MudAndTapeSheets, mud, tape and screws for a room, with the waste counted.

Drywall installation cost in Nebraska for 1000 sq ft of board

Hanging, taping and finishing drywall in Nebraska
$2,097
1,000 ft² of board · typical range $1,398 – $3,277
Where the state difference actually lands$2,097labormaterialNebraska−19.4% trade pay$2,400labormaterialU.S. averagesame scopeMaterial is the same in both columns — only the labor half moves
Typical total$2.10 per ft² of board$2,097
Range you should see in bidsthree bids on the same scope normally land inside this$1,398 – $3,277
Labor portion65% of the job — this is the part that moves by state$1,363
Material portion35% — bought at national prices$734
Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers pay in Nebraskaabout $25/hr · BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 47-2081$51,260/yr
U.S. mean for the same tradeSOC 47-2081$63,600/yr
Versus the national priceNebraska trade pay runs −19.4% against the U.S. mean−$303

Notes

  • **Where the number comes from.** The national price for hanging, taping and finishing drywall is $2.40 per ft² of board — drywall installation pricing published for 2026, $1.60–$3.75 per ft² including materials. Labor is about 65% of that. Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers in Nebraska average $51,260 a year against a U.S. mean of $63,600 — a factor of 0.806 — so the labor half is scaled by that and the material half is not.
  • **What is in the price:** board, screws, tape, three coats of compound to a level 4 finish, sanding, and labor.
  • **What is not:** primer and paint, texture, level 5 finish, and hauling the old board away. These are the lines that turn a $2,097 quote into a $2,622 invoice, so ask about each one before signing.
  • **Why state matters more than people expect.** Materials ship at national prices; crews do not move. Nebraska sits below the national mean by 19.4%, which lands on 65% of the job and moves the total by $303.
  • **Use this as a bid check, not a quote.** It prices an average job in an average condition. Steep access, a second story, a tear-off of two layers, or a crew booked out three months all move the real number, and none of them are in a per-unit average.

Hanging and finishing 1000 sq ft in Nebraska

$2,097 is the typical figure, and bids on the same scope normally land between $1,398 and $3,277.

That is 1,000 ft² of board at $2.10 each.

Why this is not the national number

The same job priced at the U.S. average comes to $2,400 — this one is $303 less.

The reason is one number, and it is a published one. Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers in Nebraska average $51,260 a year against a U.S. mean of $63,600, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS release for May 2025, SOC 47-2081. That is roughly $25 an hour of trade pay, a factor of 0.806, or −19.4% against the national mean.

Labor is about 65% of this job. Material is the other 35%, and material does not care what state it is nailed down in — a pallet costs what a pallet costs. So only the labor half is scaled here, and the material half is left at national pricing.

That is the whole model, and it is deliberately simple enough to check: $1,363 of labor, $734 of material.

Board area is not room area

A 12 × 12 room with an 8 ft ceiling is 144 ft² of floor and about 528 ft² of board once four walls and the ceiling are counted. Quotes are per square foot of board, so pricing off floor area understates the job by roughly three and a half times.

What is in this price

Board, screws, tape, three coats of compound to a level 4 finish, sanding, and labor.

What is not

Primer and paint. Texture, if you want it. A level 5 skim, which is a separate coat over the whole surface and is what large windows and raking light actually require. And hauling the old board out — demolition is its own line.

Finish level is the number that moves the quote

Level 4 is standard for painted walls with flat or eggshell paint. Level 5 costs meaningfully more and is not optional under gloss or across a wall that gets low-angle sun. Two bids that differ by a third are often just quoting two different finish levels.

How to use this against a real bid

Three quotes on identical scope should cluster. One well under $1,398 usually means something was left out of the scope rather than found cheaper — read what is excluded before reading the total. One well over $3,277 is either a harder job than average or a crew that does not want the work and priced accordingly.

The number above prices an average job in average condition. Access, story height, season, and how booked the crew is all move it, and none of those live in a per-unit average.

Nearby sizes

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