Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers 100.4 square miles (260.035 km2) with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the state's 2nd most populous city and the 73rd-largest in the United States. Lincoln is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area in southeastern Nebraska, the Lincoln Metropolitan and Lincoln-Beatrice Combined Statistical Areas. The statistical area is home to 361,921 people, making it the 104th-largest combined statistical area in the United States.
For the county, see Lincoln County, Nebraska.
Lincoln
1856 (Lancaster)
July 29, 1869 (Lincoln)
April 1, 1869
Strong mayor–council
Mike Flood (R)
100.45 sq mi (260.16 km2)
99.09 sq mi (256.63 km2)
1.36 sq mi (3.52 km2) 1.4%
94.17 sq mi (243.9 km2)
1,422.269 sq mi (3,683.660 km2)
2,282.229 sq mi (5,910.95 km2)
1,201 ft (366 m)
291,082
2,937.67/sq mi (1,134.24/km2)
291,217 (US: 139th)
3,092.3/sq mi (1,193.9/km2)
342,117 (US: 152nd)
240.5/sq mi (92.9/km2)
363,733 (US: 104th)
159.4/sq mi (61.5/km2)
Lincolnite
31-28000
837279[3]
Lincoln was founded in 1856 as the village of Lancaster on the wild salt marshes and arroyos of what became Lancaster County. Renamed after President Abraham Lincoln, it became Nebraska's state capital in 1869. The Bertram G. Goodhue–designed state capitol building was completed in 1932, and is the nation's second-tallest capitol. As the city is the seat of government for the state of Nebraska, the state and the U.S. government are major employers. The University of Nebraska was founded in Lincoln in 1869. The university is Nebraska's largest, with 26,079 students enrolled, and the city's third-largest employer. Other primary employers fall into the service and manufacturing industries, including a growing high-tech sector. The region makes up a part of what is known as the greater Midwest Silicon Prairie.
Designated as a "refugee-friendly" city by the U.S. Department of State in the 1970s, the city was the 12th-largest resettlement site per capita in the country by 2000. Refugee Vietnamese, Karen (Burmese ethnic minority), Sudanese and Yazidi (Iraqi ethnic minority) people, as well as refugees from Iraq, the Middle East and Afghanistan, have resettled in the city. During the 2018–19 school year, Lincoln Public Schools provided support for about 3,000 students from 150 countries, who spoke 125 different languages.
Lincoln Police Department
In popular culture[edit]
Lincoln, Nebraska, is purportedly the setting of the animated television series Transformers: Armada. However, this depiction of the city is vastly different than reality, featuring mountains, deserts, and palm trees.[260][261]
In April 2011, a contest held by DC Comics selected Omaha, Nebraska, as the site of a new issue. However, the Nebraska State Capitol was depicted in the issue, with the writers having confused Lincoln for Omaha.[262]