Dorchester Times: Comparing Dorchester's Costs-Of-Living

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Comparing Dorchester's Costs-Of-Living

We've said it before but it bears repeating: Dorchester has a lot going for it if you are looking for the following:

Living in a safe, friendly and affordable small-town community.

Sending your kids to a newer K-12 school with quality staff members who aren't driven by political agendas.

Living in a village with friendly, engaged citizens that are always looking for ways to improve.

Being close to many area employers and just 25 minutes to Lincoln.

But perhaps Dorchester's biggest benefits are its affordable housing and costs-of-living, with the lowest school tax levy rates in the county and one of the lower property rates in southeast Nebraska.

The Dorchester Times has run the numbers -- and they show that those living in Lincoln or Omaha, especially if they desire a close-knit, smaller community and saving money for the future, may want to consider relocating to Dorchester. Here's why:

Dorchester Vs. Lincoln

Dorchester's median home listing price is around $95,000 compared to Lincoln's $341,100. So a couple or individual could live in a home in Dorchester for roughly $246,000 less, right up front.

Then, over a decade, that couple would save tens of thousands of dollars on property taxes, according to tax data.

We estimate that over 10 years, a couple or individual would save roughly $100,000 just on housing costs and property taxes by moving from Lincoln to Dorchester. (What could you do with an extra $100,000? Remember, this is just the average.)

Of course, this doesn't include the intangibles such as safety, quality of a child's upbringing, knowing your neighbors, peace and quiet, etc.

Dorchester Vs. Omaha

Omaha's median home cost is $335,000 compared to Dorchester's $95,000. A couple or individual could live in the same grade of home in Dorchester for roughly $240,000 less. Again, over 10 years, that couple would save roughly tens of thousands of dollars on property taxes.

Inflation -- caused mostly by the government's money printing, hiring, and mandates, like minimum wage hikes -- is going to force many Americans to take a crash course in personal economics.

When they do, they would be wise to recognize the financial advantages of small-town living.

2 comments:

cynical richardJanuary 20, 2024 at 12:41 PM
not fair ........... youre forgeting about the free poop on the sidewalks in omaha and lincoln .............................................. dont forget the friendly thugs that stormed the buildings around the state capitol in 2020 ................................... pieces of poop themselves ........................................... why werent they arrested ......................................... all are invited to my farm .................................... meet my ar15 called betsy .............................
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AnonymousJanuary 30, 2024 at 11:37 PM
Oh yea, we got the FOX news also.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."