16 ways Lincoln ranks nationally
Lincoln makes scores of lists. Here are ways the city has ranked nationally in the past year.
No. 1 healthy housing market
Lincoln has the healthiest housing market in Nebraska, according to personal finance website SmartAsset.
The website ranked cities in the state based on a number of factors, including percentage of homes losing value, percentage of homes with negative equity and average days on the market for homes that are for sale.
Lincoln had a score of 87.48, besting second-place Bellevue.
According to SmartAsset, homes sold faster in Lincoln than any other city in the top 10. Lincoln also has the second-lowest percentage of homes losing value.
Beer
Lincoln is the 26th-best city for beer drinkers (SmartAsset)
Getting out of credit card debt
Lincoln is ranked the 11th-best city to get out of credit card debt (SmartAsset)
Speedy web surfing
Lincoln has come in near the top in a ranking of average internet speeds among the nation's largest cities.
Ookla, the company that runs Speedtest.net, a website that allows you to see how fast your internet speed really is, ranked Lincoln as the city with the sixth-fastest internet speeds.
Its 2018 Speedtest U.S. Fixed Broadband Performance Report, which is based on more than 115 million user-initiated speed tests done in the second and third quarters, measured Lincoln's average broadband internet download speed at nearly 133 megabits per second. Omaha was near the bottom, with an average download speed of nearly 85 mbps.
Three of the five cities that ranked higher than Lincoln — Kansas City, Austin, Texas, and Raleigh, North Carolina — have Google Fiber, which is generally considered to be the fastest internet available in the U.S.
The ranking was based on download speeds, but Lincoln actually ranked second in the nation for upload speeds, and it and Kansas City were the only cities with an average upload speed of more than 100 megabits per second.
According to the report, Allo Communications was the fastest provider, with an average download speed of more than 173 mbps. Charter Communications' Spectrum service came in fourth among large national providers with an average speed of about 87.5 mbps. Windstream was not mentioned in the report.
You can see the full report at: www.speedtest.net/reports/united-states/2018/Fixed/.
25th most "seller friendly" in US
Lincoln's housing market ranks pretty well nationally, too, at least when it comes to selling your home.
Zillow recently came out with its list of the most "seller friendly" metropolitan areas, and Lincoln came in 25th out of the 200 largest metro areas.
According to Zillow, the median home value in the Lincoln area is $182,400 and homes typically remain on the market for 65 days.
Nationally, Zillow said the housing market still favors sellers but that trend is slowing and moving closer to historical norms as inventory rises and competition dampens.
4th in economic development
Lincoln has improved its ranking as a top metro area for economic development.
Site Selection magazine released its list of top metro areas for economic development in 2018, and Lincoln came in fourth in the Tier 2 category, which covers metro areas with 200,000 to 1 million people. That was up from ninth in 2017.
The Omaha-Council Bluffs area repeated as No. 1 in the Tier 2 category. Omaha had 46 economic development projects in 2018, while Lincoln had 29.
Nebraska also won its third straight Governor's Cup award for economic development projects per capita, with 118 projects. Texas won its seventh straight Governor's Cup for most projects overall.
No. 11 city where seniors are prepared for retirement
Lincoln ranks as the No. 11 city where seniors are most prepared for retirement (SmartAsset)
Low startup costs
Of the fastest-growing high-wage jobs, the highest-ranking non-medical one is software developer, at No. 3.
The good news for startup founders, is that software developers and other high-tech employees cost a lot less in Lincoln than in many other places.
The website VCArbitrage.com put together a list of the Top 25 cities in U.S. for startup purchasing power, and Lincoln ranked 11th.
According to the ranking, $1 million in venture capital raised in Lincoln would have the purchasing power of $1.67 million compared with San Francisco.
Some examples of costs in Lincoln compared with San Francisco:
$72,000 annual salary for an engineer, compared with $137,000;
$62,000 a year for administration and sales costs compared with $85,000;
$300 for a dedicated co-working desk vs. $700;
Omaha ranked 16th on the list with $1.61 million in purchasing power.
El Paso, Texas, was the cheapest market, with nearly $2 million in purchasing power for $1 million raised.
You can compare various cities at www.vcarbitrage.com.
Lincoln drops in expanded Silicon Prairie News ranking
The presence of Hudl, along with Spreetail and Virtual Incision, is one of the reasons Lincoln ranks highly among cities in the Silicon Prairie
Lincoln declined in an expanded Silicon Prairie News ranking of Midwestern startup cities.
Lincoln came in 12th in the 2018 State of the Silicon Prairie Report released recently by the Omaha-based website that covers technology and the startup scene.
That's down from a No. 4 ranking in the inaugural 2016 report; however, the most recent report included 42 cities, while the 2016 report included only 16.
While Lincoln ranked behind major cities such as Chicago, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and St. Louis, it also did better in the ranking than many larger cities, including Des Moines, Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Wichita.
When compared to other smaller cities that are home to major research universities, Lincoln did not fare as well, ranking behind Champaign, Illinois, Madison, Wisconsin, Ames, Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, and Columbia, Missouri. It ranked ahead of only Lawrence, Kansas, and Manhattan, Kansas.
According to the report, which was produced in conjunction with consulting firm Chapman and Company, Lincoln ranked highly in the amount of venture capital invested in 2017. It came in seventh out of the 42 cities with nearly $67 million raised, which was more than double the amount raised by companies in Des Moines, and more than quadruple what was raised in Omaha. It also landed in a tie for fifth place with Kansas City for its 13 startup accelerator and incubator programs.
Lincoln also had two of the largest venture capital deals in the region in 2017. Hudl's $30 million investment ranked eighth and Virtual Incision's $18 million deal ranked 11th.
"(Lincoln’s) biggest strengths are its handful of successful, high-growth companies – Virtual Incision, Hudl and Spreetail. These companies continue to generate jobs and investment at a tremendous pace. The problem is that there are not enough of them," the report says.
The report said Lincoln needs to find more venture capital sources beyond Nelnet and Invest Nebraska.
"Nelnet is an incredible investment player, as is Invest Nebraska," the report said. "However, the region has reached the point where more and different organized capital is necessary and beneficial."
Lincoln No. 2 in U.S. for work-life balance
For the second year in a row, Lincoln and Omaha have been named among the top cities in the country for work-life balance.
In the survey done by personal finance website SmartAsset, Lincoln ranked second and Omaha third, the same rankings for both cities as in 2018.
SmartAsset said Lincoln's high rank was largely because of top-10 rankings for its low unemployment rate, high labor-force participation and low commute times.
Madison, Wisconsin, was No. 1 on the list for the second year in a row. Henderson, Nevada, was fourth, and Boise, Idaho, was fifth.
2nd-most affordable college town
Lincoln is the second-most affordable college town, according to Move.org.
13th-best city for outdoor space
Lincoln is the 13th-best city for outdoor space, according to Potsplantersandmore.com.
Second-best city in which to raise a family
Lincoln is the second-best city in which to raise a family, according to Zumper.com.
No. 9 city with biggest increase in labor force participation among workers 65 and older
SmartAsset.com says Lincoln is the No. 9 city in the country with the biggest increase in labor force participation among workers 65 and older.
One of 27 cheapest places to retire
Lincoln is one of the 27 cheapest places to retire in 2018, according to Kiplinger.
Eighth-best place to apply for a credit card
SmartAsset says Lincoln is the eighth-best place to apply for a credit card.
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