Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 7,997, settled in 1869. Public schools that outperform most of Nebraska.
Trash & recyclingBlair gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $357K, 4.2 years of the Omaha metro’s $85K median household income. It grades A overall, 8th among Nebraska's 57 graded towns. On the plus side, its schools outperform 82% of the state's. Blair’s trail density is 0.9 miles per square mile, against 0.3 in Nebraska’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. Only 9 of Nebraska’s 133 towns score higher on the outdoors. Blair has 6 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Congregational Church of Blair and C. C. Crowell Jr. House.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Nebraska), ordered by how far Blair is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 494 in 1870, 7,790 in 2020. The archive holds 14 old photos and papers going back to 1876 and a map from 1986 on.
6 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Blair, 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 Blair.
Blair pairs an A− for schools with modest home prices, trades workers with Omaha and other neighbors and sees little violent crime.
5.4 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Youth Sports Complex Park, at 38 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Youth Sports Complex Park | — | 38 |
| 2. Ralph Steyer Park | 0.1 mi | 19 |
| 3. Viking Field | — | 18 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A− for schools comes with a B+ for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $357K.
Its public schools are run by the Blair Community Schools. Three of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Blair High School, with 681 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blair Arbor Park ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 494 | B− |
| Blair High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 681 | B− |
| Gerald Otte Blair Middle SCHTop results in townGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 481 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NE on state tests and graduation
Blair beats the Nebraska average on 5 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 27% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Blair, where Nebraska’s towns sit at 31% and U.S. towns at 36%. 20% of Blair adults binge drink.
| Blair | Nebraska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 31% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 30% | 33% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 19% | 16% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 14% | 17% |
| What stands out | Blair | NE |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 7.1% | 9.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.3% | 12.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10% | 8.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
58.5% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 45.1% across Nebraska.
The typical Blair home is worth about $357,000, up 1.5% in a year, 28% above the Nebraska typical home.
| Blair | Nebraska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $937 a month | $907 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 73% | 67% | 73% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Violent crime is rare: 5 reported in 2025, 0.6 per 1,000 residents.
The violent crime rate in Blair is 0.6 per 1,000 residents.
| Blair | Nebraska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.6 per 1,000 residents | 1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 8.5 per 1,000 residents | 7 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Blair has cold, snowy winters and warm summers. Among 57 Nebraska towns, just 2 have a lower July high than Blair.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Blair has about as many jobs (4,634) as working residents, but only 1,238 people both live and work here. Jobs based here grew from 3,543 in 2013 to 4,634.
About one in 3 of Blair’s working residents works in town. Since 2013, Blair has added 1,091 jobs, to 4,634 in 2023. Blair’s average trip to work is 19 minutes.
| Blair | Nebraska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 30% | 35% | 8% |
| Work from home | 14% | 5.4% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 17 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 7.8% | 11% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 59% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 21 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Blair.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Nebraska average. 26% of residents are under 18 in Blair. Blair has grown 2.5% since 2020, to 7,997 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Blair | Nebraska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 26% | 24% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 33% | 28% | 29% |
| Median age | 37.4 years | 37.8 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 17% | 19% | 18% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.8 points. Across Nebraska, 49.7% of residents are women.
| Blair | NE | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.6% | 13.1% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12.7% | 11.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.8% | 9.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.9% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13% | 13.1% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.5% | 11.1% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.5% | 11.9% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.3% | 9.9% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.6% | 6.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.6% | 7.8% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.5% | 25% | 26% |
| Some college | 30.5% | 21.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.6% | 11% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 22% | 22.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.8% | 12.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Blair. Close and well known come first.
19 mi Park & preserveLoess Hills
24 mi Zoo & aquariumOmaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium
6 mi Ancient siteBertrand
9 mi LandmarkFort Atkinson
22 mi MuseumJoslyn Art Museum
37 mi MuseumStrategic Air and Space MuseumLoess Hills: Bill Whittaker, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium: OmahaZoo, Public domain · Bertrand: Billwhittaker at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Atkinson: Unknown, Public domain · Joslyn Art Museum: akasped, CC BY 2.0 · Strategic Air and Space Museum: User Kandykornhead on en.wikipedia, Public domain
None within 15 miles of Blair; the nearest are
About 7 of every 100 Blair residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Nebraska.
6 places in Blair on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in Blair.
City in and county seat of Washington County, Nebraska, United States
Blair is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Nebraska, United States. As of the 2020 census, Blair had a population of 7,790. Blair is a part of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Blair.
| Town | NE rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blair | #8 | A | B+ | B+ | A− | B+ |
| Township 6 | — | — | D | — | A | B+ |
| Township 2 | #17 | A− | B− | — | A− | A− |
| Township 5 | — | — | B+ | — | B+ | B+ |
Township 6 and Township 5 have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Township 6, Township 2 and Township 5 report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Blair with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Blair grades A overall, better than 90% of U.S. towns and #8 of 57 in Nebraska. It grades B+ for health, B+ for safety and A− for schools.
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+.
8 notable people were born here, including Megan Hunt and Clete Blakeman.
