AARP Livability Index™ Ranks Lincoln in Top 10 U.S. Large Livable Communities

As part of the newly updated 2024 AARP Livability Index™ website, AARP announced Nebraska’s capital city, Lincoln, secured an impressive score, ranking 9^th place on the Top 10 Livability Index for U.S. Large Communities (population 100,000-499,999) — moving up from 2023’s 11^th place.

Earlier this year, Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird enrolled the city in AARP’s Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities to establish a community-driven process for examining ways to become more age-friendly.

“Congratulations to the city of Lincoln. We’re grateful for the city’s ongoing commitment to make Lincoln more age-friendly and their top ten ranking in AARP’s Livability Index™ for large communities demonstrates the value of this work for people of all ages,” shared Todd Stubbendieck, AARP Nebraska’s State Director.

This comprehensive, data-driven tool evaluates key factors that shape quality of life as people age, including housing, transportation, neighborhood safety, environmental quality, health services, and community engagement.

At the state level, the top-ranking cities include Lincoln (1), followed by Chadron (2), Seward (3), Beatrice (4), LaVista (5), Nebraska City (6), Sidney (7), South Sioux City (8), Columbus (9), and Alliance (10).

The latest data shows while some communities in Nebraska have made significant strides in areas such as digital literacy, age-friendly housing, pedestrian safety, and enhancing green spaces, every community still faces critical challenges in meeting the growing needs of older adults. Particularly, Nebraska's top communities must focus on areas to improve affordable housing options and ensuring better accessibility for those with mobility issues.

AARP Nebraska has been actively engaged to address the state’s challenges and opportunities, particularly through its funding of quick-action projects as part of the AARP Community Challenge grant. Now in its eighth year, AARP has invested $3.8 million nationwide to help ensure communities thrive for individuals at every stage in life.

The AARP Livability Index™ platform is the most comprehensive, web-based tool of its kind that scores every neighborhood and community in all 50 states and the District of Columbia for the services and amenities that affect people’s lives the most as they age. The platform scores livability by using more than 50 national data sources to measure each community against 61 indicators of livability. Users can search the website by address, ZIP code, or community to find an overall or category score, identify challenges in their community, and compare their neighborhood to others across performance benchmarks.

To view the AARP Livability Index™ platform or see your community’s score, visit https://www.aarp.org/livabilityindex.