Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Nebraska

Nebraska, by road

Start with the map. I-80 follows the Platte River across the whole state, and Omaha sits where it meets I-29. The Interstates I-80 and I-29 set the haul lengths, and the longer the haul, the more an empty stack's height matters.

The counties with the most warehousing jobs are Sarpy (3,613), Douglas (1,252) and Lancaster (1,080), which is 72.1 percent of the state's 8,246. It shares a land border with South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming.

Warehousing in numbers

Refrigerated space matters because a freezer is hard on plastic; the cold guide says what to ask for. Nebraska held 49 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse capacity on October 1, 2025.

Reading the numbers

• Sarpy County has 3,613 warehousing jobs, 43.8 percent of Nebraska's 8,246, the most in the state.
• Douglas County has 1,252 warehousing jobs, 15.2 percent of Nebraska's 8,246, 2,361 fewer than Sarpy County.
• Lancaster County has 1,080 warehousing jobs, 13.1 percent of Nebraska's 8,246, 2,533 fewer than Sarpy County.
• Meat and poultry processing employs 31,833 people in Nebraska, 3.86 for every warehousing job.
• Food manufacturing employs 41,939 people in Nebraska, 5.09 for every warehousing job.
• Nebraska holds 0.43 percent of US warehousing jobs, about one in every 233, spread over 156 establishments averaging 53 jobs each.
• Omaha accounts for 5,157 warehousing jobs, 62.5 percent of Nebraska's.
• South Dakota has 3,269 warehousing jobs, 0.40 times the 8,246 in Nebraska.
• Iowa has 19,824 warehousing jobs, 2.40 times the 8,246 in Nebraska.
• Missouri has 26,726 warehousing jobs, 3.24 times the 8,246 in Nebraska.
• Kansas has 21,158 warehousing jobs, 2.57 times the 8,246 in Nebraska.

Who ships pallets here

In Nebraska, meat and poultry processing employs 31,833. Processing floors are wet, so open decks that drain and shed water matter, and so does a maker's cleaning guidance. It tends to lean on a washable nestable or stackable that drains, usually in 48 x 40 in, and to ask about whether the deck drains and how the maker says to clean it.

Meat and poultry processing is the trade where Nebraska is most concentrated, at 8.9 times the national share of employment. A buyer in that trade will tend to ask the questions in the last column first.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 156 warehouse establishments in Nebraska sent back 1,200 empty pallets in a week, that would be 187,200 pallets. The table counts the 53 ft trailers that takes at three makers' published nestable figures, beside the 540 per trailer of a rackable.

Next door

Metros in Nebraska with their own page: Omaha.

Words on this page

QCEW

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, a Bureau of Labor Statistics count of jobs and establishments taken from unemployment insurance records.

Interstate corridor

A freight route named for its highway, together with the metros along it.

Bulk bag

A large woven bag, often sold as a Super Sack, that holds a ton or so of powder or granules and sits on a square pallet.

Cruciform base

A base shaped like a plus sign under the pallet, which gives a stable footprint and slides well on conveyors.

4-way entry

A pallet that forks or a pallet jack can enter from all four sides.

Commodity class

A fire-protection category for stored goods and their pallets, used to design sprinkler systems.

Reefer

A refrigerated trailer or container.

Stretch wrap

Elastic film wound around a loaded pallet to hold the load together.

Establishment

A single physical location where a business operates, such as one warehouse. A company with ten warehouses has ten establishments.