Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I Googled Nebraska today, having heard about Beatrice, Nebraska giving away land to attract a tax base, and discovered some interesting, surprising facts about Lincoln, the capital:
* Lincoln is the healthiest city in the US (I had pictured lots of obese people sipping on Big Gulps)

* 250,000 population

* saw a $30,000 550-square-foot condo on Craig's List--only $125/mo. maintenance

* possibly more cosmopolitan than one might guess
I'm somewhat obsessed with the Midwest--most people I meet from Minnesota, Nebraska, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, are unassuming and warm. My parents are from the Midwest but I grew up in San Francisco, so this makes it especially interesting and different to me.

Nothing wrong with living in Nebraska. It is a good clean and culturally conservative location. Corn comes to mind.

However, having lived there for a while years ago, I found the winters just too cold for my tastes. Drop on down into Kansas or Oklahoma, temps are much better, same good folks there as well.

But for sure, Nebraska is ok if your not against winters.

I know there are some gems in the midwest with a low cost of living.
Median age of Lincoln, is only 31.3 years -that suggests there might be a lot of young people there.
Looks like property crime is pretty high... Not a biggie for me. Also average property taxes of 2.5k seems pretty steep, if you're buying/building. Lots of cheap and nice rentals on craiglist, especially in the 2 bedroom range.
I know Oklahoma used to have cheap fertile land. Droves of Californians changed this... However, property taxes are insanely low.
... We need the 2010 census data! Then we can do some powerful locational analysis.

Not to mention there is a university in Lincoln, so it might offer some cultural "stuff". But the weather is definitely a concern.

re: the weather, it looks similar to NYC, which I've adjusted to the last few years...

Yes, if you like the weather, Lincoln has a lot to offer due to a low cost of living. Hot in summer, cold in winter... this is why my parents, who moved to Oregon after WWII, never returned Lincoln.

Illinois state property tax sucks. Maybe not other areas. I think it has to due with the amount of people getting gov't handouts.

Lincoln's a lot like Austin. Only with less diversity and tons less douche-bags. Of course, everything there happens on a smaller scale, so you have to be more aware of the community and your place in it.

I have been to Lincoln, NE for 3 days 5 year ago (visiting friend who studied at University of Nebraska). It is such a boring city, nothing to do there, just cheap cinema (it was two dollars for a movie) and Huskers football team.
People are also too conservative for me (but I am atheistic European so maybe this is norm in USA outside east/west coast big metropolitan areas). Chicago/Denver are at least 8 hours driving.
I guess it is much better to retire in Mexico on Pacific coast or so.

Mexico has my vote too

@fandor: no offense, but, my town has 2.3k population and I couldn't have experienced a fraction of it in 3 days. Also, I've been here for 6 years and the change has been dramatic.

JohnnyH) Good for you I guess there is nice nature around your town. But there are just corn fields around Lincoln, no culture, no nature, not good for outdoor sports like hiking. Maybe I am wrong, but tell me what to do in Lincoln?

Lincoln is a great town to learn how to make your own fun. There are museums and a huge observatory, football, lots of organized sports and hiking and biking trails (none really hilly, this is the middle of the plains), disc golf and ultimate frisbee.
The small towns around Lincoln have the really fun stuff. Where else are you going to find 5,000 people that think it's great fun to race ducks down iced over tennis courts? Not to mention, the highly entertaining Testicle Festival. I recommend the turkey fries.
You can check out the Zoo Bar for nationally known blues acts and local music. The Ross Movie Theater shows all kinds of arthouse flicks, and the Joyo does the kitsch, including a weekly showing of the Rocky Horror Picture show.
For the most part, Lincoln is a very compact place with high population density. Housing around any of the 3 colleges is a little higher, is a little more expensive, but since some of the more modern developments are spread out, it's worth it.
The only real downside is that taxes in Lincoln are somewhat more expensive than the rest of Nebraska because the University is always wanting money for one thing or another. Of course, Lincoln is also the most politically progressive place in Nebraska (not saying much).
I'm hesitant to tell people how awesome Lincoln is because too many people finding out about it would ruin it, like Seattle or Austin. So, fandor, I hope I don't change your mind.

In terms of politically progressive, I'm not asking for a lot. I just don't want the first question to be "what church do you go to?". That would be awkward.

@Jacob

Then I'd stay out of Utah. Even SLC is not cosmopolitan enough to duck that question. And anything other than LDS is, generally speaking, a wrong answer.

I have some friends in Omaha, Nebraska and they all say that Lincoln is a really racist place... Nebraska has really cheap real estate (you can rent an entire house for just $300 a month in Omaha!) but there are a lot of issues with race: high tension between whites and minorities, "bad" parts of town, etc.

Omaha and Lincoln are very different places. Interestingly enough, neither one has cornered the market on dumbasses.
There is growing racial tension in Nebraska because of the meat packing industry. Shifty bastards.
For the most part, Nebraskans are very tolerant of race/creed/lack of creed etc. If you look like you're trying to fit in, you'll be just fine. By fitting in I mean dress, speech, common decency (a fondness for the Cornhuskers goes a long way too). I'm sure it's much easier to be white here, but that's true of just about anyplace in the U.S. of A.

If diversity and progressiveness in politics are a priority then I think the list of potential locations greatly narrows.

I lived in Lincoln for three years (2001-2004). Nice, quiet, peaceful place (except on Saturdays when there's a home football game). The weather is not as extreme as you might expect. Being from the south, I was expecting constant snow. It got bloody cold in the winter but we didn't get all that much snow. It does get terribly humid in the summer though, which is not something I expected.
In addition to UNL, there's also Nebraska Wesleyan University, and several liberal arts colleges.

@Hickchick: What do you mean by dress and speech?