Gibbon is located in the southeast portion of Buffalo County in south-central, Nebraska. It is approximately 13 miles east of Kearney and 120 miles west of Lincoln. The City is found on U.S. Highway 30 and is just 3 miles north of Interstate 80 on the north side of the Platte River. Access from Interstate 80 is provided via an interchange with secondary road link L-10C. The Union Pacific Railroad mainline and U.S. Highway 30 bisect the City of Gibbon diagonally from the northeast to the southwest.
The town was developed on a grid pattern typical of the style surveyed by the railroads in the 19th Century. The majority of the street network is oriented either north to south or east to west. This pattern varies immediately southeast of the the U.S. Highway 30/Union Pacific Railroad Corridor. In this area the streets are parallel to or perpendicular to the diagonal rail line.
The population of Gibbon has risen steadily over the past 80 years. The U.S. Census of Population listed the 1930 population of Gibbon at 825 persons. The population has grown steadily since to its 2010 population of 1833.