Lincoln, Nebraska

What is it like to live in Lincoln, NE?

I have lived in Lincoln Ne for most of my life. AS a short answer I would say Lincoln is Safe, Comfortable, Middle Class City, that is diverse, racially fair, midwestern city. It has an excellent public school system as well as excellent catholic, and Christian a,d Lutheran private schools as well as a community college, 2 well known private college, Diane, Wesleyan, and a Seventh Day Adventist College, Union College. LIncoln is the Capital of the state and there is much state and federal employment here as well as a lot of private industry and business employment. It is home to the University Of Nebraska, well know for its academics, research and several sports, Football, Baseball, Basketball, Women's Volleyball, Basketball,Softball and both men's and women's gymnastics. Taxation in Nebraska may seem to the outsider to be slightly higher than some other states but one of the main reasons is that we are not overcrowded population wise, either in the cities or rural areas of Nebraska.

Lincoln currently has a Democratic mayor (same one for 8 years) and a pretty balanced City Council and is on the move both business, and civic wise. While it may not be as exciting leisure wise as say Kansas City or Omaha it also has lower crime statistics. All in all I would rate it 9 on a scale of 10 of locations to work, raise a family, educate a family or yourself, or play or work. I could be a little prejudiced as I haven't found anyplace I consider better in my 67 years here.

What advice would you give to someone who is moving to Lincoln, NE?

I lived in Lincoln from the age of five to the age of twenty-seven. Although I’ve been living in Brooklyn for the last seven years, I feel like I still know a lot about what is going on there.

My best advice to a new resident would depend on who you are and why you’re moving there. As far as general advice goes, though, I would say to join a church or community organization right away since Nebraskans can be a little standoffish. I recommend The Commons, a wonderful community organization where artistic and activist events are often held. If you’re interested in a church, I know the Unitarian Church and First Plymouth Congregational are both filled with kind people and wonderful music.

Even though it’s easy to get stuck inside with the hot summers and cold winters, make time to go to The Zoo Bar and hear live music, the Mary Riepma Ross Theater to see independent films, and join the Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music to hear amazing quartets perform, including Lincoln’s own world famous Chiara Quartet. Pay attention to the listings of on campus events at UNL too, there are a lot of things to learn about. Get a library card right away. Hang out at The Mill sipping hot chocolate and reading world history. Get mind blowing cinnamon rolls at Grateful Bread Bakery and support the local community by shopping for organic produce at Open Harvest Natural foods Coop.

Lincoln is a great place in many ways although it could definitely use better mass transit. I hope you enjoy it.

Positive and Negatives about living in Lincoln, Nebraska?

On my first post I asked whether people in Lincoln, Nebraska were nice (which I said not really) and ruffled some feathers. So to show I'm not completely negative, I want to know what are the things people like and dislike about the city. As I stated before, I lived there for the first half of this year for an internship (taking a break from my advanced degree) and although I wanted to like it, I fell into depression while living there and became quite disillusioned.

What I liked/admired about Lincoln:

• Family oriented (if you have kids) and it's a very laid back city. From my understanding, Lincoln has good public schools and many social events cater to families. The city also appears to have a good work-life balance. More of a family town rather than a place one goes to establish a career.

• Remarkably safe for a city its size. I know the year before I came there was no homicides. When I was there things happened, but I never once felt endangered. By the way, I lived South of Downtown, and seriously, I didn't understand why people considered it a dangerous neighborhood and told me repeatedly to stay away. I didn't see anything bad happen there during my stay nor did anyone try to mess with me.

• Affordable living. I laugh when I tell people how affordable the city is because it is dirt cheap. But I was on the renting side, so my perspective is limited.

• This is just personal, but I got hit on a lot by women. I don't know what it was, but as a black guy, black and white women hit on me all the time while I was there. Unfortunately, most of them were single mothers (particularly white women with biracial kids). And many were looking for marriage.

• Some people are willing to make small talk in public. It might not last long and I never made a friend out of it, but it was nice to hold minor conversations with strangers in public.

• Some else pointed this out. It is a growing city. New neighborhoods and well as development in the Haymarket, which provided more entertainment options in the city

What I disliked about it:

• It's insular. When I first moved here many locals repeatedly told me I would make "plenty of friends in no time." The reality is that Lincoln is a city, but it's very tight-knit. Essentially, it's a big small town. Most residents have been here their entire lives or migrated from a small town in Nebraska. Therefore, their social circles largely consist of family and childhood friends. It's not impossible to make friends, but depending on your age, it can take months, years, or even decades. In fact, I met someone who lived there for 10 years and didn't have a single friend. Additionally, because of its geographic isolation, it doesn't see too many visitors from out of the state. If you're not here for school or have no connections, I honestly cannot recommend moving here.

Positive and Negatives about living in Lincoln, Nebraska?

Writing this as an out-of-state student at UNL.

Things I dislike:

• There truly is no diversity at least compared to any large city, and because of that, some people here have a pretty narrow-minded mindset on a lot of things.

• The weather in the winter is absolutely horrible this isn't something that's openly talked about, but a lot of people here suffer from seasonal depression. When it gets to be freezing, it gets dark very early and it's too cold to go out and do anything. It can feel really lonely. In a larger city like Chicago, there's also freezing temps. But you're still surrounded by people and a bustling nightlife. It feels like everything shuts down by 7 PM here in the winter, and it can really feel depressing.

• There's not a lot of upward mobility this very much depends on your career. Business-wise, there's just not a lot of opportunities, especially in more specified fields. I'm jealous of my friends that go to school in more metropolitan areas and can intern/make at connections at well-known companies. Sure, there are a few companies like Hudl that are bigger, but it's still not a large pool of options.

• It's not a good place for the young, post-graduates demographic Someone on here said that LNK is really only good for families and college students. This is very accurate. It's a nice college town to attend school in, but I have no desire to stay here after college. There's really nothing entertainment wise besides Husker football games (and there's only a few of those a year) and going to bars (there's only a handful of decent ones). Because of this, people who do choose to stay here after college tend to get married and have kids a lot earlier than people in larger cities do. In general, it's much more family/community focused than career-focused. It's very typical for most people to be married by the time they're 25 here. Outside of college, I think it would be really hard to be young and single here.

• People can be really, really small-minded and ignorant this certainly isn't everyone here, but a lot of people are just really ignorant.

• Going to school here feels like a giant high school and I'm the weird transfer kid. A lot of people at UNL are really stuck in high school and not willing to expand their circle of friends. I was lucky to find a group early on, but a lot of people find it difficult to come here with no connections.

• The one-way streets downtown they suck.

Things I like:

• everything is SO cheap You can get a perfectly nice, new room in a house for around $350/month. Well drinks at bars are like $2. $5 movies on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can get a good meal at a sit-down restaurant in the Haymarket for $10-15. Even for a college town, it's exceptionally cheap.

• the people are generally nice I agree that "Nebraska nice" is definitely a thing. What I don't agree with is that this is exclusive to Nebraska. People here act like everywhere else in the country is filled with snobby rude people. I think people here are really friendly, but that you'll generally find that in most places.

• community is valued it does annoy me when people say that they only want to live in Nebraska because it's a "great place to raise a family". Sure it is, but so is basically everywhere else. Once again, not something that's exclusive to Nebraska.

• Work-life balance seems very reasonable It seems like most people are out of the office at 5 here. I know this isn't the case in larger cities.

• It's evolving Lincoln is definitely growing, and there's a cool sense of community vibe here. Downtown and the Haymarket have been huge in terms of making it a more interesting place. It still has a long way to go, but it's evolving.