Pender is a village in and the county seat of Thurston County, Nebraska, United States. On March 22, 2016, the United States Supreme Court resolved a disagreement as to whether Pender is located on the Omaha Indian Reservation, holding unanimously that "the disputed land is within the reservation’s boundaries." The predominantly European-American population was 1,115 at the 2020 census.

Thurston County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 6,773. Its county seat is Pender.