The United States acquired the area of Nebraska from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Nebraska Territory was organized on May 30, 1854, from the northwestern part of Missouri Territory (also called Indian Country or Indian Territory). At the time of its organization, the territory included almost all of present-day Nebraska and parts of Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The area of the territory was reduced greatly in 1861 with the organization of Colorado and Dakota territories. In 1882, Nebraska acquired from Dakota Territory an area north of the Keya Paha River and Niobrara River to assume generally the same boundary as the present state. Nebraska and Iowa have made periodic adjustments to their boundary as the Missouri River has changed its course.

Census data for Nebraska are available beginning with the 1860 census. The 1860 population is for part of the area of the Nebraska Territory including all of present-day Nebraska, and settlements now within Colorado, South Dakota, and Wyoming. If the part of Nebraska Territory in 1860 that is in present-day Montana and North Dakota, as well as additional parts of South Dakota, was enumerated, the population was included as part of unorganized Dakota; thus, no accurate data are available for the entire Nebraska Territory as legally defined.

Data for the legally established state of Nebraska are available beginning with the 1870 census.

American Indian Areas

Nebraska has seven federally recognized American Indian areas.  There are six reservations, two with off-reservation trust land.  There is also one trust land.

Metropolitan And Micropolitan Statistical Areas And Related Statistical Areas

Nebraska has 3 metropolitan statistical areas, 10 micropolitan statistical areas, and 2 combined statistical areas.

Counties

There are 93 counties in Nebraska.  All counties are active governmental entities, each governed by a board of commissioners, except in counties having township governments where each is governed by a board of supervisors.

County Subdivisions

There are 1,198 county subdivisions in Nebraska that are known as minor civil divisions (MCDs). There are 27 counties with townships, 64 counties with election precincts, and 2 counties with election districts. There are 435 active functioning townships and 30 inactive townships that have the ability to activate and perform governmental functions. Each township is governed by a board of thirteen elected officials. There are 654 election precincts and election districts which are nonfunctioning, nongovernmental county subdivisions used for conducting elections. There are 77 incorporated places that are independent of MCDs and constitute 79 county subdivisions.

Counties with townships:

• Adams
• Antelope
• Boyd
• Buffalo
• Burt
• Butler
• Clay
• Cuming
• Custer
• Dixon
• Dodge
• Fillmore
• Franklin
• Gage
• Hall
• Harlan
• Holt
• Kearney
• Knox
• Merrick
• Nance
• Phelps
• Platte
• Saunders
• Thurston
• Valley
• Washington

Places

Nebraska has 580 places; 530 incorporated places and 50 census designated places (CDPs).  The incorporated places consist of 147 cities and 383 villages.  Cities have a minimum population of 801 and villages have a population of 100-800.  Incorporated places are dependent within county subdivision.  There are 77 cities that are independent of any election precinct or township.  Two cities, Tilden and Newman Grove, are independent of any township in one county and of any election precinct in the other.  North Platte, Bellevue, La Vista, Papillion, and Springfield cities are coextensive with a single precinct of the same name. Imperial, Kimball, and Gretna cities are coextensive with two precincts.  Grant city contains one whole precinct and a portion of one other precinct.  Chadron contains four whole precincts and portions of three other precincts.

Census Tracts/Block Groups/Blocks

Nebraska has 532 census tracts, 1,633 block groups, and 193,352 census blocks.

Congressional Districts

For the 111^th Congress (January 2009-January 2011), Nebraska had three congressional districts.  For the 113^th Congress (January 2013-January 2015), Nebraska continues to have three congressional districts as a result of reapportionment based on the 2010 Census.

School Districts

Nebraska has 254 unified school districts.

State Legislative Districts

Nebraska has a unicameral legislature with 49 state senate districts which are represented by the Census Bureau as state legislative districts – upper chamber.

Urban Areas

Nebraska has 43 urban areas; 4 urbanized areas and 39 urban clusters.

Zip Code Tabulation Areas

There are 586 ZIP Code tabulation areas (ZCTAs) in Nebraska.

¹  Source:  U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1923
²  Source:  U.S. Census Bureau, recomputation for historical county level data which relied upon aggregate county level population data with an estimated county centroid resulting in a possible error of up to one mile.
³  Source:  U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Centers of Population for States and Counties, 1974
⁴  Source:  U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division, recomputation from archived national block group/enumeration area data resulting in a possible error of up to 1,000 feet.
⁵  Source:  U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division, recomputation from archived national block group data resulting in a possible error of up to 1,000 feet.
⁶  Source:  U.S. Census Bureau, computation from national block-level data