Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Alliance gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $181K for a typical one, or 2.6 years of the county’s $69K median household income. It grades C overall, 47th among Nebraska's 57 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. Its schools rank behind 84% of the state's. On the plus side, natural-hazard risk is low. 42% of working residents work locally in Alliance, where Nebraska’s towns sit at 33% and U.S. towns at 8%. Alliance has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Box Butte County Courthouse and City of Alliance Central Park Fountain. Alliance's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 88% of U.S. towns.
Where Alliance beats most towns.
Box Butte County CourthouseEach subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Nebraska), ordered by how far Alliance is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 829 in 1890, 8,151 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1899 and 2 maps from 1947 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Alliance, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Alliance.
Alliance carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Nebraska (mostly hail), is healthier than towns with similar incomes and is safe by national standards but not by Nebraska’s.
Its public schools are run by the Alliance Public Schools. Two of its 8 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Alliance High School, with 451 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grandview Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades 3–5 | Grades 3–5 | 283 | C− |
| Alliance High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 451 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NE on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 96% of Nebraska towns; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
The FEMA risk score in Alliance is 15 of 100.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 2.6 years of the county’s $69K median household income, the typical home (about $181K) costs less against local pay than in 91% of Nebraska towns; that ratio is one input to its B+ for cost of living.
Alliance’s median rent is $694 a month. The typical Alliance home is worth about $181,000, up 3.4% in a year, 35% below the Nebraska typical home.
| Alliance | Nebraska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $694 a month | $921 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 75% | 67% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Jobs based here fell from 2,684 in 2013 to 2,011. The average commute for its 2,827 working residents takes 10.6 minutes, against 19.2 across Nebraska.
Jobs based in Alliance fell to 2,011 in 2023, 673 fewer than in 2013. Only 4 of the 57 Nebraska towns we compare have a lower average trip to work than Alliance. The top destinations are Scottsbluff (5%), Omaha (3%) and O'Neill (3%).
| Alliance | Nebraska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 11 minutes | 17 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $65,000 | $70,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Alliance has cold, snowy winters and warm summers, with very little rain. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 13° and about 45 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 9,966 U.S. towns with household incomes like Alliance’s, it is healthier than 63%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
Alliance beats the Nebraska average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 8. 17% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Alliance.
| Alliance | Nebraska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 18% | 23% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 28% | 25% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 75% | 76% | 79% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 31% | 36% |
| What stands out | Alliance | NE |
|---|---|---|
| More adults who get no exercise | 30.5% | 24.3% |
| More adults with COPD | 7.6% | 6.1% |
| More adults in fair or poor health | 19.4% | 16.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 20.1 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 67% of Nebraska’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 119 to 89 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
0.2 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Laing Park, at 45 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Laing Park | 0.1 mi | 45 |
| 2. Hal Murray Softball Complex | — | 19 |
| 3. Central Park | — | 8 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Alliance; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Alliance residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Nebraska.
3 places in Alliance on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in Alliance.
City in Nebraska, United States
Alliance is a city in and the county seat of Box Butte County, in the western part of the state of Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. Its population was 8,151 at the 2020 census. Alliance is home to Carhenge, a replica of Stonehenge constructed with automobiles, which is located north of the city. It is also the location of Alliance Municipal Airport, which in 2021 was the least-used airport in the mainland United States.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Alliance grades C overall, better than 34% of U.S. towns and #47 of 57 in Nebraska. It grades B− for health, B− for safety and C− for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a C−.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.
7 notable people were born here, including Moon Bloodgood and Jordan Hooper.
