Howells, Nebraska.
Typical home $253,296 (+2.2% in a year). Norfolk, NE metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$798 (+150%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $5,556 +2%
- $247,740$253,296 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $81,385 +47%
- $171,911$253,296 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.
- Howells$1,329
- 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 Howells, NE rose 2.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Howells, Colfax County, Nebraska
Howells is a village of 561 people in Colfax County. Half its households earn more than $80,938 a year and half less, against $82,530 across Colfax County; 9% of its people live below the poverty line. 91% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 9% are rented. 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 manufacturing.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Howells is a small village in Colfax County, Nebraska, where nearly everyone owns the home they live in. Incomes sit a little below the county's, and a good share of adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold and snowy, summers are warm, and precipitation is moderate through the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by manufacturing, shops and farming. Across Colfax County, the largest workplaces include Cargill, which produces boxed beef, Schuyler Community Schools and CHI Health Schuyler. Most people have a moderate commute, and few work from home.
Things to do. The Clarkson Opera House, a theatre, is a short drive away. A longer drive brings you to the John G. Neihardt State Historic Site, a protected area, and to the Swedish Heritage Center, a museum. Fremont Lakes State Recreation Area, also a longer drive, offers a protected area for time outdoors.
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- 233households
- 28%of adults have a degree
- 9%below the poverty line
- 22 mintypical commute
- 8%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 33° and lows near 13°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 64°. About 24 inches of snow and 29 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Howells weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Colfax County
- CargillBoxed beef produced in slaughtering plants2,368
- Schuyler Community SchoolsSchool district287FTE
- QSIJanitorial services113
- United TransportGeneral freight trucking, long-distance, truckload91
- Howells-dodge Consolidated SchoolsSchool district59FTE
- CHI Health SchuylerCritical access hospital49FTE
- Clarkson Public SchoolsSchool district45FTE
- Bluebird NurseryHerbaceous perennial growing26
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 6 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,683 people in all across the county; Howells has one of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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 Howells’ 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.
Howells home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Howells$253,296
- 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.
Zip codes with a Howells address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Howells — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.