Nebraska’s 5 Safest Cities of 2022

The SafeWise Team is pleased to release the eighth annual Safest Cities report.

See if your city made the full list.

In our latest State of Safety survey, half of Nebraskans (50%) said they worried about their safety on a daily basis, which is more than the average American (47%).

There was a small increase in Nebraska's violent crime rate while the state's property crime rate went down for the third year in a row. Every one of The Cornhusker State's top 10 safest cities reported lower crime rates than the state at large.

• Violent crime rates
• Property crime rates
• Interesting findings
• The Safest Cities
• Methodology
• How to make a safe home anywhere
• How other cities compare
• How other states compare

Nebraska's violent crime rate was higher than last year, increasing from 3.0 per 1,000 people to 3.3. The property crime rate, on the other hand, saw a slight year-over-year decrease from 20.5 per 1,000 to 19.1.

Nebraska comes in under US and regional averages for violent crime and property crime.

Compared to last year (40%), more Nebraska residents are worried about their safety (50%). This means the state grew more concerned than the nation. Nationally, we saw a concern increase of just one percent, bringing the national average to 47%. 

Nebraskans’ rising concern aligns with State of Safety respondents reporting more personal experience with violent crime and property crime. It also lines up with the increase in the state's violent crime rate since last year.

While many states have package theft and property crime as top concerns, Nebraskans worried almost equally about gun violence (34%), property crime (36%), package theft (35%), and violent crime (37%).

We asked Nebraska residents which crimes they worry may happen to them. See if Nebraska residents are concerned about the same crime issues as the rest of the country.

View the complete 2022 State of Safety report.

Nebraskans feel very safe in their home state compared to most Americans—even though they reported more personal experience with violent crime than last year's survey. Overall, the state's increase in violent crimes supports 77% of respondents saying that crime is increasing in The Cornhusker State.

• 71% of Nebraska residents reported feeling safe in their state compared to 55% of Americans. Nebraska is 1 of just 8 states where more than 70% of residents felt safe.
• 11% of Nebraskans reported having a personal experience with violent crime in the last 12 months—up from 10% last year.
• Murder is an uncommon violent crime in The Cornhusker State, making up just 1% of violent crimes.
• Rape accounts for 18% of violent crimes in Nebraska (US 10%).
• 37% of survey participants report using some form of personal protection—slightly higher than the US average (34%).
• 45% of Nebraska residents say their personal safety has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic compared to 44% of Americans.

• 38% of those surveyed named gun violence as their top safety concern (US 53%).
• 34% of Nebraskans are most worried about a gun violence incident happening to them (US 38%).
• Nebraska had 2 mass shootings in 2020 and 1 in 2021.

While Nebraskans told us they experienced more property crime, the state's property crime rate slightly dropped. This discrepancy is likely because not all crimes get officially reported. Residents were also more likely than other Americans to say that the COVID-19 pandemic affected their property's security.

• More Nebraskans (24%) reported personal experiences with property crime this reporting year compared to last year (23%).
• Property crime rates dropped from 20.5 per 1,000 residents to 19.1.
• Burglary accounts for 12% of all property crimes in The Cornhusker State.
• 16% of participants reported experiencing package theft in the last 12 months, putting Nebraska below the US average of 20%.
• 56% of people in Nebraska use some form of property protection. This is close to the 60% national average.
• The top form of property protection in Nebraska this year was security cameras with 24% of survey respondents using them. This is a lower adoption rate than the national average of 28%.
• 39% of Nebraskans say the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the security of their property—this is noticeably higher than the US average of 29%.

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

• Every safest city reported fewer than 1.5 violent crimes per 1,000 residents.
• Every safest city reported fewer than 14 property crimes per 1,000 residents.
• Four of the safest cities, Seward, Blair, Plattsmouth, and Papillion reported 0 murders.
• Nebraska’s safest city, Seward, landed a 0.3 violent crime rate and a 6.1 property crime rate—much lower than the respective 3.3 and 19.1 state averages). 
• All of the safest cities reported 2 or fewer robberies each.
• Plattsmouth was the only safest city to report 0 rapes.

Learn how we identified the safest cities on our methodology page.

Whether your city made our list or not, we encourage everyone to be proactive about home security. One of the best ways to stop a burglary before it happens is to add a home security system.

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We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, based on the state’s median population as calculated using FBI data. To request a report of the remaining cities in your state, sign up for our email newsletter (we make it easy in a quick form below!) or email info@safewise.com with the subject line: Safest Cities Full Report.

NOTE: If you don’t see your city on the list, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2020.

Click on the state image or dropdown menu below to check out the safest cities for each state.

• Best Home Security Systems
• Best Home Security Cameras
• Best Video Doorbell Cameras
• Burglary Stats & Facts
• The Most Burglarized City in Every State

FBI: Crime Data Explorer, Accessed March 8, 2022.

US Census Bureau, "Data Explorer," Accessed January 24, 2022.

Best Places, “Find a Place Search Tool,” Accessed January 24, 2022.

SafeWise, “2021 State of Safety survey,” Accessed March 8, 2022.

Gun Violence Archive, “Past Summary Ledgers,” Accessed January 24, 2022.

Gun Violence Archive, “General Methodology,” Accessed March 8, 2022.

Melody Hicks, Ben Stickle, Joshua Harms, American Journal of Criminal Justice, “Assessing the Fear of Package Theft,” January 04, 2021. Accessed March 8, 2022.

For definitions and more on data sources, see our methodology page.