Otoe County is a county in Nebraska, United States, on the Missouri River bluffs southeast of Lincoln. It had a population of 15,912 at the 2020 census and covers 619 square miles (1,600 km2) centred near 40\u00b039\u2032N 96\u00b008\u2032W.<\/p>\n
Nebraska City is the county seat, and its postal code is 68410. The county has two incorporated cities, eight incorporated villages, one census-designated place and several unincorporated communities. It sits in the Central time zone.<\/p>\n
Otoe County has 18 named places on the map: two cities, eight villages, one CDP and several unincorporated hamlets and rural mobile-home communities. The table below carries over every legitimate place from the county’s records; a small number of duplicate or non-place entries from the old list have been dropped (see notes).<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop.<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nebraska City<\/td>\n | City · seat<\/td>\n | 7,289<\/td>\n | 68410<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Syracuse<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | 1,922<\/td>\n | 68446<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Palmyra<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | 538<\/td>\n | 68418<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Unadilla<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | 314<\/td>\n | 68454<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Talmage<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | 253<\/td>\n | 68448<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Douglas<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | 223<\/td>\n | 68344<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Dunbar<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | 184<\/td>\n | 68346<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Otoe<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | 163<\/td>\n | 68417<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Burr<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | 93<\/td>\n | 68324<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Lorton<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 68382<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Woodland Hills<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 68410<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Wyoming<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Paul<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Minersville<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Minersville is a ghost town on the Missouri River bluffs, once a 19th-century coal-mining settlement that has since been abandoned. Wyoming and Paul are small rural crossroads communities that never incorporated. Woodland Hills, just outside Nebraska City, is a census-designated place rather than a village.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nThe small unincorporated places of Wyoming, Paul and Minersville have no ZIP code of their own and are served by the nearest town’s post office.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nOtoe County lies on the Missouri River, which forms its entire eastern boundary. The land rises from river bottomland in the east to rolling loess-hill farmland toward the west. Weeping Water Creek and the Nemaha River drain parts of the county’s interior.<\/p>\n Otoe County borders Cass County to the north, Fremont County, Iowa, to the northeast across the Missouri River, Atchison County, Missouri, to the east (also across the river), Nemaha County to the southeast, Johnson County to the south, Gage County to the southwest, and Lancaster County to the west.<\/p>\n Demographics<\/h2>\nThe county had 15,912 residents at the 2020 census. Nebraska City and Syracuse are its two largest communities, together home to more than half the county’s population. Median household income in Otoe County runs below the Nebraska median of $74,590, reflecting the county’s largely rural, agricultural economy. Population density is roughly 26 people per square mile.<\/p>\n Economy & Local Life<\/h2>\nAgriculture \u2014 corn, soybeans and cattle \u2014 anchors the county’s economy, alongside food processing and light manufacturing based in Nebraska City. Nebraska City is also home to the Arbor Day Foundation’s headquarters and Arbor Lodge State Historical Park, the former Arbor Lodge home of Nebraska founder J. Sterling Morton, who started the Arbor Day tree-planting holiday there in 1872.<\/p>\n History<\/h2>\nOtoe County was organized in 1854, one of Nebraska Territory’s original counties, and takes its name from the Otoe people who once lived along the Missouri River in the area. Nebraska City grew around a mid-19th-century Missouri River steamboat landing and became a key outfitting point for wagon trains heading west on the Oregon-California Trail.<\/p>\n Getting There<\/h2>\nU.S. Route 75 runs north-south through the county along the Missouri River, and Nebraska Highway 2 crosses it east-west.<\/p>\n
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