Cook vs Sterling

A side-by-side comparison of Cook and Sterling: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Sterling has the higher population (685 vs 361 in Cook). Sterling has the higher median household income ($72,083 vs $65,313 in Cook). Sterling has the higher median home value ($120,700 vs $83,200 in Cook).

Population, income & housing

	Cook	Sterling
Population	361	685
Median age	39.7 yrs	37.8 yrs
Median household income	$65,313	$72,083
Median home value	$83,200	$120,700
Median gross rent	$560	$793
Housing units	173	278
Homeownership rate	66.5%	77.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.7%	26.6%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cook	Sterling
Population	410 → 361 (-12.0%)	456 → 685 (+50.2%)
Median household income	$43,571 → $65,313 (+49.9%)	$58,472 → $72,083 (+23.3%)
Median home value	$67,900 → $83,200 (+22.5%)	$76,200 → $120,700 (+58.4%)
Median gross rent	$483 → $560 (+15.9%)	$663 → $793 (+19.6%)

Cook

Population

410361

Median household income

$43,571$65,313

Median home value

$67,900$83,200

Median gross rent

$483$560

Sterling

Population

456685

Median household income

$58,472$72,083

Median home value

$76,200$120,700

Median gross rent

$663$793

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cook	Sterling
Under 5	4.2%	11.2%
5 to 17	19.9%	12.8%
18 to 24	10.0%	10.7%
25 to 34	11.9%	10.7%
35 to 44	8.3%	9.9%
45 to 54	13.6%	11.1%
55 to 64	15.8%	12.0%
65 to 74	6.9%	10.7%
75 and over	9.4%	10.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cook	Sterling
White (non-Hispanic)	93.6%	95.8%
Black or African American	2.2%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.6%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.3%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	3.3%	1.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cook	Sterling
No high school diploma	3.4%	5.8%
High school graduate	38.7%	39.6%
Some college or associate's	35.3%	28.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.8%	13.9%
Graduate or professional degree	5.9%	12.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cook	Sterling
Drove alone	72.8%	71.0%
Carpooled	21.5%	18.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.5%	6.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.2%	4.2%
Other means	1.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cook	Sterling
1-unit, detached	86.7%	94.2%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	3.6%
2 to 4 units	8.7%	0.7%
5 to 19 units	2.3%	0.4%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.3%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Cook	Sterling
Poverty rate	6.4%	11.5%
Average household size	2.33	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	23	27
Median year structure built	1956	1938