Which Nebraska counties score best for off-grid living?

Of the 93 Nebraska counties we have scored, Cass County scores highest at 94 and Hooker County lowest at 75. Nebraska ranks 32nd of 50 overall, at 83 out of 100 (Good with caveats). Food separates its counties most: 6 to 15 out of 15.

Updated 2026-09-27 · 93 counties · 477 spots of private rural land scored

Good with caveatsNebraska ranks 32nd of 50, 83 out of 100, in the Best States ranking: the typical parcel on the state's private rural land, with each scored spot weighted by the land it stands for. On a fresh draw of counties it would rank between #30 and #33. City counties with little private rural land have no page, and any parcel can be scored, free, below.

Every scored county in Nebraska, best score first

Find a county93 counties


Cass → 49 people / sq mi	94	21	20	14	14	15	10
Saunders → 31 people / sq mi	94	21	20	14	15	14	10
Gage → 25 people / sq mi	93	21	20	14	13	15	10
Johnson → 14 people / sq mi	93	21	20	14	14	14	10
Lancaster → 390 people / sq mi	93	21	20	14	13	15	10
Nemaha → 17 people / sq mi	93	19	20	14	15	15	10
Otoe → 27 people / sq mi	93	21	20	14	13	15	10
Sarpy → 840 people / sq mi	93	21	20	14	14	14	10
Butler → 15 people / sq mi	92	19	20	14	15	14	10
Dakota → 81 people / sq mi	92	21	20	13	14	14	10
Dodge → 70 people / sq mi	92	21	20	13	14	14	10
Jefferson → 12 people / sq mi	92	19	20	14	14	15	10
Pawnee → 6 people / sq mi	92	20	20	14	14	15	9
Polk → 12 people / sq mi	92	20	20	14	14	14	10
Richardson → 14 people / sq mi	92	21	20	14	14	13	10
Thayer → 8 people / sq mi	92	20	20	14	13	15	10
Dixon → 12 people / sq mi	91	19	20	13	15	14	10
Seward → 31 people / sq mi	91	21	19	14	13	14	10
Thurston → 17 people / sq mi	91	21	20	13	14	14	9
Wayne → 22 people / sq mi	91	20	20	13	15	14	9
York → 25 people / sq mi	91	20	20	14	13	14	10
Boone → 8 people / sq mi	90	18	20	14	15	13	10
Burt → 14 people / sq mi	90	19	20	13	14	14	10
Cedar → 11 people / sq mi	90	18	20	13	15	14	10
Cuming → 16 people / sq mi	90	20	20	13	14	14	9
Douglas → 1806 people / sq mi	90	21	20	13	13	14	9
Madison → 62 people / sq mi	90	19	20	13	15	13	10
Nance → 7 people / sq mi	90	19	19	14	14	14	10
Nuckolls → 7 people / sq mi	90	18	20	14	14	14	10
Saline → 25 people / sq mi	90	18	20	14	14	14	10
Washington → 54 people / sq mi	90	21	19	13	14	14	9
Adams → 55 people / sq mi	89	18	20	14	14	13	10
Colfax → 26 people / sq mi	89	20	18	13	15	14	9
Dawson → 24 people / sq mi	89	18	20	15	15	11	10
Fillmore → 10 people / sq mi	89	18	20	14	13	14	10
Hamilton → 18 people / sq mi	89	18	20	14	13	14	10
Phelps → 17 people / sq mi	89	19	20	15	13	12	10
Platte → 51 people / sq mi	89	18	20	14	15	12	10
Webster → 6 people / sq mi	89	18	20	14	14	13	10
Clay → 11 people / sq mi	88	18	19	14	13	14	10
Franklin → 5 people / sq mi	88	18	19	15	14	12	10
Hall → 114 people / sq mi	88	18	20	14	13	13	10
Buffalo → 52 people / sq mi	87	17	20	15	13	12	10
Greeley → 4 people / sq mi	87	17	19	14	15	12	10
Howard → 12 people / sq mi	87	17	20	14	14	12	10
Kearney → 13 people / sq mi	87	17	20	14	14	12	10
Knox → 8 people / sq mi	87	17	20	13	14	13	10
Pierce → 13 people / sq mi	87	18	20	13	15	12	9
Stanton → 14 people / sq mi	87	18	19	13	14	14	9
Antelope → 7 people / sq mi	86	18	19	13	15	12	9
Harlan → 6 people / sq mi	86	16	20	14	14	12	10
Scotts Bluff → 48 people / sq mi	86	17	20	15	15	9	10
Sherman → 5 people / sq mi	86	17	19	14	14	12	10
Valley → 7 people / sq mi	86	17	19	14	14	12	10
Furnas → 6 people / sq mi	85	16	19	14	15	11	10
Gosper → 4 people / sq mi	85	16	19	15	14	11	10
Hayes → 1 people / sq mi	85	16	19	15	15	10	10
Hitchcock → 4 people / sq mi	85	16	19	15	15	10	10
Holt → 4 people / sq mi	85	19	18	14	15	10	9
Wheeler → 1 people / sq mi	85	18	19	14	15	10	9
Deuel → 4 people / sq mi	84	16	18	15	15	10	10
Merrick → 16 people / sq mi	84	18	20	14	13	12	7
Perkins → 3 people / sq mi	84	15	20	15	15	9	10
Red Willow → 15 people / sq mi	84	18	18	14	14	10	10
Boyd → 3 people / sq mi	83	18	19	13	14	10	9
Custer → 4 people / sq mi	83	16	18	13	15	11	10
Frontier → 3 people / sq mi	83	15	19	15	14	10	10
Keith → 8 people / sq mi	83	17	19	15	15	8	9
Box Butte → 10 people / sq mi	82	16	19	15	15	7	10
Brown → 2 people / sq mi	82	17	17	15	15	9	9
Chase → 4 people / sq mi	82	16	19	15	15	8	9
Dawes → 6 people / sq mi	82	17	20	14	14	8	9
Blaine → under 1 person / sq mi	81	17	16	15	15	9	9
Keya Paha → 1 people / sq mi	81	17	17	14	15	9	9
Lincoln → 13 people / sq mi	81	15	19	15	15	8	9
Loup → 1 people / sq mi	81	17	17	14	15	9	9
Morrill → 3 people / sq mi	81	16	17	15	15	8	10
Rock → 1 people / sq mi	81	17	17	14	15	9	9
Arthur → under 1 person / sq mi	80	17	17	15	15	7	9
Cheyenne → 8 people / sq mi	80	15	17	15	15	8	10
Dundy → 2 people / sq mi	80	16	18	15	15	7	9
Banner → under 1 person / sq mi	79	15	17	15	15	7	10
Garfield → 3 people / sq mi	79	17	14	14	15	10	9
McPherson → under 1 person / sq mi	79	15	17	15	15	8	9
Cherry → under 1 person / sq mi	78	17	15	15	15	7	9
Kimball → 4 people / sq mi	78	16	19	15	15	6	7
Sioux → under 1 person / sq mi	78	16	16	15	15	7	9
Garden → 1 people / sq mi	77	18	14	15	14	7	9
Logan → 1 people / sq mi	77	15	15	15	15	8	9
Thomas → 1 people / sq mi	77	17	15	13	15	8	9
Sheridan → 2 people / sq mi	76	16	14	15	15	7	9
Grant → under 1 person / sq mi	75	16	13	15	15	7	9
Hooker → under 1 person / sq mi	75	16	13	15	15	7	9

Score is out of 100: Water 25, Legal 20, Solar 15, Hazard 15, Food 15, Buildability 10. Green cells score 80% or better of their maximum; amber cells under 70%.

Where the good land is

68% of Nebraska's private rural land scores Good with caveats or better (80 or more). The strongest counties are Cass, Saunders and Gage. The weakest are Grant, Hooker and Sheridan. Where the land falls short, it is most often on growing food (season, soil and water for crops) and water (rain, wells and salty or weak wells).

What separates them

Food: Cass County scores 15 of 15, Kimball County 6. Soil quality, frost-free growing days, and rainfall: what decides whether you can actually feed yourself and your animals.
Legal: Cass County scores 20 of 20, Hooker County 13. Whether you can reach the land and live on it: road access, distance to emergency care, internet and cell, and how built up the area is, which decides how many lot-size, livestock, and zoning rules you will meet.
Buildability: Cass County scores 10 of 10, Kimball County 7. Slope, the septic the ground needs, footings, and the county's land price. A steep or soggy lot that fails a septic test is the dealbreaker photos hide.
Water: Cass County scores 21 of 25, Logan County 15. Drinking, system, and irrigation water, the #1 reason off-grid and homestead plans collapse. A low score means a deep, costly well or hauled water.

Solar and Hazard barely move across the sample: the counties score within two points of each other there, so those are state-level facts, not county choices.

The state's soft spot

Food is Nebraska's weakest dimension, at 10 of 15 for the state as a whole. Soil quality, frost-free growing days, and rainfall: what decides whether you can actually feed yourself and your animals. Getting a parcel here off-grid runs $30k to $112k by our estimates across these counties, before the house. The full Nebraska row in the Best States ranking has the state-wide spread and how the popular off-grid guides rank it.

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Before you buy in Nebraska

The scores read the physical land. Whether you may legally live on it is a separate question, and it changes at the county line: Is it legal to live off-grid in Nebraska? covers zoning, building code, septic, and wells for the state, with the counties that opt out. For the reason water carries a quarter of the score, how you get water on off-grid land is the read. And the five-point check is the order to do it in.

Good with caveatsNebraska: 83 of 100, 32nd of 50. A good state is not a good parcel. Score the one you are looking at, free, in about a minute.

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