Lawrence vs Nelson

A side-by-side comparison of Lawrence and Nelson: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Nelson has the higher population (478 vs 217 in Lawrence). Lawrence has the higher median household income ($72,500 vs $54,408 in Nelson). Lawrence has the higher median home value ($81,300 vs $72,900 in Nelson).

Population, income & housing

	Lawrence	Nelson
Population	217	478
Median age	53.6 yrs	58.4 yrs
Median household income	$72,500	$54,408
Median home value	$81,300	$72,900
Median gross rent	—	$620
Housing units	124	312
Homeownership rate	98.1%	89.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.6%	18.8%
Unemployment rate	1.7%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lawrence	Nelson
Population	391 → 217 (-44.5%)	467 → 478 (+2.4%)
Median household income	$47,500 → $72,500 (+52.6%)	$47,583 → $54,408 (+14.3%)
Median home value	$61,300 → $81,300 (+32.6%)	$43,800 → $72,900 (+66.4%)
Median gross rent	—	$488 → $620 (+27.0%)

Lawrence

Population

391217

Median household income

$47,500$72,500

Median home value

$61,300$81,300

Nelson

Population

467478

Median household income

$47,583$54,408

Median home value

$43,800$72,900

Median gross rent

$488$620

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lawrence	Nelson
Under 5	6.9%	2.1%
5 to 17	13.4%	9.6%
18 to 24	0.0%	10.3%
25 to 34	14.7%	8.2%
35 to 44	7.8%	7.9%
45 to 54	8.8%	6.3%
55 to 64	16.6%	28.9%
65 to 74	13.8%	11.9%
75 and over	18.0%	14.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lawrence	Nelson
White (non-Hispanic)	98.2%	83.3%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.4%
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	0.0%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	1.8%	11.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lawrence	Nelson
No high school diploma	1.7%	9.4%
High school graduate	40.5%	39.1%
Some college or associate's	31.2%	32.7%
Bachelor's degree	21.4%	14.5%
Graduate or professional degree	5.2%	4.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lawrence	Nelson
Drove alone	85.2%	77.2%
Carpooled	8.7%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.5%	9.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.6%	12.0%
Other means	0.0%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lawrence	Nelson
1-unit, detached	96.8%	97.8%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	1.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	1.3%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.2%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Lawrence	Nelson
Poverty rate	3.7%	7.8%
Average household size	2.09	1.94
Mean commute (minutes)	30	23
Median year structure built	1966	1942