Clarkson, Nebraska.
Typical home $259,864 (+2.9% in a year). Norfolk, NE metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$832 (+156%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $7,236 +3%
- $252,629$259,864 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $85,748 +49%
- $174,116$259,864 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.
- Clarkson$1,364
- Nebraska$1,461
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 9 years.
Typical home values in Clarkson, NE rose 2.9% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Clarkson, Colfax County, Nebraska
Clarkson is a city of 641 people in Colfax County. Unemployment in Colfax County was 2.5% in August 2026, and the county had 3.2% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then other services.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Clarkson is a small city in Colfax County, Nebraska, with a population that is older than in most of the country. Few adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month, and summers turn warm by July.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with others in other services, shops and manufacturing. Clarkson Public Schools, Bluebird Nursery and Doernemann Construction are among the largest workplaces in town. The trip to work is short, and nobody in town works from home. Across Colfax County, unemployment is low and about the same as a year ago, though the county has lost some jobs.
Things to do. The Clarkson Opera House, a theatre in or beside town, is the nearest place to spend an evening. Schneider's Opera House is another theatre, a longer drive away, and Rock Creek is a river that is also a longer drive from town.
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- 262households
- 10%of adults have a degree
- 18 mintypical commute
- 0%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Colfax County had 4,989 jobs in 2025, 3.2% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 31° and lows near 11°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 64°.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Clarkson weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Clarkson
- Clarkson Public SchoolsSchool district45FTE
- Bluebird NurseryHerbaceous perennial growing26
- Doernemann ConstructionExcavating, earthmoving, or land clearing contractors23
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 2 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 49 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); 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
- HailVery high
- Strong windVery high
- TornadoesVery high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Clarkson’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. 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 Colfax County and the Norfolk, NE metro.
Clarkson home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Clarkson$259,864
- Nebraska$278,299
- United States$366,157
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
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Clarkson address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Clarkson — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.