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Place dossier plate
SheetNE-SIDNEY-NE · Sidney, NE 6,396 pop · income 22nd pct · 3 tracts
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 Sidney
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sidney on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Summersville · lowest
51,696
Summersville · lowest
51,696 median HH income
20.7% of the leader · rank #1
Oswego · near
51,701
Oswego · near
51,701 median HH income
20.7% of the leader · rank #2
Sidney · this city
51,704
Sidney · this city
51,704 median HH income
20.7% of the leader · rank #3
Hallstead · near
51,705
Hallstead · near
51,705 median HH income
20.7% of the leader · rank #4
Montgomery Ci… · near
51,707
Montgomery Ci… · near
51,707 median HH income
20.7% of the leader · rank #5
Cincinnati · near
51,707
Cincinnati · near
51,707 median HH income
20.7% of the leader · rank #6
Camino Tassaj… · highest
250,001
Camino Tassaj… · highest
250,001 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Sidney on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 6,396.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Sidney - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Sidney places in the 22nd percentile for household income and the 42nd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
22nd
percentile, household income
23rd
percentile, home value
15th
percentile, median rent
42nd
percentile, safety
📝 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: Sidney, NE
Nebraska's Sidney is a small town, with 6,396 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $51,704 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 6.1%. Typical homes in Sidney are valued around $137,300, and the median resident age is 39.9 years. 19.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 62.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 7 residential building permits were authorized in Sidney (Low Activity), per Census BPS data. Sidney reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1612.9 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Sidney's yearly average temperature at 49.4°F with 18.2 inches of precipitation per year and 28.8 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Nebraska run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Nebraska scores 90.1 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. 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 Sidney'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 within-city variation to work and mobility to climate and hazard context to population change to housing and income to comparison shortlist to schools and households to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Sidney, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Within-city variation
What can 3 Census tracts reveal inside Sidney?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
What does the journey to work look like in Sidney?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 49.4°F, with 18.2 inches of precipitation and 28.8 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Nebraska is 25.8 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Which cities make useful reference points for Sidney?
Within Nebraska, the closest population matches are Ralston (6,445 residents, $65,557 income); Schuyler (6,517 residents, $78,380 income); Plattsmouth (6,680 residents, $64,296 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Stratmoor, CO (6,396 residents); High Springs, FL (6,396 residents); Camino Tassajara, CA (6,395 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
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.
Population change
Is Sidney growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 +20 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 7 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+0.3%
2025 estimate
6,432
2020 estimate
6,412
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Sidney?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.1%, 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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Household income
$51,704
Home value
$137,300
Value / income
2.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 19.3% 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.
Matched public schools
6
Bachelor's degree+
19.3%
Poverty estimate
6.1%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Sidney?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1612.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 29% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1488.8
Violent rate
124.1
Total reported rate
1612.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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.
Violent crime B-
124 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate C
6.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$51,704
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Sidney profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Violent crime: 65/100 (B-) · 124 /100k
Poverty rate: 58/100 (C) · 6.1%
Bachelor's+ share: 32/100 (F) · 19.3%
Household income: 23/100 (F) · $51,704
Where Sidney sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Sidney's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Sidney highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Sidney, NE (this city): home $137,300, crime 1,613/100k
Douglas, WY : home $251,500, crime 973/100k
Ralston, NE : home $215,800, crime 1,318/100k
Schuyler, NE : home $129,600, crime 460/100k
Plattsmouth, NE : home $171,900, crime 771/100k
Wayne, NE : home $198,600, crime 674/100k
Nebraska City, NE : home $147,800, crime 1,123/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Sidney compare to other US cities?
Here's how Sidney stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income22% higher than other cities
Home value23% pricier than other cities
Median rent15% pricier than other cities
Safety42% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Nebraska and the picture shifts: Sidney ranks #30 of 44 Nebraska cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Sidney 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 Sidney near the bottom of Nebraska's cities
Among the 450 Nebraska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sidney ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sidney only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#355 of 439
19th percentile in Nebraska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 450
0th percentile in Nebraska
Median Home Value
#169 of 438
61st percentile in Nebraska
Poverty Rate
#217 of 450
51st percentile in Nebraska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#245 of 450
45th 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
22nd percentile nationally for median household income · 42nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Sidney's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Sidney's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Sidney's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$137,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 77% 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
Sidney's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,797 of 15,516
More affordable than 69% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,233 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.7×, Sidney sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,797 of 15,516 and #4,233 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
$51,704Sidney, NE median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sidney, 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 Sidney, NE.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,396
Median Income
$51,704
Median Home Value
$137,300
Median Age
39.9
Poverty Rate
6.1%
Labor force participation
62.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1612.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
124.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1488.8
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
49.4°F
Annual Precipitation
18.2"
Annual Snowfall
28.8"
Schools
Total Schools
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Sidney's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
6,412 residents
2021
6,418 residents
2022
6,415 residents
2023
6,425 residents
2024
6,440 residents
2025
6,432 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Low Activity
Total Permits (2024)
7
housing units authorized
Single-Family
7
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
1
1
0
$0.4M
2022
2
2
0
$0.5M
2023
4
4
0
$1.2M
2024
7
7
0
$2.2M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.1%
Carpool
7.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
5.9%
Work from Home
8.4%
Other
0.7%
Based on 3,204 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 Sidney. 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 Sidney 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 Sidney sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sidney 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, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.