How much have property valuations increased in your Nebraska county?

The Nebraska Department of Revenue tracks historical property valuations for each of Nebraska’s 93 counties. Overall, there are three major categories of property that are tracked: residential, commercial, and agricultural. All three experienced growth over the last decade. Most notably, agriculture valuations grew almost twice as much as residential property values.

The interactive maps below provide the average annual property valuation increase in each Nebraska county. Select a county to see the average annual change from 2010 to 2020.

Residential Property

Residential properties are the category of property we are most familiar with because for most of us it is our single largest asset, our home.

The statewide 10-year annual growth average for this type of property was 4.25%, the slowest growth of the three major types of property. This also carries over to the range of valuation increases by county, which is the narrowest of the properties discussed in this article. On the low end, McPherson County saw -0.83% growth, or negative growth of its residential property, whereas Banner County saw a 10.51% average annual growth over the same period.

Agricultural Property

When looking at the county-level breakdown, counties around the city of Kearney, or the south-central region of the state, have seen the highest agricultural valuation increase. The top two are Buffalo County at 11.84% and Phelps County at 11.35%.

Overall, agricultural property valuations have grown, on average, almost two times as much as residential property valuations across the state, or an 8.34% statewide average. The lowest percent growth is 4.42% and the highest is 11.48%. Nine of the counties saw increases in agricultural valuations of 10% or more annually over the last decade, while only two counties saw increases less than 5%.

Commercial Property

While some counties saw double-digit growth in their commercial property valuations, there are a handful that saw negative growth. Most notably, Arthur County saw a 12.27% average annual decrease in its commercial property valuations over the last decade (this is indicated by the yellow county on the map).

The most significant disparity in growth across the three property types was seen in commercial property valuations, with a range of 28.74% separating the highest and lowest percent change by county.

However, after removing Arthur County, the next lowest county was Butler County with a -0.63% average annual reduction in commercial valuations. Ninety other counties saw an average annual increase in property valuations.

Find out more about property taxes in Nebraska with these Platte Institute resources:

Nebraska Truth in Taxation Resource Page

5 Essential Steps to Reform Taxes in Nebraska