Nebraska has a strong reputation as a business-friendly state, with CNBC ranking it 8th in the nation in 2019 based on its solid growth, low costs, and excellent educational system. That’s a favorable environment for any kind of business professional seeking lucrative compensation, but HR professionals in particular do well where business does well.
With human resource manager hiring expected to top 12 percent through 2026, that’s a lot of opportunities here for HR professionals, and with annual median wages not far below the national median, with a much lower cost of living, it can be a pretty lucrative place to work as well.
And though most of the state’s more than 1,200 HR staff work in the Omaha-Council Bluff’s area, salaries outside the major metro areas come up surprisingly close to the state averages in a number of places, giving you the option of seeking big-city convenience or small-town living without sacrificing compensation.
How to Achieve a Higher Salary as an HR Professional in Nebraska
Like any job, you’re going to be more valued as an HR professional if you have more experience. But, because you know everything you need to know about how companies evaluate and hire candidates, you also know that experience has to be balanced by education. Education and experience actually go hand-in-hand, even as you are starting out in human resources, since picking the right school can put you into internships that combine on-the-job experience with classroom knowledge and the resources to back them both up.
And because in-demand jobs tend to pay better, you can also stack the deck in your favor by specializing in HR work with industries that are big in Nebraska, such as finance and insurance, agricultural manufacturing, and health care.
Salaries for Human Resources Managers in Nebraska
If you have the experience and education to take on a management role in Nebraska, you’ll probably want to know what kind of salary you can expect in different roles and areas across the state.
Here you’ll find the 2018 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics information for the state’s major metropolitan areas:
Omaha-Council Bluffs
The Omaha-Council Bluffs area has the highest number of managers currently working in every specialty area in the HR field and also the highest median salary level in the state, making it a great place to start your HRM job search
Lincoln
Training and development managers might start looking for jobs in the Lincoln area. Although there are fewer openings, a higher mean wage means a six-figure salary there.
Human Resources Specialist and Assistant Salaries in Nebraska
Although Lincoln and Omaha both top out at higher rates for specialists in HR in the top ten percent, the South Nebraska region, including North Platte and Ogallala, comes pretty close, with much lower cost of living expenses making them a quality of life winner.
Omaha-Council Bluffs
Omaha is once again at the top of the pile for median salaries for HR Assistants, but the Northeast Nebraska non-metropolitan area surprisingly comes in a pretty close second.
Lincoln
These are the 2018 BLS statistics for HR specialists and assistants in the Lincoln area:
Salary and employment data compiled by the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics in May of 2018 for human resources managers, specialists, and assistants – https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_ne.htm#11-9111. The BLS salary data shown here represents median – 90th percentile salary ranges for the state and its MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) and includes workers at all levels of education and experience. This data does not represent starting salaries.
Job growth projections sourced from the Nebraska Department of Labor and published in the U.S. Department of Labor-funded Long Term Occupational Projections (2016-2026) database – https://projectionscentral.com/Projections/LongTerm. Employment conditions in your area may vary.
All salary and job growth data accessed in October 2019.