Syracuse is located in Otoe County between Lincoln and Nebraska City along Hwy 2 and near the Little Nemaha River. Syracuse is part of the Lincoln, Nebraska Metropalitan Area.
The population estimate for July 1, 1998 was 1,697, an increase of 51 since 1990.
The name appears at a site southeast of Unadilla in 1856, nearly six miles west of its present location where salt was discovered. The first root for the present town of Syracuse was planted in the late 1850s when a school was established.