I actually grew up in a small town two hours north of Omaha, but I had a roommate who grew up there and I have to say it seems like a friendly town, very family-oriented and a nice place to raise children. My only caveat is that the school quality is not as high as you would find in higher-income areas, but of course that’s true across the Midwest. There’s the zoo, the planetarium and the university (my family used to go to Shakespeare on the Green every summer) and the Old Market—lots of fun stuff to do. All in all, I recommend it.

Omaha is VERY family friendly, good place to raise kids, fun stuff to do. Regarding schools:there are some public school gems, and some excellent private schools. Fewer kids slip through the cracks in Omaha than in a big city school system. But on the other hand, the top-of-the-line, money-is-no-object private schools are not as good in a place like Omaha than in a bigger city. But it could be getting better. I heard recently that Omaha has more millionaires per capita than anywhere. (Not sure but I heard that.)

I do think people are friendly there, at least compared to a lot of other places! People are generally pretty nice.

I only spent an afternoon in Omaha, but thought that the people there were very friendly, plus out and about I saw a lot of families out together. I would love to go back and spend more time there.

In general, I found Omaha to be a pretty friendly place.

As far as raising a family, it really depends on the type of family you want to raise. I lived there from 1995 to 1997, so some of this information may be dated, but.

I would be concerned about raising a child in Omaha, because in general I found the people there to be, well, underachievers I guess is a good way to say it. I’d be hard pressed to come up with another place I’ve been where I’ve felt less intelectually challenged than in Omaha. For that reason alone, I’d probably avoid raising a child there.

Also, down-town is a pretty horrible place to live, IMHO. I worked down town, so I liked walking to work, but you pretty much have to drive across town to get groceries, there’s little or no biking anywhere in down-town, unless you want to fight the traffic. There were no bike lanes or bike parking.

Housing in some of the suburbs was very cheap, comparatively. However, most of the new suburbs are quite a drive from down-town, if you are going to work there, and housing there is not that inexpensive.

I went to school in UNL in 99-03. So I’ve been to Omaha many times. Found it to be nice, especially west Omaha. Just like any other city, be wise when choosing your neighborhood. Generally, the west part is fine.

Also, if you’re fine with cold weather, you’ll like it in Omaha. Nebraska has a generally cold winter (cold for at least six months), and hot oven summer.

And yes, Omaha is a good size town to raise a family, esp a young family.

I spent 4th through 7th grade in Omaha, and am really sad that we had to move away. It was one of my favorite places to live, being as I moved around a lot. And as long as you are in the Millard School District, in western Omaha, the schools are wonderful! I loved going to school when I was there. If I were to ever have kids, I would want them to grow up there.

i love it here! there is a lot to see. some of the places are chimeny rock and scoots bluff they are so beautiful. it is a great family get away! and the peaple are so generis, but like other places there are some not so nice people.