Omaha, Nebraska Cost Of Living

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Overall 10%

Goods & Services 10%

Housing 21%

Date & Last Updated: This data reflects 2019 and was released from C2ER in January, 2020; this is the most current data available.

The cost of living index is based on a national average of 100. For example, if the cost of living is 90, then it is 10% lower than average. If the cost of living is 110, then it is 10% higher than average. The breakdown for each index is as follows: goods & services (33%), groceries (13%), health care (5%), housing (30%), transportation (9%) and utilities (10%). If the cost of living data was unavailable for this city, estimates based upon nearby cities were used.
Index	Omaha	Nebraska	National
Cost of living	90	89	100
Goods & Services	91	95	100
Groceries	98	98	100
Health care	95	99	100
Housing	79	76	100
Transportation	96	95	100
Utilities	99	90	100

Key findings

The cost of living in Omaha is equal to the Nebraska average
The cost of living in Omaha is 10% lower than the national average
Omaha housing is 21% lower than the national average
Nebraska general sales tax is 8% higher than the national average
Nebraska state income tax is equal to the national average

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Price difference in compared to

Cost of living index
Goods & Services index
Groceries index
Health care index
Housing index
Transportation index
Utilities index

Median Income & Debt-To-Income Ratio

Median Income	Per Year	Per Month	Max Budget (28% DTI)	Max Budget (36% DTI)
Owners	$71,769	$5,981	$1,674	$2,153
Renters	$31,595	$2,633	$737	$948

A good way to judge both the affordability of the housing and the cost of living in Omaha is by simply calculating the maximum that should be spent on housing, otherwise known as the debt-to-income ratio (DTI). The plan is to avoid spending more than 28 percent of the gross income on costs that pertain to housing and no more than 36 percent on all expenses and debts. Omaha has a median income of about $71,769 for people who own homes. Based on that number, a maximum of $1,674 should be spent on expenses related to housing. Renters have a slightly different median income, which is $31,595. Based on this average, renters should spend no more than $737 on all rental costs if they want to maintain a non-impoverished standard of living.

Nebraska Sales Tax

State	General Sales Tax	With Max Surtax
Nebraska	5.5%	7.5%

Nebraska Income Tax

State	Income Tax (Low)	Income Tax (High)
Nebraska	2.46%	6.84%

Goods & Services

Item	Omaha	National avg.	Difference
Haircut	$16.60	$17.49	5.1%
Beauty Salon	$31.57	$38.17	17.3%
Toothpaste	$1.93	$2.32	16.8%
Shampoo	$0.90	$1.01	11.1%
Movie	$10.64	$10.72	0.8%
Bowling	$15.33	$13.86	10.6%

Groceries

Item	Omaha	National avg.	Difference
Ground Beef	$3.09	$3.90	20.8%
Fried Chicken	$1.89	$1.40	35.4%
Milk	$1.67	$1.96	14.9%
Potatoes	$3.82	$3.18	20.0%
Pizza	$9.99	$10.39	3.9%
Beer	$9.13	$9.23	1.1%

Health Care

Item	Omaha	National avg.	Difference
Optometrist	$119.80	$106.34	12.7%
Doctor	$122.85	$115.25	6.6%
Dentist	$76.96	$98.38	21.8%
Ibuprofen	$9.50	$9.26	2.6%
Lipitor	$484.42	$466.47	3.8%

Housing

Item	Omaha	National avg.	Difference
Home Price	$139,800.00	$184,700.00	24.3%
Avg. Mortgage Payment	$1,075.78	$1,273.32	15.5%
Apartment Rent	$819.00	$949.00	13.7%

Transportation

Item	Omaha	National avg.	Difference
Gasoline	$2.49	$2.59	4.1%
Tire Balancing	$48.37	$48.90	1.1%

Utilities

Item	Omaha	National avg.	Difference
All Electricity	$158.16	$167.60	5.6%
Phone	$191.59	$163.42	17.2%

Although the cost of living data is updated regularly, this cost of living information is to be used as estimates only as prices can change on an ongoing basis.

Nearby cities with low cost of living

City, State	Population	Cost of Living Index	National Avg.
Richfield, NE	164	94	-6%
Boys Town, NE	907	94	-6%
La Platte, NE	124	68	-32%
Carter Lake, IA	3,765	86	-14%
Council Bluffs, IA	62,326	86	-14%
Omaha, NE	443,072	90	-10%

Cities with similar population

City, State	Population	Cost of Living Index	National Avg.
Raleigh, NC	441,326	102	2%
Colorado Springs, CO	448,759	105	5%
Virginia Beach, VA	449,733	110	10%
Miami, FL	432,622	109	9%
Atlanta, GA	456,378	108	8%
Omaha, NE	443,072	90	-10%

Source: The Omaha, NE cost of living data displayed above is derived from the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) for 2019.