Chadron, Nebraska.
Typical home $197,733 (+4.9% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$532 (+105%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $9,272 +5%
- $188,462$197,733 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $40,927 +26%
- $156,807$197,733 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Chadron$1,038
- Nebraska$1,461
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 15 years.
Typical home values in Chadron, NE rose 4.9% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Chadron, Dawes County, Nebraska
Chadron is a city of 5,206 people in Dawes County. Half its households earn more than $54,590 a year and half less, against $56,280 across Dawes County; 13% of its people live below the poverty line. 56% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 44% are rented. Unemployment in Dawes County was 2.9% in August 2026, and the county had 2.2% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Chadron is a small city in the Pine Ridge country of northwestern Nebraska, with a younger population than is typical for a place its size, which fits a town built around a college. Incomes run a little below the county's, and most homes are lived in by their owners. Winters are cold and snowy, with January the coldest month, and summers turn properly hot in July; precipitation through the year is modest.
Work. Most residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, restaurants and hotels, and government. Chadron State College is the largest workplace in town, with Chadron Community Hospital and Chadron Public Schools also among the biggest. Commutes are short, and very few people work from home. Across Dawes County, the number of jobs slipped a little last year, while unemployment has stayed low and steady.
Things to do. Chadron State Park and the Nebraska National Forest are both a short drive away, offering wooded hills and open country for walking and time outdoors. Farther afield, Fort Robinson is a historic fort a longer drive away, and the Trailside Museum of Natural History at Fort Robinson State Park is nearby for those interested in the region's natural past. In town, Elliott Field at Don Beebe Stadium is the place for local games.
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- 2,097households
- 13%below the poverty line
- 14 mintypical commute
- 3%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Dawes County had 3,088 jobs in 2025, 2.2% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 38° and lows near 12°; warmest in July, with highs near 89° and lows near 59°. About 50 inches of snow and 19 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Chadron 3SW weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Chadron
- Chadron State CollegeUniversity or college349
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters185
- Chadron Community HospitalCritical access hospital129FTE
- Chadron Public SchoolsSchool district95FTE
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture71
- SafewaySupermarkets and other grocery stores47
- Crest View Care CenterSkilled nursing facilities43
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 275 people in all. Colleges come from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24), hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Winter weatherVery high
- LightningVery high
- HailRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Chadron’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Dawes County.
Chadron home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Chadron$197,733
- Nebraska$278,299
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 6 Chadron listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Chadron15.53%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Chadron38
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Chadron7
Zip codes with a Chadron address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Chadron — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.