Newcomers to the Nebraska Panhandle: Who Are They?

Authors

Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Randolph L. Cantrell, Nebraska Rural Initiative, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Bruce B. Johnson, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Charlotte Narjes, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Rebecca J. Vogt, Center for Applied Rural Innovation, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

9-1-2007

Comments

Published by the Center for Applied Rural Innovation, University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Copyright © 2007 by C. Burkhart-Kriesel, R. Cantrell, B. Johnson, C. Narjes, and R. Vogt.

Abstract

Key Findings

• New residents bring many assets to the Panhandle region: high levels of education, children, professional occupation skills, entrepreneurial backgrounds, and volunteer and community leadership experience.

• New residents come from many different locations, arriving from 38 different states.

• Most new residents come from other parts of Nebraska or from the adjacent states of Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota and Kansas.

• The majority of new residents moved to the Panhandle from a metropolitan county.

• While one quarter of new residents moved to the Panhandle alone, most brought either a spouse/partner or children with them.

• A slight majority (54%) of new residents had lived in Nebraska before, almost one-third (32%) had lived in their current county before and just over one-third (38%) had lived in their current community before. Still, many new residents (46%) moved to their new locations without any prior experience with the Nebraska Panhandle.