Ranked in the top 10 percent of all metro areas for its “Economic Strength” and among the top 25 “Best Places to Live and Launch a Business,” Greater Omaha is an excellent city in which to do business. In fact, this favorable climate extends throughout the state of Nebraska, where according to the Miliken Institute, the cost of doing business is 18 percent lower than the national average.

Learn more about Greater Omaha's Business Climate, Employment, Fortune 500 Headquarters, Major Employers, Business Establishments and Net Taxable Sales.

Business Climate

Overall, the case for doing business in Greater Omaha remains strong. Forbes magazine recently ranked Omaha eighth among the "Best Cities for Jobs in 2008" and Nebraska as the 10th most favorable state for business. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance ranked Omaha third among the “Top 10 Best Cities in 2008.”

Greater Omaha’s economy benefits from solid population and labor force growth with a relatively diverse industry mix. Greater Omaha has a history of strong business-government partnerships in area development projects. In the past decade, this cooperative redevelopment has resulted in more than $11 billion in new investment metro-wide with $2 billion in downtown alone.

Employment

The eight counties of Greater Omaha have a labor force totaling 456,493, of which approximately 439,796 are employed. The table below summarizes Greater Omaha’s labor force trends over the past several years. Since 1990, the area has added over 84,000 people to its labor force.

Employment by Place of Residence
	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Labor Force Total	439,128	441,368	443,149	449,256	456,493
Total Employed Workers	420,040	422,221	427,915	434,214	439,796
Unemployment	19,088	19,147	15,234	15,042	16,697
Unemployment Rate	4.3%	4.3%	3.4%	3.3%	3.7%

Employment by Place of Work (jobs)	442,500	448,200	456,200	462,800	468,400
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

The table below shows Greater Omaha’s employment distribution by industry compared to the nation.

Employment Distribution by Industry - 2008
	Greater Omaha		United States
Total Non-Farm Employment	468,400	100.0%	137,066,000	100.0%
Total Private Employment	406,300	86.7%	114,566,000	83.6%
Construction/Mining	25,700	5.5%	7,989,000	5.8%
Manufacturing	33,800	7.2%	13,431,000	9.8%
Trade, Trans., & Utilities	99,800	21.3%	26,385,000	19.2%
Information	12,200	2.6%	2,997,000	2.2%
Financial Activities	39,800	8.5%	8,146,000	5.9%
Prof. & Business Services	26,500	5.7%	17,778,000	13.0%
Educ. & Health Services	67,000	14.3%	18,855,000	13.8%
Leisure & Hospitality	45,700	9.8%	13,459,000	9.8%
Other Services	16,700	3.6%	5,528,000	4.0%
Government	62,100	13.3%	22,500,000	16.4%
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Greater Omaha has a higher concentration of its employment in financial activities, (Omaha – 8.5 percent vs. U.S. – 5.9 percent); trade, transportation and utilities [TTU] (21.3 percent vs. 19.2 percent); information (2.6 percent vs. 2.2 percent). This is offset by a relatively smaller share of total employment in the manufacturing (7.2 percent vs. 9.8 percent) and government (13.3 percent vs. 16.4 percent) sectors.

More than 5,600 jobs were added during 2008 – a 1.2 percent increase compared to 2007. The private sector added 4,500 jobs during the same period. Both the goods-producing sector and the service sector increased by 1.1 percent, and the manufacturing sector grew by 5.9 percent. Private sector growth was led by Education and Healthcare Services (+3.5 percent), Financial Activities (+1.7 percent), Professional Business Services (+1.5 percent), and Leisure & Hospitality (+0.8 percent).

The strength of Greater Omaha’s economy can also be seen in its unemployment rate, which is consistently lower than the national unemployment rate. The 2008 annual unemployment rate for Greater Omaha was 3.7 percent and 3.3 percent for the state of Nebraska, both less than the U.S. rate of 5.8 percent.

The following table shows the unemployment rate trends for Greater Omaha, Nebraska and the nation.

Unemployment Rate Trends
Year	Omaha	NE	US
1997	2.6	2.4	4.9
1998	2.4	2.5	4.5
1999	2.5	2.8	4.2
2000	2.8	2.8	4.0
2001	3.3	3.1	4.7
2002	3.9	3.7	5.8
2003	4.3	4.0	6.0
2004	4.3	3.9	5.5
2005	4.3	3.9	5.1
2006	3.4	3.0	4.6
2007	3.3	3.0	4.6
2008	3.7	3.3	5.8
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Fortune 500 Headquarters

Greater Omaha is home to the headquarters of four Fortune 500 companies.

Berkshire Hathaway (#13) – Berkshire Hathaway is a conglomerate headquartered in Omaha and operated by its legendary CEO – Warren Buffett. The company has actively acquired whole companies compiling a docket of some of America’s most well-known companies and brands. Insurance subsidiaries include National Indemnity, GEICO Corporation and reinsurance giant General Re. The company also owns MidAmerican Energy Holdings, the parent company of Northern Natural Gas, MidAmerican Energy, Cal Energy, and Pacificorp. Borsheim’s, the Nebraska Furniture Mart, the McLane Company, Dairy Queen and Clayton Homes also top the list of those owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Many of these subsidiaries have strong ties to Omaha – including headquarters, operations centers and retail outlets.

Union Pacific Corporation (#143) – The largest railroad in North America, Union Pacific operates in 23 states with a rail system that links every major West Coast and Gulf Coast port, and serves major gateways to the east. It’s also the primary rail connection between the U.S. and Mexico.

ConAgra Foods, Inc. (#188) – This international diversified food giant operates across the entire food chain and beyond, with major companies doing business in such areas as crop protection, food processing and consumer frozen foods (i.e. Healthy Choice, Hunt’s, Chef Boyardee, Orville Redenbacher), as well as financial companies specializing in commodity futures brokerage services, cattle feeding financial services, transportation financing and insurance services.

Peter Kiewit Sons’, Inc. (#321) One of the nation’s largest general contractors, this privately owned company has divisions engaged in telecommunications, coal mining, independent energy, infrastructure development and data services.

In addition, more than 50 Fortune 500 companies maintain major manufacturing plants or service operations in the Greater Omaha area. These include companies such as Kellogg’s, Lockheed Martin, Tyson Foods, 3M, Aflac, Google, First Data, Pacific Life and Northrop Grumman.

Corporate Headquarters

Greater Omaha is also home to a broad range of corporate headquarters. Companies from all industry sectors find Omaha an excellent place to conduct business – Mutual of Omaha, Werner, TD Ameritrade, HDR, Inc., infoGROUP, Omaha Steaks and Valmont to name just a few. There are also more than two dozen insurance companies domiciled in Greater Omaha. Over half of the two dozen telemarketing/direct response/reservation centers operating in Greater Omaha also have their corporate headquarters located here.

Major Employers

Greater Omaha is fortunate to maintain numerous large employers, the top being Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, which employs approximately 10,000 military and civilian workers. Major private employers include Alegent Health, First Data, First National Bank, ConAgra Foods, Union Pacific, Mutual of Omaha and PayPal. See the table below for a list of Greater Omaha’s Top 25 Largest Employers, based on employment.

Greater Omaha's Top 25 Largest Employers
1. Offutt Air Force Base	7,500 +
2. Alegent Health	7,500 +
3. Omaha Public Schools	7,500 +
4. Methodist Health System	5,000 +
5. The Nebraska Medical Center	5,000 +
6. First Data	5,000 +
7. Union Pacific	2,500 +
8. University of Nebraska Medical Center	2,500 +
9. First National Bank of Nebraska	2,500 +
10. ConAgra Foods	2,500 +
11. Mutual of Omaha	2,500 +
12. PayPal	2,500 +
13. University of Nebraska at Omaha	2,500 +
14. West Corp.	2,500 +
15. Creighton University	2,500 +
16. Millard Public Schools	2,500 +
17. Harrah's Council Bluffs	2,500 +
18. City of Omaha	1,000-2,499
19. Omaha Public Power District	1,000-2,499
20. Douglas County	1,000-2,499
21. Omaha World-Herald	1,000-2,499
22. TD AMERITRADE	1,000-2,499
23. Children's Hospital & Medical Center	1,000-2,499
24. Omaha Steaks	1,000-2,499
25. Wal-Mart	1,000-2,499
Source: Greater Omaha Chamber, 2010

Business Establishments

Greater Omaha’s County Business Pattern data reflects continued growth throughout the eight-county area. Between 1990 and 2006, the number of business establishments increased 26 percent from 17,363 to 21,952. (This does not include the self-employed, employees of private households, or railroad, agricultural production and most government employees.) Most business establishments are small businesses with approximately 53 percent of all establishments having fewer than five employees, more than 84 percent with fewer than 20 employees and 3 percent with 100 or more workers.

Greater Omaha Business Establishments
	1990		2006		Percent Change
	Number of Establishments	Payroll ($000)	Number of Establishments	Payroll ($000)	1990 - 2006
Total	17,363	5,822,108	21,952	11,694	26.4%
Cass County, NE	384	38,149	554	340	44.3%
Douglas County, NE	12,450	4,854,691	14,902	7,614	19.7%
Sarpy County, NE	1,429	422,303	2,823	1,567	97.6%
Saunders County, NE	370	28,934	473	309	27.8%
Washington County, NE	411	52,277	540	340	31.4%
Harrison County, IA	327	28,455	369	232	12.8%
Mills, County, IA	230	47,492	287	187	24.8%
Pottawattamie County, IA	1,782	349,807	2,004	1,105	12.5%
Source: County Business Patterns, 2006 and 1990, U.S. Department of Commerce

Net Taxable Sales

From 1990 to 2008, net taxable sales in the Nebraska counties of Greater Omaha have shown steady increases, with sales more than doubling from $4.13 billion to $9.3 billion during the same period. Net taxable sales include sales receipts of all goods subject to the Nebraska state sales tax, except food items sold in grocery stores and prescription drugs, which are not subject to sales tax in Nebraska. Net taxable sales are Greater Omaha’s proxy measure for retail sales.

Net taxable sales of motor vehicles, which is counted separately from net taxable sales, is collected in the county in which the vehicle is subsequently registered. Motor vehicle sales more than doubled between 1990 and 2008, reaching $1 billion.

*Greater Omaha Net Taxable Sales**
Year	Total Net Taxable Sales (000)	Net Taxable Sales of Motor Vehicles (000)
1980	$2,589,068	$223,377
1990	$4,055,334	$499,033
2000	$7,006,016	$970,867
2001	$7,241,327	$1,133,659
2002	$7,331,540	$1,164,841
2003	$7,667,430	$1,171,888
2004	$8,365,580	$1,124,848
2005	$8,669,035	$1,055,036
2006	$8,796,364	$1,013,663
2007	$9,116,077	$1,092,087
2008	$9,349,486	$1,093,683
*Nebraska Counties of MSA [Cass, Douglas, Sarpy, Washington, Saunders (1997-present)]
Source: Nebraska Department of Revenue