Omaha

Omaha, Nebraska 

The county seat of Douglas County and the biggest city in the American state of Nebraska is Omaha. About 10 miles (15 km) north of the mouth of the Platte River, Omaha is located in the Midwest of the United States on the Missouri River. As the 39th-largest city in the US, Omaha had 486,051 residents as of the 2020 Census.

The eight-county, bi-state Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area is headed by Omaha. With a population of 967,604, the Omaha Metropolitan Area is the 58th-largest in the country. According to projections for 2020, there were 1,004,771 people living in the Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA CSA. Within an 80-kilometer (50-mile) radius of Downtown Omaha, the Greater Omaha area is home to about 1.5 million people. The Globalization and World Cities Research Network accorded it "sufficiency" status in 2020 and classified it as a global city.

When Council Bluffs, Iowa, next door, was formed in 1854, Omaha's pioneer era officially began. The epithet "Gateway to the West" was given to the city, which was founded along the Missouri River, by the Lone Tree Ferry. In 1898, Omaha served as the host city for the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, a World's Fair that introduced the world to the new West. Omaha's strategic position within the country during the 19th century encouraged the city to develop into a significant national transportation center. Along with its railroads and breweries, the city's transportation and employment sectors were significant during the remainder of the 19th century. The Omaha Stockyards, which were once the biggest in the world, and its meatpacking facilities rose to prominence on a global scale during the 20th century.

Four Fortune 500 companies have their corporate headquarters in Omaha today: the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway; Kiewit Corporation, one of the largest construction companies in the world; Mutual of Omaha, an insurance and financial services provider; and Union Pacific Corporation, the largest railroad operator in the United States. According to a decade's worth of Forbes rankings, some of which have rated him as high as No. 1, local investor Warren Buffett, the president of Berkshire Hathaway, is one of the wealthiest persons in the world.

Additionally, Omaha is the location of five Fortune 1000 corporate headquarters: Werner Enterprises, Green Plains, Intrado, TD Ameritrade, and Valmont Industries. The First National Bank of Omaha, the third-largest privately held bank in the US, three of the ten largest architecture/engineering firms in the country (DLR Group, HDR, Inc., and Leo A Daly), the Gallup Organization, best known for the Gallup Poll, and its riverfront Gallup University are all based in Omaha. 

The following are notable modern Omaha inventions: Cake mix was created by Duncan Hines, then a division of Omaha's Nebraska Consolidated Mills, the precursor to today's ConAgra Foods; center-pivot irrigation by the Omaha company now known as Valmont Corporation; Raisin Bran, developed by Omaha's Skinner Macaroni Co.; the first ski lift; and Butter Brickle Ice Cream and the Reuben sandwich, thought up by a chef at the then-Blackstone Hotel on 36th and Farnam Streets. 

Geography 

The city has a total area of 130.58 sq mi (338.20 km2), of which 127.09 sq mi (329.16 km2) is land and 3.49 sq mi (9.04 km2) is water, according to the United States Census Bureau. A large portion of Omaha is constructed in the Missouri River Valley, which is located in the Midwest of the United States on the bank of the Missouri River in eastern Nebraska. Other notable waterways in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area include the Glenn Cunningham Lake, Carter Lake, Lake Manawa, Papillion Creek, and Platte River. The land in the city has undergone significant grading, both in Downtown Omaha and other parts of the city. West of the Missouri River, East Omaha is situated on a flood plain. Carter Lake, an oxbow lake, is located there. East Omaha Island and Florence Lake were previously located there, but they dried up in the 1920s.

Eight counties make up the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, five of which are in Nebraska and three of which are in Iowa. Harrison, Pottawattamie, and Mills Counties in Iowa and Washington, Douglas, Sarpy, Cass, and Saunders Counties in Nebraska are currently included in the metropolitan area. There were just five counties in this region when it was solely known as the Omaha Metropolitan Statistical Area: Pottawattamie in Iowa and Washington, Douglas, Cass, and Sarpy in Nebraska. The Fremont Micropolitan statistical region and the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan statistical area make up the Omaha-Council Bluffs Combined Statistical Area (CSA), which has a population of 858,720. (2005 Census Bureau estimate).

The center of the 60th-largest metropolitan area in the country, Omaha is the 42nd-largest city in the country. There are no consolidated city-counties in the region, so the City of Omaha thoroughly investigated the possibility through 2003 before coming to the conclusion that "The City of Omaha and Douglas County should merge into a municipal county, work to begin immediately, and that functional consolidations begin immediately in as many departments as possible, including but not limited to parks, fleet management, facilities management, local planning, purchasing, and personnel." 

Geographically speaking, Omaha is regarded as being in the American "Heartland." Invasive plant species, habitat restoration for prairies and bur oak savannas, and management of the whitetail deer population are only a few environmental factors that have a significant impact on the region's natural habitat.

Several hospitals can be found in Omaha, especially along Dodge Street (US6). It serves as both the county seat and the site of the county courthouse. 

Climate 

Omaha has a hot, humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfa) as a result of its latitude of 41.26 N and location away from moderating bodies of water or mountain ranges. In July, the average high temperature is 76.7 °F (24.8 °C), while the relative humidity is often about 70%. On 29 days and 1.7 days every year, respectively, the temperature reaches 90 °F (32 °C) or 100 °F (38 °C). The average daily temperature in January is 23.5 °F (4.7 °C), with 11 days each year seeing lows of 0 °F (18 °C). The city experienced its lowest recorded temperature of 32 °F (35.6 °C) on January 5, 1884, and its highest recorded temperature of 114 °F (45.6 °C) on July 25, 1936. The majority of the 30.6 in (777 mm) of annual precipitation falls during the warmer months. Winter months often see the most snow, with an average annual snowfall of 28.7 inches (72.9 cm).

The Weather Channel classified Omaha as the fifth-coldest major American city as of 2014 using 30-year averages for the months of December, January, and February collected from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center. 

Economy 

Since the early 1990s, Omaha's economy has expanded due to diversification in a number of sectors, including banking, insurance, telecommunications, architecture/construction, and transportation, and six national fiber optic networks converge in Omaha.

Warren Buffett, sometimes known as the "Oracle of Omaha," is the most well-known businessman in Omaha and is frequently included among the world's richest people. The Fortune 500 list includes four Omaha-based businesses: Berkshire Hathaway, Union Pacific Railroad, Mutual of Omaha, and Kiewit Corporation.

Several additional significant businesses, including the Gallup Organization, TD Ameritrade, Werner Enterprises, First National Bank, Gavilon, Scoular, and First Comp Insurance, have their corporate headquarters in Omaha. Several other big national corporations, such as Bank of the West, First Data, Sojern, PayPal, LinkedIn, Pacific Life, MetLife, and Conagra Brands, have significant operations or operational headquarters in Omaha. Three of the top 30 American architectural firms, including HDR, Inc., DLR Group, Inc., and Leo A Daly, are based in the city. 

Sports 

Omaha has a long history of supporting sports, and the city is home to three minor-league professional clubs. 

Since 1950, Omaha has served as the location for the annual June NCAA College World Series baseball event. Since 2011, it has been held at Charles Schwab Field in the city. 

The US Olympic Swimming Team Trials in 2008, 2012, and 2016 as well as the construction of a new stadium in North Downtown are among the professional and amateur sports events that are organized in the city by the quasi-governmental nonprofit Omaha Sports Commission. In December of that year, the Division One Women's Volleyball Championship of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was co-hosted by the University of Nebraska and the Commission. The College World Series Stadium also hosted the 2016 Big 10 Baseball Championship. The Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority (MECA), another quasi-governmental body, was established by city voters in 2000 and is in charge of sustaining the CHI Health Center Omaha (formerly CenturyLink Center Omaha). 

Education 

With more than 75 schools and more than 47,750 students served, Omaha is home to a vast number of public and private educational institutions, including Omaha Public Schools, the state's largest public school district. Following a heated period of uncertainty, the Nebraska Legislature approved a plan in 2007 to establish a learning community with a central administrative body for the school districts in the Omaha area.

There are 21 500 kids enrolled in the 32 elementary schools and 9 high schools run by the Omaha Roman Catholic Archdiocese. The U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School award has been given to a number of these schools, including St. Cecilia Grade School in Midtown Omaha, Holy Cross in Morton Meadows, St. Robert Bellarmine School at 120th and Pacific Street, St. Stephen the Martyr School in Millard, and Creighton Preparatory School.

District 66, sometimes referred to as the Westside Community Schools, is located in the center of Omaha. It has a district enrolment of 6,123 students in grades K–12 for the 2015–16 academic year, and it educates students in pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade. Omaha additionally has the Millard Public Schools and the Elkhorn Public Schools as a result of annexations. Additionally, the only independent preschool through grade 12 college preparation school in Nebraska, Brownell-Talbot School, is located in Omaha.

The University of Nebraska Omaha is one of eleven colleges and universities that make up Omaha's higher education system. The Eppley Cancer Center, one of the 66 cancer centers recognized by the National Cancer Institute in the United States, is located at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in midtown Omaha. U.S. News & World Report has ranked the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, which is located on the UNMC campus as well, seventh in the nation for primary care medical education.

According to U.S. News & World Report, Creighton University in Omaha is the best non-doctoral regional university in the Midwest. There are 6,700 total students enrolled in the undergraduate, graduate, medical, and legal programs at the Jesuit institution's 132-acre (0.5 km2) campus just outside of Downtown Omaha in the new North Downtown neighborhood.

In the greater Omaha area, there are more than ten additional schools and institutions. 

Government 

Together with a city council chosen from seven different districts within the city, Omaha features a strong mayor type of government. The mayor is Jean Stothert, who was first elected in May 2013 and has since been re-elected on May 10, 2017, and May 11, 2021. "Cowboy" Jim Dahlman was Omaha's longest-serving mayor, holding office for 20 years during eight different terms. He was known as the "wettest mayor in America" due to the boom in bars that occurred in Omaha during his administration. Dahlman was acquainted with Tom Dennison, the political boss. The city transitioned from its initial strong-mayor type of administration to a municipal commission government during Dahlman's leadership. The city switched back in 1956.

Elizabeth Butler serves as the city clerk. Twelve departments, including finance, police, human rights, libraries, and planning, are handled by the City of Omaha. The legislative branch is represented by the seven members of the Omaha City Council, who are chosen from districts throughout the city. The council approves the city budget and passes local ordinances. A yearly budget ordinance that is passed establishes the government's priorities and operations. By passing resolutions and ordinances, the council makes formal decisions. According to Nebraska's state constitution, communities with more than 5,000 inhabitants have the option of home rule, which allows them to run according to their own charters. Out of the 17 qualifying cities in Nebraska, just three adopt this option, including Omaha. The government of the City of Omaha and Douglas County may merge.

In the 2nd congressional district, which includes Omaha, there are more registered Republicans than Democrats, but Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama launched three campaign offices there in the fall of 2008 with 15 staff people to cover the state. The Obama team viewed the district as "in play" after Mike Fahey, a former Democratic mayor of Omaha, declared he would do whatever it took to give the area's electoral vote to Obama. Obama was supported by then-Senator Ben Nelson and former U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey during their campaigns in the city in November 2008, when Obama won the district's electoral votes. Only Nebraska's split electoral vote system could have made Obama the first Democratic presidential contender to win an electoral vote there since 1964, making this victory historically significant. 

Offutt Air Force Base and the town of Bellevue, which have a sizable minority population, were relocated by Nebraska legislators in 2011 to the Republican-heavy suburbs of Omaha in Sarpy County instead of the 2nd District, which is based in Omaha. The action is anticipated to reduce the urban Democratic vote in the city.

In the 2020 election, Omaha's 2nd District cast its lone electoral vote in favor of Joe Biden. By winning by more than 20,000 votes, Biden demonstrated the recent, ongoing Democratic political trend in Omaha and the 2nd District. 

Population 

Nebraska's Douglas County and Sarpy County both contain the city of Omaha. It serves as Douglas County's County seat as well. It is the largest city in Nebraska and the 38th largest city in the United States with a 2023 population of 509,178. Omaha's population has grown by 4.76% from the most recent census, which showed a population of 486,051 in 2020, and is now rising at a pace of 1.54% annually. Omaha, which spans more than 145 miles, has 3,612 people per square mile. 

With a poverty rate of 14.77% and an average family income of $82,945, Omaha is a city. The median monthly cost of rent in recent years has been, and the median value of a home is. In Omaha, the average age is 34.9 years, meaning 34 years for men and 35.9 years for women. 

The main city in Nebraska, Omaha, is located on the Missouri River about 10 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River. It is the state's capital and largest metropolis. The metropolitan area of Omaha-Council Bluffs is likewise anchored by Omaha. 

A 50-mile radius around the city center, the Greater Omaha area has a population of roughly 1.3 million people, making up the Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA Combined Statistical Area (CSA), which has a population of around 935,000. 

As far as population and economic diversity go, Omaha is a fairly varied city today. In 2009, Omaha was named by Forbes as the Best Bang-For-The-Buck City and the nation's fastest-recovering city. 

Top 2 News Websites 

KETV 

Discover why KETV is Omaha's preferred news source by getting the most recent news, sports, and weather updates from our crew. 

Omaha World-Herald 

Read the Omaha World-headlines Herald's for the Midlands region of Nebraska and the most recent breaking news from Omaha. Find out about the most recent local weather, crime, politics, events, and more. 

Current City Mayor 

Omaha's mayor, Jean Stothert, is committed to streamlining operations and improving customer satisfaction. 

Her top concerns include enhancing public security and lowering crime, implementing laws that promote economic development and job creation in Omaha, and regaining the trust of the general people in city government. 

In addition, Mayor Stothert is dedicated to wiser budgeting, keeping taxes affordable for Omaha residents and businesses, and cutting waste and discovering efficiencies.

Mayor Stothert has reduced the mayor's personnel budget and her personal salary by 10% in order to show her commitment to budgetary responsibility and set an example for others.

Stothert, a Seattle Pacific University alumna, started her work as a nurse. She worked as the chief nurse and department head of Cardiovascular Surgery at St. Louis University during her twelve years of expertise as a critical care nurse and nursing manager.

Stothert served as board president for three years during his three tenure as a member of the Millard School Board after being appointed to the board in 1997. Stothert won a seat on the Omaha City Council in 2009. 

Stothert became Omaha's first female mayor on May 14, 2013, becoming the city's 51st mayor overall. 

Joe, Mayor Stothert's 33-year-old husband, and she reside in Omaha. Elizabeth and Andrew, their two grown children, live with them.