Lincoln grew a solid 12.7% over the past decade, according to census figures released earlier this month.
Lancaster County, however, grew slightly faster, about 13%, thanks to explosive growth among many of the smaller towns outside Lincoln.
The county had three of the top five and four of the top 10 fastest-growing cities and towns in the state with at least 250 people, according to census figures. That was more than any other county. Overall, six towns in the county other than Lincoln grew by at least 10% from 2010-2020.
Valley, a town in northwest Douglas County that's home to a National Weather Service office, was the fastest-growing community in the state, boosting its population by 62% over the past decade. But Hickman was right behind, coming in at 57% growth, and Bennet followed with 50% growth. Waverly ranked fifth with slightly more than 30% growth.
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Hickman's mayor and city administrator both said the rapid growth was expected.
"In keeping track of building permits for new single-family residential homes, town homes, four-duplexes and new apartment buildings to Hickman, we were aware that our actual growth was larger than the predicted growth," Mayor Doug Hanson and City Administrator Kelly Oelke said in a joint statement.
Ryan Cheney, chairman of the Bennet Board of Trustees, said officials there weren't surprised, either, that the village added more than 360 people over the past decade and has now topped 1,000 residents.
"We kind of knew that we were going to take a big jump just with all the development we've had over the past 10 years," said Cheney, a Bennet native who owns his own welding company.
He said he's noticed a number of young families with children moving to the community in the past few years, many of them from Lincoln.
Cheney said that's likely due to Bennet being home to the elementary school for the Palmyra school district, as well as some of the amenities the village has added, including a park and a disc golf course. But it's also due to its proximity to Lincoln.
"It's a small town, but we've got big-city access," he said. "I think that's appealing for people."
The state's three largest counties, Douglas, Lancaster and Sarpy, accounted for all of Nebraska's growth and then some over the past 10 years. The three counties combined to add more than 136,000 people, while the other 90 counties collectively lost about 1,000 people.
While Omaha, Lincoln and Bellevue led in raw numbers of people added, cities and towns around them saw the biggest percentage growth. Nine of the top 10 fastest-growing communities in the state and 12 of the top 15 are in either the Lincoln or Omaha metropolitan areas.
Much like the Omaha suburbs, the small towns around Lincoln offer the perks of small-town living, such as less crime and traffic, while still offering the proximity of things such as shopping, health care, jobs and entertainment, said David Drozd, research coordinator at the Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
"With many Nebraskans having grown up in more rural areas (and) small towns, they may like that atmosphere more than living in the city."
Other Lancaster County towns that saw strong growth over the past 10 years were Hallam, up nearly 26%; Malcolm, up almost 20%; and Firth, up 10%.
Andrew Thierolf, with the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Department, said that while the percentage growth in the smaller towns is impressive, in raw numbers it's tiny compared with the growth in Lincoln.
Waverly added 1,002 people in the past decade, while Hickman added 950. Lincoln, on the other hand, added 32,703.
The Planning Department's Comprehensive Plan that guides land use in the county calls for Lincoln to continue to make up 90% of its population. In 2020, the city accounted for 90.2%, down from 90.5% in 2010, but up from 90.1% in 2000.
"It’s holding steady," Thierolf said of that ratio. "We expect it to stay that way over the next 30 years."
Thierolf said the growth in the towns, especially Waverly and Hickman, does present some potential issues when it comes to keeping up with infrastructure needs.
"For Waverly and Hickman, keeping up with sewer and water infrastructure will be important," he said. "County roads are also impacted, particularly with traffic from Hickman. The South Beltway should hopefully help gather some of that traffic."
The South Beltway, an 11-mile expressway under construction south of Lincoln that will connect U.S. 77 and Nebraska 2, will be just a few miles north of Hickman, and officials realize it likely will lead to even more growth.
One big benefit of new developments is that they come with all new infrastructure, which allows the town to focus its efforts on improving existing infrastructure.
Hanson and Oelke said Hickman is focusing on an expansion of its water treatment plant and improvements to its wastewater treatment plant, among other potential infrastructure improvements to keep up with growth.
Waverly Mayor Bill Gerdes said his town has done a good job keeping up with infrastructure needs. For example, voters there passed a bond issue that paid to build a new sewer treatment plant in 2008 that has the capacity to serve up to 10,000 residents.
One area that's a constant struggle, however, is roads.
Gerdes said that when he moved to Waverly 20 years ago, traffic was a lot lighter than it is now.
"With growth comes more traffic and more demands on the infrastructure," he said.
But Gerdes said Waverly is doing a good job paying for its road needs through growth in its tax base without having to significantly raise rates.
Cheney said roads are an issue in Bennet, too. The village just recently passed a bond issue to pay for repairs and upgrades to many of its streets, and it also will have to find money to pay to put in new water lines to growing subdivisions.
And he knows those issues will continue if the community continues to grow. But it's better than the alternative.
"That's what you want to see in a small town — you want to see it grow," Cheney said. "You don't want to see it die."
Reach the writer at 402-473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.
On Twitter @LincolnBizBuzz.