Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,018, platted in 1883. 87% more nonprofits per person than the typical Nebraska town.
Burwell’s best subject grades are an A for walkability, an A− for cost of living, and an A+ for civic life; its weakest is a D for incomes. 30% of residents are 65 or older in Burwell, where Nebraska’s towns sit at 19% and U.S. towns at 18%. On walkability, just 2 of Nebraska’s 132 towns do better. Only 7 of Nebraska’s 133 towns score lower on the outdoors. Burwell has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Garfield County Frontier Fairgrounds and Burwell Carnegie Library. Burwell has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Burwell beats most towns.
Garfield County Frontier FairgroundsIn a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Nebraska), ordered by how far Burwell is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 378 in 1890, 1,087 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 1906 and a map from 1952 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Burwell, 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 Burwell.
Its public schools are run by the Burwell Public Schools. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burwell Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 152 | B |
| Burwell Jr.-Sr. High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 115 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NE on state tests and graduation
Burwell has cold winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 13° and about 29 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
13% of adults report frequent mental distress in Burwell, below both the Nebraska town median (14%) and the median of U.S. towns (17%). 28% of adults feel lonely in Burwell. Of the 58 Nebraska towns we compare, none has a higher share of adults who had a checkup this year than Burwell.
| Burwell | Nebraska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 14% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 31% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 18% | 23% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 30% | 33% |
| What stands out | Burwell | NE |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 6.6% | 9.5% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.9% | 9.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 12.5% | 8.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
No town among the 58 in Nebraska we compare has a lower median household income than Burwell. 13% of Burwell residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in Burwell fell to 525 in 2023, 74 fewer than in 2013.
| Burwell | Nebraska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 37% | 34% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 15 minutes | 17 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $51,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 11% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 59% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Burwell home is worth about $256,000, up 6.6% in a year, 8% below the Nebraska typical home. Burwell’s median rent is $460 a month.
| Burwell | Nebraska towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $460 a month | $914 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
None within 15 miles of Burwell; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Burwell residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Nebraska.
1,210 counted in 2010 and 1,087 in 2020; an estimated 1,018 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
2 places in Burwell on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in Nebraska, United States
Burwell is a city in Garfield County, Nebraska, United States. As of the 2020 census, Burwell had a population of 1,087. It is the county seat of Garfield County.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
87% more nonprofits per person than the typical Nebraska town.
Not for the area. That is 4.1 years of the area's median household income ($62,804 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
