Rock County

Rock County, Nebraska — key demographics (U.S. Census Bureau: 2020 Census; 2019–2023 ACS 5-year)

Population size

• Total population: 1,191

Age

• Median age: ~51 years
• Under 18: ~22%
• 18–64: ~56%
• 65 and over: ~22%

Gender

• Male: ~51%
• Female: ~49%

Racial/ethnic composition

• White alone: ~96%
• American Indian/Alaska Native alone: ~1%
• Black or African American alone: ~0–1%
• Asian alone: ~0–1%
• Two or more races: ~2%
• Hispanic or Latino (of any race): ~3% Note: Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity and overlaps with race categories.

Households and housing

• Total households: ~575
• Average household size: ~2.1
• Family households: ~60%
• Married-couple households: ~50–55%
• Households with children under 18: ~20–25%
• Nonfamily households: ~35–40%
• Householders living alone: ~33% (about half of these are 65+)
• Homeownership rate: ~75–80%

Insights

• Very small, aging population with a high share of older adults.
• Predominantly White with a small Hispanic/Latino presence.
• Small household sizes and high homeownership typical of rural Great Plains counties.

• Scope: Rock County, Nebraska (2020 Census population 1,191) spans about 1,012 sq mi, ~1.2 people per sq mi; most residents are clustered in/around Bassett.

• Estimated email users: ~850 residents (≈70–72% of the population), reflecting rural broadband adoption and age-specific usage norms.

• Age distribution of email users (approx. counts):

  • Under 18: ~145 (17%)
  • 18–34: ~185 (22%)
  • 35–64: ~390 (46%)
  • 65+: ~130 (15%)

• Gender split among email users: 51% male (435) and 49% female (~415), mirroring the county’s slight male majority.

• Digital access and usage trends:

  • Broadband: Roughly three-quarters of households maintain a broadband subscription (ACS 2018–2022), with service quality strongest in and near town and weaker in outlying ranchlands.
  • Access modes: Fixed wireless and satellite commonly supplement DSL/fiber outside town; smartphone-based email is increasingly prevalent where wired options are limited.
  • Adoption trajectory: Email use among seniors is rising steadily as more 65+ residents obtain smartphones and home broadband.
  • Connectivity context: Extremely low population density raises last‑mile costs and contributes to gaps in high-speed coverage; public anchors (library/school) provide important Wi‑Fi access points.

Summary: Mobile phone usage in Rock County, Nebraska (2025)

Headline user estimates

• Total residents: roughly 1.3–1.4K; adult share is high for Nebraska (older county).
• Adult smartphone users: about 900 (roughly 75–80% of adults), below Nebraska’s statewide rate by 6–10 percentage points.
• Adults using basic/feature phones or no mobile: about 200–230 (roughly 20% of adults), about double the statewide share.
• Teen smartphone users (ages 13–17): roughly 80–90; total smartphone users countywide ≈ 980.
• Cellular-only home internet households: about 20% of households, versus roughly 10–12% statewide.

Demographic patterns shaping usage

• Older age structure drives lower smartphone penetration and slower 5G device uptake:
  • Ages 18–34: ~95%+ smartphone adoption; small cohort in-county.
  • Ages 35–49: ~90%+ adoption.
  • Ages 50–64: ~80–85% adoption.
  • Ages 65+: ~60–65% adoption, a much larger share of Rock County’s population than the state average.
• Income and occupation mix (ranching, agriculture, services) correlate with:
  • Higher prevalence of basic/flip phones among seniors.
  • Greater reliance on voice/SMS for coordination and safety in remote areas.
• Longer device replacement cycles than state urban areas; more 4G/LTE-only handsets remain in use.

Digital infrastructure and coverage

• Carriers present: Viaero Wireless (regional incumbent in rural Nebraska), Verizon, and AT&T provide the most dependable coverage; T‑Mobile is present primarily along major corridors and in town.
• Coverage pattern:
  • LTE is the de facto baseline; strong along US‑20/NE‑7/US‑183 and in Bassett, with notable signal attenuation inside metal buildings and in low-lying ranchlands.
  • 5G is available mainly as low-band coverage in and around Bassett and along primary highways; mid-band 5G is sparse to minimal outside town limits.
• Backhaul and fiber:
  • Fiber backbones follow highway and utility rights-of-way; local last-mile options exist in town, but outlying areas often fall back to cellular hotspots or satellite, reinforcing the higher cellular-only household share.
• Public safety:
  • FirstNet (AT&T) presence along primary routes supports emergency services; residents commonly rely on Wi‑Fi calling or signal boosters indoors due to weak in-building penetration.

How Rock County differs from Nebraska overall

• Adoption level: Smartphone adoption is lower and basic-phone use higher, driven by an older age profile; the county lags the state by roughly 6–10 percentage points on adult smartphone penetration.
• Access pattern: Cellular-only home internet is roughly 2× the statewide share, reflecting sparse fixed broadband beyond town.
• Network mix: Viaero and Verizon/AT&T dominate usage; T‑Mobile’s footprint is more limited than in Nebraska’s metros.
• 5G experience: Coverage is largely low-band and corridor-based, whereas Nebraska’s metros enjoy extensive mid-band 5G; practical 5G availability and speeds in Rock County trail the state’s urban centers.
• Usage behavior: More emphasis on voice/SMS reliability and Wi‑Fi offload at home; lower sustained mobile data consumption per user than in metro Nebraska due to patchy 5G and conservative data plans.

Notes on methodology

• User counts are model-based estimates that combine Rock County’s small, older-skewing population profile with current national smartphone adoption by age (Pew Research) and rural/urban differentials, and incorporate Nebraska’s rural broadband patterns (ACS “Computer and Internet Use”) and observed carrier footprints in the Sandhills. Figures are rounded to reflect the county’s small population and the granularity of public data.

Social media usage in Rock County, Nebraska (2025 snapshot)

Context and method: Rock County is a sparsely populated, older-skewing rural county. There are no county-specific measurement datasets for social platform usage; the figures below are modeled estimates for Rock County adults based on Pew Research Center’s most recent U.S. and rural social-media benchmarks (2023–2024) and the county’s age/sex profile from recent ACS data.

Topline user stats (adults 18+)

• Adults using any social media: ~72%
• Smartphone ownership: ~82%
• Home broadband: ~75–80% of households; mobile-only internet users: ~10–15%
• Daily social-media users: ~60% of adults

Most-used platforms (share of adults who use each)

• YouTube: ~80%
• Facebook: ~70% (majority daily users)
• Instagram: ~32%
• Pinterest: ~30%
• Snapchat: ~26%
• TikTok: ~24%
• X (Twitter): ~17%
• WhatsApp: ~14%
• Reddit: ~12%
• LinkedIn: ~15%

Age-group patterns (share of each age group using)

• 18–29: YouTube ~95%, Facebook ~70%, Instagram ~75–80%, Snapchat ~65%, TikTok ~60–65%
• 30–49: YouTube ~90%, Facebook ~80%, Instagram ~50%, Snapchat ~40%, TikTok ~30–40%
• 50–64: YouTube ~80%, Facebook ~70%, Instagram ~25–30%, TikTok ~15–20%, Snapchat ~15%
• 65+: YouTube ~60%, Facebook ~50%, Instagram ~10–15%, TikTok ~5–10%, Snapchat ~5%

Gender breakdown (share of adults using each platform)

• Facebook: women ~75%, men ~62%
• YouTube: men ~86%, women ~80%
• Instagram: women ~40%, men ~30%
• Pinterest: women ~45%, men ~15%
• TikTok: women ~27%, men ~21%
• X (Twitter): men ~20%, women ~14%
• Reddit: men ~18%, women ~6%

Behavioral trends in Rock County’s context

• Facebook is the community hub: school and county pages, church and volunteer groups, local buy/sell (Marketplace), event promotion, lost-and-found, obituaries, weather and road alerts.
• Video first: short-form video (Reels, Shorts, TikTok) drives reach among under-40; how‑to and equipment/repair content performs well on YouTube across ages.
• Messaging over posting: Facebook Messenger and Snapchat are primary for coordination (4‑H, youth sports, ranch/work crews) and quick local selling.
• Local information-seeking: adults commonly rely on Facebook Groups and Pages for local news, school updates, and emergency notices; official posts shared into private groups extend reach.
• Commerce: Facebook Marketplace dominates peer-to-peer sales; regional farm/ranch and outdoor-gear groups are active, with seasonal spikes during planting/harvest and hunting seasons.
• Timing: engagement peaks before work (6–8 a.m.), lunch (11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.), and evenings (8–10 p.m.); weekends skew to late morning/afternoon.
• Content that resonates: practical tips (weather, road closures, market prices), community recognition (youth sports, FFA/4‑H), local history photos, and short, authentic video from ranch/farm life.
• Platform roles:
  • Facebook/YouTube = mass reach across ages.
  • Instagram/Snapchat/TikTok = under-35 attention and culture.
  • Pinterest = projects, recipes, crafts (predominantly women).
  • X = niche use for state news, Husker/sports chatter, and emergencies.
  • LinkedIn = minimal outside government/education/health roles.

Notes

• Figures are best-available estimates for Rock County derived from rural U.S. usage patterns (Pew Research Center, 2023–2024) adjusted for the county’s older age structure. Multiple platforms are used by the same individuals; percentages will not sum to 100%.