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Where am ILOCATED

Lincoln, NE Metro Area

The Lincoln, NE metro area is made up of 2 counties in Nebraska: Lancaster and Seward. About 352,081 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 3.5% more than in April 2020.

Lancaster County, centralSeward County, outlyingLincoln
Central Outlying 2 counties in Nebraska
Population, July 2025
352,081 3.5% more than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
Counties
2: 1 central, 1 outlying
Land area
1,409 sq mi (3,649 km²)
Time zone
Central TimeUTC-06:00 in January; UTC-05:00 in July
State
Nebraska
Combined statistical area
Lincoln-Beatrice, NE
CBSA code
30700
Open this area in the metro area finder

Counties in the Lincoln, NE metro area, largest first

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025Share of the area
Lancaster CountyCentral334,04994.9%
Seward CountyOutlying18,0325.1%

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of at least 50,000 people. An outlying county is in the area because of commuting: at least a quarter of its workers have jobs in the central county, or at least a quarter of the people working there live in them. A county belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal city

  1. Lincoln294,856 people

OMB names the area after its largest principal cities. A principal city is the area’s largest city, plus any other city that is very large or a big job center, and smaller ones with at least as many jobs as working residents (2020 Census and commuting figures). People counts are American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates.

Part of the Lincoln-Beatrice, NE combined statistical area

OMB joins neighboring metro and micro areas into a combined statistical area when enough people commute between them. The other area in this one is

  1. Beatrice, NE Micro Area21,711 people

Bordering metro and micro areas, nearest first

Areas with a county on this area’s edge. Distances are straight lines between the areas’ largest cities.

  1. Beatrice, NE Micro Area37 mi south
  2. Omaha, NE-IA Metro Area45 mi northeast

Before using this answer on a form

A metro or micro area is a statistical area that OMB draws for federal statistics. It is not a city, a local government or a mailing address, and it is not a measure of urban and rural: whole counties count, rural parts included. Programs that use metro areas, such as housing income limits or wage rates, can use their own version of these lists; check the program’s own list for an address.

Find the metro area where you are now, find your county, or see every metro and micro area by population.

See this area on Census.gov ↗