Asphalt driveway cost in Lincoln, NE

What nearby projects cost in Lincoln

Jobs that often go together with asphalt driveway are priced below at their usual sizes, using the same Lincoln wage and price inputs. Compared with national midpoints, gravel driveway comes out highest (−3%) and concrete driveway lowest (−7%); the gap comes from the trades each job uses.

Lincoln: what basic, standard and premium work costs

The cited range is split into basic, standard and premium bands, then scaled to Lincoln. Bands overlap, because plenty of standard jobs cost as much as a light premium one. Sizes run from 1-car (12x20), 240 sq ft to long rural (10x100), 1,000 sq ft.

Specs and site conditions that change a Lincoln bid

• Base work

  Four to eight inches of compacted aggregate under the asphalt is where cheap quotes cut corners. Base typically runs $1-$3 per sq ft.

• Small jobs cost more per foot

  Paving crews move a paver, roller and trucks to your address, so a 400 sq ft driveway carries more mobilization per square foot than a 1,000 sq ft one.

• Hot-mix price

  Hot-mix asphalt is $100-$200 per ton delivered and moves with oil prices (PaveGauge).

Extras that change the Lincoln total

Add-ons start from national price ranges and are scaled by 0.97 for Lincoln, which is the average of the area's wage index (1.00) and goods price index (0.94). The estimator above can add them to your total.

The best months for asphalt driveway in Lincoln

Climate numbers on this page come from NOAA's 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals at the nearest suitable station, Lincoln Muni Ap (5 miles from the city center). They are 30-year averages, so any one year can run hotter, colder or wetter.

For digging, grading and setting material in the ground, the comfortable months in Lincoln are April through October: 7 of 12. Outside them, January, February, March, November and December have an average overnight low at or below freezing (32°F).

In January, February, March, November and December the average low is at or below freezing, which means frozen ground and slower digging, compaction and sod or stone placement. NOAA counts about 143 days a year with a low at or below 32°F at this station.

Lincoln gets about 29 inches of precipitation in a normal year, including roughly 26 inches of snow. The wettest months are May, June and August (4.9 inches in May). Inside the workable window, April and October are the driest, at 2.7 and 2.1 inches. The station averages about 42 days a year at 90°F or above.

We do not adjust the estimate by month, because we have no reliable published data on seasonal pricing. It is still worth asking contractors whether an off-peak start date changes their bid.

Is Lincoln cheap or dear? The local comparison

Of the five closest metros, 2 are cheaper than Lincoln. Topeka is the lowest at about $4,900 (midpoint, 600 sq ft), 135 miles away.

Out of the 300 metros we cover, Lincoln ranks #170 for the cost of this job (#1 is the most expensive). Statewide, Lincoln is 3% above the Nebraska figure.

Elsewhere in Nebraska

Metros of a similar size

Big cities and small ones price differently, so here is Lincoln against the 4 metros with the closest total employment.

Who does the work: Lincoln trade wages

The labor line is built from BLS wage data, one trade at a time. This job draws on 3 trades. We compare each trade's local median with the US median, weight the ratios by how much of the job each trade does, and apply the blend to the national labor cost. For Lincoln the blend is 1.00.

Paving, surfacing and tamping equipment operators (47-2071), 40% of the weighting: a median of $25.38 an hour, in line with the US median of $25.64. The middle half of them earn between $23.58 and $29.36 an hour. About 90 work in the metro. That is 4.9 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 2.7 nationally, which suggests plenty of local crews to bid.

For construction laborers (47-2061, weighted 30%) the local median is $22.45 an hour, which is in line with the national $22.66. The middle half of them earn between $19.28 and $24.46 an hour. BLS counts 1,250 of them working in the area, 68.4 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 70.5), so the local bench is about average.

Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (47-2073), 30% of the weighting: a median of $29.24 an hour, in line with the US median of $28.78. The middle half of them earn between $24.86 and $30.19 an hour. About 490 work in the metro. That is 26.8 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 30.7 nationally, so the supply of crews looks typical.

A quick sensitivity check: moving the lead trade (paving, surfacing and tamping equipment operators) from the median to the 75th percentile wage adds about $130 to the midpoint estimate; the 25th percentile takes off about $60. That is a swing of roughly 1.2% to 2.6% of the total, which is useful for judging whether a bid reflects wages or something else, such as scope or margin.

Lincoln has 182,620 jobs in total (BLS, May 2025), ranking 126th by size among the 300 metros on this site.