Most Expensive Places To Live In Idaho For 2020

The 10 Most Expensive Places To Live In Idaho For 2020

1. Star

The median income in Star comes in at $54,386 and the median home value is $258,100 for 2020.

2. Sandpoint

Sandpoint is the largest town in, and the county seat of, Bonner County, Idaho, United States. Its population was 7,365 at the 2010 census.

The median income in Sandpoint comes in at $41,385 and the median home value is $220,700 for 2020.

3. Rexburg

Rexburg is a city in Madison County, Idaho, United States. The population was 25,484 at the 2010 census, up from 17,257 in 2000. The city is the county seat of Madison County and its largest city. Rexburg is the principal city of the Rexburg, ID Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Fremont and Madison Counties. The city is home to Brigham Young University-Idaho, a private institution operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The median income in Rexburg comes in at $29,910 and the median home value is $199,800 for 2020.

4. Hailey

Hailey is a city in and the county seat of Blaine County, in the Wood River Valley of the central part of the U.S. state of Idaho.

The city is named after John Hailey, a two-time Congressional delegate from the Idaho Territory.

The median income in Hailey comes in at $47,288 and the median home value is $348,200 for 2020.

5. Moscow

Moscow is a city in northern Idaho along the state border with Washington, with a population of 23,800 at the 2010 census. The county seat and largest city of Latah County, Moscow is the home of the University of Idaho, the state's land grant institution and primary research university, as well as the home of New Saint Andrews College, a Christian liberal arts college.

The median income in Moscow comes in at $38,533 and the median home value is $224,400 for 2020.

6. Hayden

Hayden is a city in Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. Located in the northern portion of the state, it is a suburb of nearby Coeur d'Alene and its population was 13,294 at the 2010 census.

The median income in Hayden comes in at $55,173 and the median home value is $241,100 for 2020.

Coeur d'Alene KOR d-LAYN) is the largest city and county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of Coeur d'Alene was 44,137. The city is a satellite city of Spokane, which is located about 30 miles to the west, in the state of Washington. The two cities are the key components of the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene Combined Statistical Area, of which Coeur d'Alene is the third-largest city. Coeur d'Alene is the largest city in northern Idaho Panhandle. The city is situated on the north shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene, 25 miles in length. Locally, Coeur d'Alene is known as the "Lake City", or simply called by its initials: "CDA".

The median income in Coeur D'alene comes in at $48,893 and the median home value is $211,200 for 2020.

The median income in Garden City comes in at $46,311 and the median home value is $213,200 for 2020.

9. Post Falls

Post Falls is a city in Kootenai County, Idaho, between Coeur d'Alene and Spokane, Washington. It is both a suburb of Coeur d'Alene, to the east; and a bedroom community to Spokane, to the west. The population was 27,574 at the 2010 census, up from 17,247 in 2000 census, making it Idaho's tenth largest city. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated 2014 population is 30,123.

The median income in Post Falls comes in at $51,521 and the median home value is $193,000 for 2020.

Boise ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, the population of Boise at the 2010 Census was 205,671, the 99th largest in the United States. Its estimated population in 2016 was 223,154.

The median income in Boise City comes in at $56,798 and the median home value is $230,800 for 2020.

How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Gem State For 2020

The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:

1. How much do money do I make?
2. How much do I have spend to live there?

You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.

For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it's actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.

With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2014-2018 around incomes and costs. They are:

• Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
• Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
• Median Home Price

We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).

You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Idaho to figure out which is the most expensive.

What you are left with is a "Cost of Living Index" by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.

So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 33 places in Idaho that have more than 5,000 people.

The place with the highest cost of living in Idaho according to the data is Star. You can download the data here.