Nebraska Counties With No Building Codes and No Zoning

Nebraska's county counts concern unincorporated land; county building authority excludes incorporated cities and villages and areas where municipalities exercise granted zoning jurisdiction¹¹. Residential building permits are not required in Richardson County, Blaine County, Butler County and Cuming County¹. Another 35 counties require building permits only in certain cases, while 53 require them; we could not confirm the building-permit answer for Thurston County².

Use the Nebraska no-building-codes list as a starting point, but distinguish a building permit from code compliance: Nebraska's state code can apply when a jurisdiction has not adopted an authorized local code within 2 years of a state-code update, except for construction on a farm or for farm purposes^1,12. Nebraska's own-property contractor-registration exemption does not waive applicable building permits, inspections or codes⁹. See the owner-builder list with that narrower exemption in mind⁹.

Nebraska has 9 counties without county-wide zoning and 84 with county zoning^2,3. The highest-scoring counties without county-wide zoning include Richardson County, Thurston County, Nemaha County, Banner County, Blaine County, Dixon County, Butler County and Platte County³. Browse the Nebraska no-zoning list for the full group³.

Only 3 counties combine no residential building-permit requirement with no county-wide zoning: Richardson County, Blaine County and Butler County⁷. The combined list helps narrow that search⁷.

Nebraska municipal zoning can also reach outside city limits and supersede county zoning where the municipality exercises that authority¹³. Before buying, ask the county planning office whether the parcel falls within county or municipal zoning jurisdiction, then request the applicable district's setbacks, lot-size and residential-use rules¹³.

Read the full Nebraska guide →