Elk Creek vs Sterling

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

Elk Creek 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 129 in Elk Creek). Sterling has the higher median household income ($72,083 vs $55,227 in Elk Creek). Since 2019, Elk Creek's population has grown faster (+61.3% vs +50.2%).

Population, income & housing

	Elk Creek	Sterling
Population	129	685
Median age	50.4 yrs	37.8 yrs
Median household income	$55,227	$72,083
Median home value	—	$120,700
Median gross rent	$358	$793
Housing units	65	278
Homeownership rate	78.8%	77.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	8.9%	26.6%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Elk Creek	Sterling
Population	80 → 129 (+61.3%)	456 → 685 (+50.2%)
Median household income	$33,250 → $55,227 (+66.1%)	$58,472 → $72,083 (+23.3%)
Median home value	$22,500 → $35,600 (+58.2%)	$76,200 → $120,700 (+58.4%)
Median gross rent	$460 → $358 (-22.2%)	$663 → $793 (+19.6%)

Elk Creek

Population

80129

Median household income

$33,250$55,227

Median home value

$22,500$35,600

Median gross rent

$460$358

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)

	Elk Creek	Sterling
Under 5	9.3%	11.2%
5 to 17	1.6%	12.8%
18 to 24	19.4%	10.7%
25 to 34	13.2%	10.7%
35 to 44	1.6%	9.9%
45 to 54	11.6%	11.1%
55 to 64	5.4%	12.0%
65 to 74	27.1%	10.7%
75 and over	10.9%	10.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Elk Creek	Sterling
White (non-Hispanic)	89.9%	95.8%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	10.1%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	1.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Elk Creek	Sterling
No high school diploma	1.1%	5.8%
High school graduate	68.9%	39.6%
Some college or associate's	21.1%	28.0%
Bachelor's degree	8.9%	13.9%
Graduate or professional degree	0.0%	12.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Elk Creek	Sterling
Drove alone	83.1%	71.0%
Carpooled	10.8%	18.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.1%	6.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.1%	4.2%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Elk Creek	Sterling
1-unit, detached	86.2%	94.2%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	3.6%
2 to 4 units	12.3%	0.7%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.4%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.5%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Elk Creek	Sterling
Poverty rate	33.3%	11.5%
Average household size	2.48	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	42	27
Median year structure built	1952	1938