Thriving Index

Quality of Life

The Nebraska Thriving Index is the first economic and quality of life benchmarking tool for rural Nebraska. Developed by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Bureau of Business Research and the College of Business & Technology at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, the Index allows Nebraska’s eight rural regions to see how they are doing in important areas including education and skill, growth and renewal, infrastructure, quality of life and much more, as compared to similar areas across the upper Midwest.

The Thriving Index gives economic development professionals, community leaders and others interested in the success of rural Nebraska a means of identifying areas in which their regions are thriving, as well as where they have room for growth. Ultimately, the Thriving Index can help community leaders develop strategies to build a better future.

Read the Index

The Nebraska Thriving Index consists of an annual print report (below) and an annually updated online interactive comparison tool. The report provides context and general summaries of patterns and trends.

View the 2022 index View the 2020 index View the 2019 Corrected index

Comparison Regions

The research team identified relevant comparison regions against which Nebraska regions could benchmark. The regions selected were the most similar to each of the eight Nebraska regions identified; comparison regions might be in Nebraska or in another state in the region.

In total, the team considered 85 regions located in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. Outside of Nebraska, USDA Economic Development Administration regions were utilized.

2020 Comparison Regions

Appendices

The research team identified relevant comparison regions against which Nebraska regions could benchmark. The regions selected were the most similar to each of the eight Nebraska regions identified; comparison regions might be in Nebraska or in another state in the region.

2020 Appendices

History and Methodology

For years, urban areas have used comparison studies to see how they were doing relative to peer cities that shared similar population sizes, industry bases and other attributes. Nothing similar existed for rural Nebraska, so in 2019, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Bureau of Business Research developed the Thriving Index.

Development of Nebraska Regions

One of the first steps in developing the Nebraska Thriving Index was to ensure Nebraska regions were defined in a way that recognized existing regional boundaries, while also considering current and future trends in the state. To do this, NU researchers with advanced knowledge of the state considered existing regional categorizations such as:

• Nebraska Department of Labor Economic Development Regions
• Economic Development Administration Economic Development Districts
• Nebraska Extension Rural Prosperity Nebraska Accountability Regions
• Additional information from the Nebraska Department of Labor

Using these regional assignments as a starting point, the team developed nine regions: eight rural regions and one non-rural region that included the seven counties included in Nebraska’s two largest metropolitan statistical areas. The final regional classifications were largely driven by researchers’ understanding of current commuting patterns between counties, as well as an understanding of current population trends.

The state’s major metropolitan areas, Omaha and Lincoln, were purposefully not included since they already have indicator reports — Omaha Barometer and the Lincoln Economic Dashboard.

The regions used in the Thriving Index are:

Development of comparison regions

The research team identified relevant comparison regions against which Nebraska regions could benchmark. Comparison regions might be in Nebraska or in another state in the region. In total, the team considered 85 regions located in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.