What is it Like Living in Idaho?
Hey, Dave Edwards, Treasure Valley Dave here. I want to discuss the pros and cons of living
in Sacramento or Nampa, Idaho, or any part of the state. It’s not a clickbaity thing; I’m not
someone that’s never been to Idaho and just looked at other people’s interpretations of
stuff about living in Idaho. I want to talk with you as someone who lived in many different
places and now lives in Idaho by choice. So I will review these pros and cons, give you my
opinion, and see what you think. So let’s get right to that.
Living in Idaho Pros and Cons
This is from moverjunction.com. It is a moving company portal where you could sign up and reach potential movers that way, but they had a decent list of pros and cons of living in Idaho.
Pro: Homes are fairly affordable in Idaho.
Sure, house buying in Idaho is not as cheap as it used to be, but it’s not too bad. I just looked this morning and started comparing Nampa and Sacramento, which are two of the best places to live in Idaho. The Sacramento market is on fire compared to Nampa. Nampa’s doing good, while Sacramento’s going crazy. I hate to see what it will do once spring gets here.
Con: Idaho residents are known for living a solitary lifestyle.
Let me have my yard and property and be a good neighbor, but don’t put your tent in my
front yard and start moving in.
Solitary means you want your privacy, and nothing is wrong with that. If you’re sitting
around feeling lonely, that’s your fault because there are so many things to do and many
great people you need to know about. You can even go to the store, stand in line, and start
a conversation. You’ll be fine.
Pro: Idaho has a booming job market.
That’s true. We have high economic activity but low unemployment here, so we need more
workers.
Is it the same job that you had before? Is it going to be paying the same as it had before? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But that’s for you to do some research on to find out. But do remember this: your first job doesn’t have to be a forever job. By your third job or after 18 months, you will find a job that you will be happy to do every day.
Con: Idaho's population is growing very fast.
Well, it is growing very fast, but let’s keep things in perspective. We started with a small
number of people and then added half of that number. So yeah, it feels like a lot. In
California, you get that many people streaming in daily, weekly, or monthly, and you don’t
even notice it because there are 40 million people to start with.
We’re not even 2 million here in Idaho. Do you know that the San Francisco Bay area has 9
million people? We’re not even 2 million in the entire state. So yeah, the populations are
growing fast, but keep things in perspective.
Pro: Idaho has a below-average property crime rate.
Another pro is we have a below-average property crime rate. I can understand that.
Con: Winters can be harsh in Idaho.
Yeah, there are places where winters can really be bad — that are as bad as Nebraska
winters. But in the Treasure Valley, we’re surrounded by mountains, so we have very mild
temperatures. So the big thing is we don’t have that constant wind.
I’m currently in Nebraska visiting family. When you go outside, it’s just wind, wind, wind,
wind all the time. So whether it’s hot or cold, you got the wind. If it’s cold out, that wind
makes it terribly cold. So when it’s hot out, it’s just humid and like standing in an air fryer or
something.
Pro: Idaho has a below-average violent crime rate.
Very good.
Con: There is no functioning public transport system in Idaho.
That’s not entirely true. In the Treasure Valley, we have a public bus line between the different towns.
Within the towns, do we have a light rail service that takes valuable street space and costs the state millions and millions and millions of dollars? No, we don’t have that. So are there cronies that would love to get that here? Yes, I’m sure there would be. But we have enough sensible politicians here, so it has yet to happen.
Pro: Cities in Idaho make efforts to be clean and organized.
That’s very true. Even living in Boise, Idaho is great because it’s clean and very attractive. There are no homeless people all over the place. WalletHub has also voted Nampa as the best well-run small city in the country year after year. And it is just a nice place to live, and the people are very frugal with the dollars you pay into taxes.
Pro: Cities in Idaho make efforts to be clean and organized.
That’s very true. Even living in Boise, Idaho is great because it’s clean and very attractive. There are no homeless people all over the place. WalletHub has also voted Nampa as the best well-run small city in the country year after year. And it is just a nice place to live, and the people are very frugal with the dollars you pay into taxes.
Con: You'll have to put up with cultural concentration in Idaho.
I’m not even sure what that means. Does that mean there are a lot of white people or Christians? Yeah, I’m afraid so. If you don’t like that, Idaho’s probably not your place.
Whether you’re a Christian or not, whether you’re white or not, it doesn’t really matter at all. That’s the culture we have up here. And it’s nice and friendly. Everybody’s friendly and honest. You can leave your garage door open all day at work, go home, wake up in the morning, and find it open all night. You don’t have to worry that someone’s coming in and taking your stuff.
I’m not saying that Idaho’s perfect, and we don’t have the bad stuff that happens here. But when you compare what we have here to even some good places in California, relocating to Idaho is a much better idea.
Pro: Idaho residents are friendly people.
Absolutely. And the thing is, half of those people came from California. There are many friendly people in California, but not as many as there used to be because they’ve moved to other places. So the ones who have moved up here to Idaho are Idahoans at heart and are just good people.
Con: Housing markets are gradually becoming expensive in Idaho.
That’s true. It costs more now than it did in the past. However, it costs less today than it did a year ago. So things are relative.
Speaking of which, if you look at your housing market prices in Sacramento right now, they are going up faster than the housing market prices in Nampa. I just checked those numbers this morning, so it’s all relative.
Pro: There are tons of exciting outdoor activities in Idaho.
I’m sure you know that. I know you’ve researched that there’s camping and hiking and everything from horse riding to getting on your quads and fishing, boating — the whole thing.
Con: Idaho only has a few shopping options.
So I was getting back to this before we talked about crime. We have yet to have any Walgreens nearby because so many people are coming in and stealing stuff constantly. But we have Walgreens if you want to shop at Walgreens.
What we don’t have is Ikea. We’re still a couple hundred thousand people away in the Treasure Valley from meeting the threshold for IKEA.
Still, there’s an excellent service in Boise where people run to IKEA in Seattle and maybe Salt Lake City. So you can put in your order, and they will get the stuff for you. And if you need something online, you can take that route too.
Pro: You'll enjoy all four seasons in a year in Idaho.
That’s true. Sometimes, you’ll enjoy all four seasons in a day. We’ve been experiencing that recently, and I’ve heard so many people say this too. Where they live (like in the San Diego area), it’s just gorgeous. But it was the same thing day after day after day after day.
In Idaho, you have your first winter; just about the time you get tired of winter, spring starts, and everything feels fresh. So when you get tired of spring, you might think, “Gosh, I wish I was warm enough to go up to the dam and do stuff in the water.” Then, it’s summertime, and you’re out there doing all the fun summer stuff, and then the evenings cool down, and you have the barbecues.
Once you get tired of that, guess what? It’s pumpkin spice time. It becomes fall. The days are more relaxed, the leaves start falling, and it gives you a sense that some change is coming.
When you’re tired of fall, winter comes, and you may even experience that first snow. Sometimes, it happens on Christmas Eve, and it feels so special. It’s like at Christmas when the snow comes down on Christmas Eve, and it’s lovely. After that, if you’re tired of the snow and the cold, spring is right around the corner again.
So those four distinct seasons in a year are great. In a day, it can try your patience.
Con: The state is politically concentrated.
I guess what that means is that only 15% of the voters are registered as Democrats. I guess the rest of the voters would be Republicans, and some tiny parties like the Constitution Party are in the mix too.
Politically, well, most people are somewhat conservative. I’m going to say most people in Idaho live a pretty conservative life. So the “let me do what I want and leave me alone, and I’ll leave you alone” kind of attitude permeates most places here.
I know where you’ve lived, you’ve experienced a big government stepping in to create crisis. As Hillary said, never let a good situation go to waste. So some native Idahoans never experienced that and always hope for the best. You guys are smart enough to know that that’s only sometimes the case.
Pro: Country music is a way of life.
If you like country music, that’s great. I know Idaho life is full of country music up here. But there’s a lot of classic rock up too. They’re bringing some of the Dinosaurs of Rock out to the local venues, and they just get filled up. So people really enjoy their rock and roll here.
The one thing I haven’t seen is a pickup next to you that’s blaring country music and going thumpety dumpty thump when you pull up to a stoplight. Nor do I notice rap or anything else. Most people like to treat others like they’d like to be treated.
Con: You'll have to put up with gun laws in Idaho.
What kind of person wrote this? “Oh, you’ll have to put up with people wanting to take responsibility for themselves, their family, and their community and make sure that bad guys don’t get a foothold here.”
Okay, so let’s say we had a shooting at the mall. The mall’s private property and the owners said, “No guns on that.” So some whack job wants to make a name for himself in the press. Where does he go? He goes to the place where there are no guns because even though he’s a whack job, he is not stupid.
No, putting up with the gun laws Idaho should be in the pro category. So you get gun laws today; your gun permit is the second amendment.
Pro: It's easy to access major services in Idaho.
I don’t know about that because I have yet to access major services. I mean, I’ve used the VA, and that was pretty easy.
Con: Idaho only has a few options for luxury shopping.
If you need Saks Fifth Avenue, you should move to New York because we don’t have one I know of here. We might have one, but I’ve never been there, and that’s okay too. Nevertheless, we have a lot of options for shopping.
One thing that we do have here (because it’s easier to have a business here) is small mom-and-pop shops. A friend of mine makes soap and sells it at flea markets. And so there are many shopping opportunities that you might not have where you are. But if you need to go to Saks Fifth Avenue, you can take a flight out there, have a long weekend, come back, and then enjoy Idaho.
Pro: If you love sports, you'll enjoy living in Idaho.
Well, very good. I don’t have much to add, but I will take that at face value.
Wrapping Up
Those are our pros and cons about life in Idaho, with some honest Treasure Valley Dave commentary. Thank you for watching this video. Subscribe to the channel or contact us if you have questions. This is Treasure Valley Dave, and I’m looking forward to helping you get home.
