As Nebraska continues to confront brain drain and declining rural populations, the new Nebraska Snapshot from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln illustrates that residents’ overall satisfaction with living here has fallen in the past six years.
Three in four Nebraskans are very satisfied or at least somewhat satisfied living here, but satisfaction has waned since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data collected through the Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey, which was shared in the Nebraska Snapshot report. The survey is an annual statewide mail and web survey of adults ages 19 and up, administered by the Bureau of Sociological Research and collected from July to November.
Nebraskans’ satisfaction with living in the state began falling in mid-2020, with the largest drop in respondents saying they are very satisfied occurring from 2020 to 2022. Since 2022, satisfaction with life in the state has remained stable.
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“It makes sense that there would be some loss of satisfaction during the pandemic, but it is somewhat troubling that it hasn’t rebounded since,” said Amanda Ganshert, Snapshot co-author and assistant director of research and methods at the bureau.
In early 2020, more than half — 56% — of rural Nebraskans surveyed reported being very satisfied. Since 2022, that number has held steady at 39%. In the latest year of data available, 2025, nearly a quarter of respondents reported being neutral, somewhat or very dissatisfied with living in the state, the highest share in the five years reported. That number was only 12% in early 2020.
The latest data from 2025 illustrates discrepancies in satisfaction among respondents when broken down by demographics. Generally, younger Nebraskans, those identifying as Democrats and people of color are the most dissatisfied, while older Nebraskans — those 65 and up — and Republicans are more satisfied with life in the state.
Forty-eight percent of respondents 65 and up are very satisfied, while only 35% of those 19-44 report the same, and 28% were neutral, somewhat or very dissatisfied.
In the political sphere, only 29% of Democratic respondents reported being very satisfied, compared to 52% of Republicans and 31% of independents or others. Thirty-two percent of Democrats were neutral, somewhat or very dissatisfied, in contrast with only 15% of Republicans.
Among people of color, only a quarter said they were very satisfied, while 42% of white Nebraskans stated the same. The largest proportion of people of color, 38%, reported they were somewhat satisfied with life in Nebraska, and 37% were neutral, somewhat or very dissatisfied.
Among respondents with a high school diploma or less, 44% said they are very satisfied with life in Nebraska. Thirty-two percent of those with some college and 42% of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher reported the same.
The Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey is used by researchers, state entities and policymakers but also includes a core questionnaire that delves into demographics, quality of life measures, educational attainment and community satisfaction, among other variables. These core questions inform the Nebraska Snapshot series. All Nebraska Snapshots are available online. To include research questions on the survey, email bosr@unl.edu.
