Kearney vs Shelton

A side-by-side comparison of Kearney and Shelton: population, income, housing, and more.

Kearney and Shelton are places in Nebraska. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Kearney has the higher population (34,024 vs 1,354 in Shelton). Shelton has the higher median household income ($75,781 vs $69,790 in Kearney). Kearney has the higher median home value ($235,800 vs $137,100 in Shelton).

Population, income & housing

	Kearney	Shelton
Population	34,024	1,354
Median age	32.4 yrs	34.5 yrs
Median household income	$69,790	$75,781
Median home value	$235,800	$137,100
Median gross rent	$922	$1,057
Housing units	14,652	523
Homeownership rate	59.1%	80.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.9%	15.6%
Unemployment rate	3.2%	6.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kearney	Shelton
Population	33,464 → 34,024 (+1.7%)	1,107 → 1,354 (+22.3%)
Median household income	$57,064 → $69,790 (+22.3%)	$49,583 → $75,781 (+52.8%)
Median home value	$178,900 → $235,800 (+31.8%)	$108,400 → $137,100 (+26.5%)
Median gross rent	$767 → $922 (+20.2%)	$658 → $1,057 (+60.6%)

Kearney

Population

33,46434,024

Median household income

$57,064$69,790

Median home value

$178,900$235,800

Median gross rent

$767$922

Shelton

Population

1,1071,354

Median household income

$49,583$75,781

Median home value

$108,400$137,100

Median gross rent

$658$1,057

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kearney	Shelton
Under 5	5.8%	6.9%
5 to 17	15.2%	21.0%
18 to 24	18.8%	6.4%
25 to 34	13.3%	18.5%
35 to 44	12.9%	9.9%
45 to 54	8.8%	13.1%
55 to 64	9.4%	11.9%
65 to 74	9.1%	10.7%
75 and over	6.7%	1.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kearney	Shelton
White (non-Hispanic)	82.4%	71.1%
Black or African American	1.1%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	2.3%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.3%	1.6%
Hispanic or Latino	11.2%	27.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kearney	Shelton
No high school diploma	6.7%	16.2%
High school graduate	24.2%	27.7%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	40.5%
Bachelor's degree	23.8%	11.9%
Graduate or professional degree	13.1%	3.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kearney	Shelton
Drove alone	83.3%	84.4%
Carpooled	9.3%	10.0%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	1.8%	2.8%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.3%
Worked from home	4.2%	2.6%
Other means	0.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kearney	Shelton
1-unit, detached	57.0%	89.7%
1-unit, attached	6.8%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	10.7%	5.0%
5 to 19 units	11.9%	0.6%
20 or more units	8.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	5.5%	4.0%

Poverty & households

	Kearney	Shelton
Poverty rate	13.9%	7.4%
Average household size	2.34	2.74
Mean commute (minutes)	14	25
Median year structure built	1981	1965