Where Are All the New Residents of Omaha Moving From?

Omaha isn’t just home to billionaire businessman Warren Buffett. It’s also home to a bridge named Bob. No, really. The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, which crosses the Missouri river into Iowa, is affectionately known as Bob. The bridge even has its own Instagram account.

We won’t suggest anyone is moving to Omaha just for Bob, but the area does have a diverse economy in which the major employers range from the military to financial services to technology.

In fact, the metro Omaha area added nearly 10,000 new residents between July 2015 and July 2016, according to the latest census data. During that time, the population went from 914,268 to 924,129, a 1.1 percent increase. Douglas County, where Omaha is located, grew slightly more slowly during that time, going from 549,168 to 554,995 people, a 1.06 percent increase. (The metro area is larger than the county, and so is its population.)

Some of that growth comes from new births and immigration, but a good chunk of it is also due to people moving into Omaha from other places in the U.S. Indeed, Douglas County attracted 27,647 domestic movers from 2011 to 2015, according to another census study that covers those years.

So, where are all those people coming from? That same census study gives us a pretty good idea. The majority, 54 percent, is moving from other places in the U.S., while the rest, 46 percent, is moving from within Nebraska. Many of the out-of-staters are coming from just across the river in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on the other side of Bob the Bridge.

Below are rankings for the top five counties of origin for movers to Douglas County:

Movers outside of Nebraska:

1. Pottawattamie County, IA (Council Bluffs)
2. Cook County, IL (Chicago)
3. Maricopa County, AZ (Phoenix)
4. Polk County, IA (Des Moines)
5. Woodbury County, IA (Sioux City)

Movers from Nebraska:

1. Sarpy County
2. Lancaster County
3. Cass County
4. Washington County
5. Dodge County

Above are the top places inside Nebraska that people moved to Douglas County from over the five-year period 2011-2015. Numbers represent the number of movers from that place during the period.

Sources:

Omaha Visitors Center

Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership

U.S. Census Bureau