Columbus vs Platte Center

A side-by-side comparison of Columbus and Platte Center: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Columbus has the higher population (24,188 vs 327 in Platte Center). Platte Center has the higher median household income ($74,833 vs $67,212 in Columbus). Columbus has the higher median home value ($198,900 vs $118,900 in Platte Center).

Population, income & housing

	Columbus	Platte Center
Population	24,188	327
Median age	37.7 yrs	33.3 yrs
Median household income	$67,212	$74,833
Median home value	$198,900	$118,900
Median gross rent	$871	$967
Housing units	10,234	124
Homeownership rate	66.8%	81.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.3%	6.7%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbus	Platte Center
Population	23,195 → 24,188 (+4.3%)	384 → 327 (-14.8%)
Median household income	$60,110 → $67,212 (+11.8%)	$54,417 → $74,833 (+37.5%)
Median home value	$145,500 → $198,900 (+36.7%)	$103,400 → $118,900 (+15.0%)
Median gross rent	$763 → $871 (+14.2%)	$945 → $967 (+2.3%)

Columbus

Population

23,19524,188

Median household income

$60,110$67,212

Median home value

$145,500$198,900

Median gross rent

$763$871

Platte Center

Population

384327

Median household income

$54,417$74,833

Median home value

$103,400$118,900

Median gross rent

$945$967

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbus	Platte Center
Under 5	7.0%	11.3%
5 to 17	19.3%	21.7%
18 to 24	8.5%	2.8%
25 to 34	11.4%	15.9%
35 to 44	13.6%	9.8%
45 to 54	10.4%	11.9%
55 to 64	12.6%	16.8%
65 to 74	9.1%	4.9%
75 and over	8.2%	4.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbus	Platte Center
White (non-Hispanic)	69.7%	92.7%
Black or African American	0.9%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	2.1%
Two or more races	2.3%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	26.3%	0.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbus	Platte Center
No high school diploma	9.7%	7.6%
High school graduate	32.3%	40.5%
Some college or associate's	34.7%	45.2%
Bachelor's degree	16.7%	5.2%
Graduate or professional degree	6.6%	1.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbus	Platte Center
Drove alone	82.4%	83.8%
Carpooled	9.3%	6.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.3%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.6%	2.5%
Other means	1.1%	7.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbus	Platte Center
1-unit, detached	72.1%	91.9%
1-unit, attached	4.2%	3.2%
2 to 4 units	6.4%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	7.6%	0.0%
20 or more units	6.2%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.4%	4.8%

Poverty & households

	Columbus	Platte Center
Poverty rate	9.7%	12.7%
Average household size	2.47	2.82
Mean commute (minutes)	14	25
Median year structure built	1972	1944