2024 Census Estimates: Nebraska tops 2 million, Omaha MSA likely over 1 million

[Omaha Cowboy]

Bulk of the growth for the metro continues to be in Douglas and Sarpy counties. Exciting to see them break 600k and 200k respectively though!

County 2023 Pop 2024 Pop Difference

Douglas 593,645 601,158 +7,513
Sarpy 200,477 204,828 +4,351
Pottawattamie 93,353 93,529 +176
Cass 27,458 27,492 +34
Saunders 23,471 23,406 -65
Washington 21,182 21,254 +72
Mills 14,642 14,717 +75
Harrison 14,638 14,626 -12

Total 988,866 1,001,010 +12,144

Yes!!!!!…And finally revised the lowballing …

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[skinzfan23]

Yes!!!!!…And finally revised the lowballing …

Ciao..LiO…Peace

They seem to do that every single year. Most years, their initial numbers are way too low.

[Garrett]

Bulk of the growth for the metro continues to be in Douglas and Sarpy counties. Exciting to see them break 600k and 200k respectively though!

County 2023 Pop 2024 Pop Difference

Douglas 593,645 601,158 +7,513
Sarpy 200,477 204,828 +4,351
Pottawattamie 93,353 93,529 +176
Cass 27,458 27,492 +34
Saunders 23,471 23,406 -65
Washington 21,182 21,254 +72
Mills 14,642 14,717 +75
Harrison 14,638 14,626 -12

Total 988,866 1,001,010 +12,144

Yes!!!!!…And finally revised the lowballing …

Ciao..LiO…Peace

Haha you got me there. They seem to have done pretty major revisions nationwide.

[Omaha Cowboy]

Bulk of the growth for the metro continues to be in Douglas and Sarpy counties. Exciting to see them break 600k and 200k respectively though!

County 2023 Pop 2024 Pop Difference

Douglas 593,645 601,158 +7,513
Sarpy 200,477 204,828 +4,351
Pottawattamie 93,353 93,529 +176
Cass 27,458 27,492 +34
Saunders 23,471 23,406 -65
Washington 21,182 21,254 +72
Mills 14,642 14,717 +75
Harrison 14,638 14,626 -12

Total 988,866 1,001,010 +12,144

Yes!!!!!…And finally revised the lowballing …

Ciao..LiO…Peace

Haha you got me there. They seem to have done pretty major revisions nationwide.

No doubt they did and glad for it as well ..

Hitting this million plus metro population mark has been a long time coming…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[Omaha Cowboy]

Yes!!!!!…And finally revised the lowballing …

Ciao..LiO…Peace

They seem to do that every single year. Most years, their initial numbers are way too low.

No doubt..

At least they course corrected this year…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[Erik]

I know it is frowned upon to celebrate these milestones.

In the face of uniformity, I say, "heck yeah! We made it, ladies and gentlemen. "

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I thought this was a milestone for only the lucky and special. One that we would be deprived of for centuries. I never thought we would see the day. Even in the 2000s, it felt that such a milestone could be out of reach as we were still so far away, and momentum has a way of shifting. It never did.

On to 2 million, fellas

[MadJack]

For anyone who wants to get a little nerdy over Omaha's new status as a million-person metro, Grow Omaha just published an analysis article:

https://growomaha.com/an-analysis-of-om ... opulation/

[Omaha Cowboy]

For anyone who wants to get a little nerdy over Omaha's new status as a million-person metro, Grow Omaha just published an analysis article:

https://growomaha.com/an-analysis-of-om ... opulation/

The best and most detailed article written giving more insight on the actual numbers..

Call me biased (and I am)- Grow Omaha is BEST …

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[Garrett]

2024 City Estimates are out.

Biggest news is that Lincoln has crossed 300,000 people to 300,619. Omaha up to 489,265, an increase of 2,485 and now ranked #41 in the country as Raleigh and Colorado Springs have grown faster since 2020.

https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time ... towns.html

[Louie]

Still reflecting Omaha as shrinking by 2000ish between 2020 and 2024. Just blatantly incorrect.

[Garrett]

Still reflecting Omaha as shrinking by 2000ish between 2020 and 2024. Just blatantly incorrect.

What've the annexation packages been like in the last few years? I can't clearly remember them super well.

[skinzfan23]

Again, feel like a broken record, but they are always underestimating Omaha each year. The est for 2023 was 486,051 but now they have updated that to show 486,780. I also highly doubt that that the city is lower now than 2020. It wouldn't surprise me if it was over 500,000 now.

[Garrett]

Yeah, with Douglas County hitting 601,158 in this round of estimates it's hard to believe there are 120k people living outside of Omaha.

Edit: Looks like the last substantial annexation Omaha had was in 2020 when a package added a little over 2,000 people. I could see some degree of stagnation compared to the 2010s when Omaha was consistently annexing 5,000+ population areas every year.

[Erik]

Yeah, with Douglas County hitting 601,158 in this round of estimates it's hard to believe there are 120k people living outside of Omaha.

Edit: Looks like the last substantial annexation Omaha had was in 2020 when a package added a little over 2,000 people. I could see some degree of stagnation compared to the 2010s when Omaha was consistently annexing 5,000+ population areas every year.

It wouldn't surprise me if Omaha is at, or higher, than 500,000 IRL. The propensity to underestimate the growth in the city limits is real. Happens every time.

That said, the annexation packages this decade are the smallest, by far, that I can remember. We hadnt had a proper infusion of new souls since the 2010s. 2023 was skipped altogether.

In the 2000s, Unincorporated Douglas County had around 40,000 people. It is now around 110,000.

[Gobears27]

Is it time to Annex Bennington or Ralston?

[Garrett]

Is it time to Annex Bennington or Ralston?

Ralston has the handshake agreement with Omaha, so that will never happen. Even then, Ralston kinda seems intent on taking on debt so that they don't look too attractive to annex.

Bennington is no threat of growing over 10,000 people anytime soon, and hasn't really ever pursued any significant annexation packages. They might be content with having a similar agreement with Omaha after what happened with Elkhorn.

[Cermak]

Is it time to Annex Bennington or Ralston?

Ralston has the handshake agreement with Omaha, so that will never happen. Even then, Ralston kinda seems intent on taking on debt so that they don't look too attractive to annex.

Bennington is no threat of growing over 10,000 people anytime soon, and hasn't really ever pursued any significant annexation packages. They might be content with having a similar agreement with Omaha after what happened with Elkhorn.

Bennington’s city limits are pretty small, it doesn’t even include nearby high end Bennington lake. My guess they will stay that way so they won’t get annexed. Elkhorn should have done that as well.

[Nebraska>Iowa]

Is it time to Annex Bennington or Ralston?

Adding 3,500 it'd appear.

https://www.wowt.com/2025/06/02/city-om ... 400-acres/

[skinzfan23]

Yes mentioned in the annexation thread. 3,558

annexation thread:
viewtopic.php?t=25453

[Nebraska>Iowa]

Shouldn't the new annual numbers be released soon?

We typically see them in December IIRC. With the government shutdown I'd think this would be coming up relatively soon.