Nebraska
Median Home Value
#274 of 438
37th percentile in Nebraska
Poverty Rate
#177 of 450
60th percentile in Nebraska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#288 of 450
36th percentile in Nebraska
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Nebraska only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
47th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Harvard's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$98,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 91% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Harvard's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#327 of 15,516
More affordable than 98% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#321 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.5×, Harvard sits in the affordable band:
national rank #327 of 15,516 and #321 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$67,813Harvard, NE median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Harvard, NE median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Harvard, NE.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,001
Median Income
$67,813
Median Home Value
$98,400
Median Age
37.1
Poverty Rate
7.7%
Labor force participation
65.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.8%
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Harvard's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
946 residents
2021
924 residents
2022
927 residents
2023
946 residents
2024
943 residents
2025
952 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
85.6%
Carpool
3.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
6.2%
Work from Home
4.2%
Other
0.8%
Based on 529 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Nebraska statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $207
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Nebraska at $207 (electricity about $100 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Nebraska statewide averages, not a meter reading for Harvard. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Nebraska's BEA cost-of-living index is 90.1 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Harvard is $1,001/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Nebraska statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 25.8 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Nebraska statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Harvard sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Harvard compares to similar-size Nebraska cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.