Custer County vs Wayne County

A side-by-side comparison of Custer County and Wayne County: population, income, housing, and more.

Custer County and Wayne County are counties in Nebraska. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Custer County has the higher population (10,544 vs 9,786 in Wayne County). Wayne County has the higher median household income ($67,687 vs $66,310 in Custer County). Wayne County has the higher median home value ($203,700 vs $160,500 in Custer County).

Population, income & housing

	Custer County	Wayne County
Population	10,544	9,786
Median age	42.3 yrs	31.6 yrs
Median household income	$66,310	$67,687
Median home value	$160,500	$203,700
Median gross rent	$794	$732
Housing units	5,331	3,973
Homeownership rate	70.9%	68.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.6%	29.4%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Custer County	Wayne County
Population	10,826 → 10,544 (-2.6%)	9,332 → 9,786 (+4.9%)
Median household income	$52,184 → $66,310 (+27.1%)	$56,456 → $67,687 (+19.9%)
Median home value	$108,100 → $160,500 (+48.5%)	$137,200 → $203,700 (+48.5%)
Median gross rent	$666 → $794 (+19.2%)	$655 → $732 (+11.8%)

Custer County

Population

10,82610,544

Median household income

$52,184$66,310

Median home value

$108,100$160,500

Median gross rent

$666$794

Wayne County

Population

9,3329,786

Median household income

$56,456$67,687

Median home value

$137,200$203,700

Median gross rent

$655$732

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Custer County	Wayne County
Under 5	6.7%	4.9%
5 to 17	17.5%	15.3%
18 to 24	6.4%	24.0%
25 to 34	11.4%	9.4%
35 to 44	11.1%	10.8%
45 to 54	10.3%	8.4%
55 to 64	14.3%	11.0%
65 to 74	12.3%	8.8%
75 and over	10.0%	7.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Custer County	Wayne County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.4%	85.6%
Black or African American	0.5%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	0.2%
Asian	0.1%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.1%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	3.8%	10.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Custer County	Wayne County
No high school diploma	6.0%	4.9%
High school graduate	31.4%	32.7%
Some college or associate's	37.0%	33.1%
Bachelor's degree	18.7%	18.6%
Graduate or professional degree	7.0%	10.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Custer County	Wayne County
Drove alone	78.8%	72.6%
Carpooled	10.1%	5.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.7%	9.2%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.1%	12.6%
Other means	0.8%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Custer County	Wayne County
1-unit, detached	87.7%	76.8%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	4.3%
2 to 4 units	3.1%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	2.8%	9.7%
20 or more units	3.2%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	2.0%	2.2%

Poverty & households

	Custer County	Wayne County
Poverty rate	8.6%	13.2%
Average household size	2.34	2.24
Mean commute (minutes)	18	14
Median year structure built	1958	1967