Laurel is a city in Cedar County, Nebraska located at the merger of Highway 20 and Highway 15 in the northeast corner of the state. Laurel sits roughly 40 miles east of Norfolk, Nebraska, west of Sioux City, Iowa, and south of Yankton, South Dakota. Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska is 15 miles south of Laurel. Its population was 975 at the 2020 census.

Cedar County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 8,380. The county seat is Hartington. The county was formed in 1857, and was named for the Cedar tree groves in the area.