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About Omaha
Omaha is a vibrant, attractive city that provides all the amenities of a much larger
metropolitan area and yet, is family oriented and friendly. Omaha boasts an attractively
low cost of living that is 19 percent less than the national average.
Arts-Entertainment-Family-Culture
The city of Omaha has a great energy! The art scene is thriving, the night life
is hopping. Residents in Omaha enjoy arts, entertainment, cultural events, museum
exhibits, ethnic and heritage festivals, sports and special events.
Find out what the locals love in the 2009 edition of Omaha Magazine’s Best of Omaha.
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Sports and Leisure
Sports
Enjoy a day at the ballpark with Omaha’s Minor League baseball team, The Omaha Royals.
The
River City Lancers, of the United States Hockey League, play at the Mid-America
Center in nearby Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Cheer for the University of Nebraska-Omaha’s Division 1 hockey program, the UNO Mavericks.
Creighton Basketball packs
the Qwest Center as the Jays turn up the heat on their opponents. Enjoy the festive
atmosphere of the NCAA Men’s College
World Series every June!
Follow the University of Nebraska Huskers
in football, volleyball, baseball and more.
Parks & Recreation
Lauritzen Gardens,
Omaha’s botanical center is a unique public-private partnership with over 100 acres
of land.
Heartland of America Park & Fountain, located in downtown Omaha, is home to
gardens, lake trails, gondola rides and a spectacular 300 foot water jet and light
show.
From skateboarding to pools, gardens and more the
City of Omaha has more than 200 local parks and recreational areas. The
city of Omaha boasts forty-two public and private golf courses and two driving ranges.
Fontenelle Forest
& Neale Woods Nature Centers Visitors can enjoy guided or solo hikes on 26 miles
of trails through 2,000 acres of forest, prairie, and wetlands, as well as a boardwalk,
many nature programs, day camps, exhibits, and live animal displays.
For walkers, birders and bikers, the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge connects over
100 miles of
nature trails
along the Missouri River. The Keystone Trail meanders along 27 miles of the Papio
Creek and Omaha's three lakes offer fishing, boating and recreational activities
all year long. In addition, discover one of the best tennis complexes in the country,
indoor ice rinks and a 14,000 square feet Skateboarding park.
Shopping
The Old Market was once a
collection of factories and shops and is now one of Omaha’s most popular tourist
attractions and place to live. The Old Market offers boutiques, specialty shops,
book and antique stores, coffee houses, breweries, taverns, art galleries, nightclubs,
bakeries and over 30 area restaurants.
Village Pointe
offers a multitude of stores, restaurants, a comedy club, and a movie theater, all
on beautiful flower-lined streets.
Shadow Lake Towne Center
is an outdoor mall located in Papillion just south of Omaha.
Regency Court offers
a selection of classy vendors and is home to America’s largest independent jewelry
store, Borsheims.
One Pacific Place
offers a unique selection of retailers and dining.
Nebraska Furniture Mart is the
world’s largest furniture store.
Crossroads, Westroads,and
Oakview malls offer traditional
mall shopping with a variety of specialty and department stores.
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Interesting Bits
For over 50 years the Men’s College
World Series has been hosted in Omaha.
Famous Omaha residents include Fred Astaire, President Ford, Andy Roddick, Malcolm
X, film producer Alexander Payne, actor Chris Klein, punk rock band 311, all-girl
band Mulberry Lane and indie rock band Bright Eyes.
Every year, Omaha celebrates the
Light Festival arrival of the holiday season by decorating the Old Market
with over one million twinkling lights.
In Omaha, you can find the world’s largest tropical rainforest, indoor that is,
at the Henry Doorly Zoo’s
Lied Jungle.
PGA legend Arnold Palmer chose Omaha as the location for his 27-hole private golf
course- Players Club at Deer Creek.
The Golf Channel comes to town every year for
Omaha’s Cox Classic, a Nationwide Tour event, boasts some of the best up-and-coming
professional golfers as well as many known former PGA Tour players.
In 2008, Omaha hosted the Olympic swimming trials, where Michael Phelps qualified
and subsequently went on to set the record for the most gold medals at the Beijing
Games.
In 2008, Omaha ranked 8th among the “Best Places to Live for Affordable Housing.”
(CNNMoney.com)
Omaha was distinguished as 8th for the “Best Cities for Jobs in 2008” by Forbes.
While Omaha is known for its quality-cut steaks, the city is home to over 2,000
local and chain restaurants. Omaha boasts a variety of ethnic dining options from Thai, Indian, Greek,
Italian, French to Japanese, Persian, Cuban and more!
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Rankings
CNN Money
- Omaha ranked 8th among the “Best Places to Live for Affordable Housing” in 2008
Places Rated Almanac
- Placed Omaha in top 12 percent of overall best places to live
Forbes
- Named Omaha as one of top 15 regions in the nation
- Named Omaha as the 11th best city for business and careers
Parenting magazine
- Ranked Omaha in top 10 best cities for raising a family
Child Magazine
- Found Omaha to be one of the 15 top cities for families
Morgan Quitno Press
- Ranked Nebraska’s public school students as 13th smartest in the nation
- Ranked Nebraska as 9th most livable state
ReadyMade magazine
- Featured Omaha as one of its “5 places to visit now”
Simon Cowell, American Idol Judge
- “I absolutely loved Omaha,” Cowell said after visiting in October 2007 as part of
American Idol’s national contestant search. He also praised Omaha residents for
their hospitality, “Some of the nicest people we’ve met, incredibly welcoming.”
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Local News and Publications
Television Stations
Print Media
Local Magazines
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Facts and Stats
Population
Within the Omaha city limits there are 419,545 residents. In the greater surrounding
metro area 832,757 people live and work. The population density is 3,625 people
per square mile.
Housing
Omaha has a thriving real estate market that remains strong despite the national
housing crisis. Select from historic, modern, Tudor, contemporary, Ranch, two-story,
townhomes or condo homes. The city offers attractive options for any lifestyle or
any stage of life. It’s wonderful to have so many options.
Omaha is home to many historic neighborhoods including
Dundee, where billionaire Warren Buffett lives in a relatively modest home
and the Gold Coast
neighborhood. Go west and find vast developments of new homes ranging from $130,000
split-levels to multi-million-dollar mansions. For a truly rural edge, Sarpy, Washington
and western Douglas counties offer acreages complete with stables, streams, ponds
and natural woods – still within minutes of the city.
Transportation
Omaha’s average one-way commute time is 20 minutes. Eighty-one percent of commuters
drive their own car, while 11 percent elect to carpool. Three percent of Omaha residents
work from their homes and 2 percent take mass transit to get where they are going.
Climate
Omaha experiences all four seasons. As a region with a continental climate, summers
are typically warm, while winters are dry. On average, Omaha enjoys 214 sunny days
per year and experiences 78 days per year with precipitation with about 32 inches
of rain per year and 31 inches of snow per year. The warmest month is July with
average highs of 88 degrees. And the coldest month is January with average lows
of 12 degrees.
Omaha’s Education
Omaha Public Schools have a lower than national average student-to-teacher ratio.
Multiple metro area school districts exist in cooperation with the area’s private,
parochial, faith-based and non-traditional schools. The Nebraska graduation rate
is over 90 percent, and ranks fourth highest in the nation. Statewide ACT and SAT
scores consistently range among the best in the nation.
In post-secondary education, 56 percent of Omaha’s population over 25 years-old
have bachelor’s degrees or higher. Omaha’s metropolitan statistical area has more
than a dozen universities and community colleges.
Economy
Future job growth predicted at 9.3 percent higher than national average. Unemployment
rate is 3.8 percent lower than national average
Taxes
The sales tax in Omaha is 7 percent. Most grocery items are not taxed. The income
tax is 6.68 percent and the median household income is $44,726. Property taxes are
about .68% higher than the national average.
Religion
Over half of the residents of Omaha identify themselves as religious.
- 42.05 percent of various Christian faiths
- 27.72 percent Catholic
- 1.37 percent Jewish
- 1.06 percent Latter Day Saints
- 0.35 percent Islam
- 0.03 percent of Eastern Religions
Air Travel
Eppley Airfield, located
five minutes from downtown Omaha, provides air travel from 11 major and 3 regional
air carriers, including two commuter airlines. Due to Omaha’s central location,
either coast is only a few short hours away. Non-stop flights are available to many
major U.S. cities.
Interstate / Train Travel
Omaha is less than a day’s drive to several major U.S. cities. Interstate 80 links
Omaha to both the east and west coast. Interstate 29 runs north and south just outside
of Omaha. Amtrak also provides rail service for coast-to-coast travel.
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