332,857 people (2024 Census estimate, +3.0% since 2020)
838 square miles of land · 397 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
22 active community water systems list Lancaster County in the area they serve, reporting 315,647 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| LINCOLN, CITY OF groundwater (surface-influenced) · local government · NE3110926 | 296,000 served |
| LANCASTER CO RWD 1 groundwater · local government · NE3110909 | 6,000 served |
| WAVERLY, CITY OF groundwater · local government · NE3110905 | 4,279 served |
| HICKMAN, CITY OF groundwater · local government · NE3110917 | 3,300 served |
| CONTEMPO MHP buys groundwater · private · NE3121507 | 1,630 served |
| BENNET, VILLAGE OF buys groundwater · local government · NE3110910 | 1,082 served |
| FIRTH, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · NE3110912 | 640 served |
| MALCOLM, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · NE3110923 | 457 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 708 people were held in Lancaster County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 328 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 619.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
5 school districts have their office in Lancaster County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $621 million — $568 million to run schools, about $13,573 per student, plus $33.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $388 million local (mostly property tax), $184.6 million state, $63.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $619 million.
Spent $31.9 million — $29.2 million to run schools, about $11,779 per student, plus $2.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $23.7 million local (mostly property tax), $8 million state, $1.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $11.6 million.
Spent $30.1 million — $28.2 million to run schools, about $13,036 per student, plus $1.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $27.1 million local (mostly property tax), $4.5 million state, $1.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $17.4 million.
Spent $12.6 million — $12 million to run schools, about $16,167 per student, plus $266,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $11.1 million local (mostly property tax), $2.8 million state, $855,000 federal. Long-term debt: $4.8 million.
Spent $9.6 million — $9.3 million to run schools, about $14,376 per student, plus $204,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.1 million local (mostly property tax), $4.5 million state, $418,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3.2 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Lancaster County about $115.4 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
663 bridges in Lancaster County: 379 in good condition, 254 fair, and 30 poor (4.5%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| SB-I180/US34 over I80 · built 1960 | 32,795 vehicles a day |
| NB-I180/US34 over I80 · built 1960 | 32,795 vehicles a day |
| N 14TH ST/FAU 5227 over OAK CREEK · built 1968 | 21,750 vehicles a day |
| W VAN DORN ST over US-77 · built 1992 | 19,480 vehicles a day |
| 14TH ST over US6 · built 1961 | 15,000 vehicles a day |
| US6 over UP/BNSF RR 815-574-T · built 1936 | 11,505 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $992.4 million of work in Lancaster County in fiscal 2025, about $3,076 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Nebraska are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Lancaster County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Lancaster County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Nebraska: the state government and every county in Nebraska.
Nearby counties: Seward County (24 mi) · Saline County (30 mi) · Cass County (30 mi) · Saunders County (30 mi) · Otoe County (31 mi) · Johnson County (35 mi).