This is a video I should have made a looong time ago as I get asked about this topic all of the time – not super exciting, but it is super important when considering a move to a new state, so today, we are talking about the cost of living in the Boise, Idaho area. 

The good news about me not having made this video a year or two ago is that the cost of living has changed since I started making videos in 2020, so this data we go over today will be from April of 2023, and I’ll try to update it every year…so if you’ve seen my video that is about the pros and cons of living in Boise, Idaho, I state that the median price of a home was around $370,000, I think. I made that video in May of 2020, and that median home price is probably one of the most important factors in figuring out affordability of an area for you to live, so let’s start with an updated median home price for you. 

Please keep in mind that cost of living varies greatly depending on what home you live in, which area, and all kinds of factors that we will touch on today, but we should get a good overview, and I’ll show you some real-life comparisons. 

Okay so the median home price in the Boise area today, at the end of April 2023, is currently at about $449,000, and the average home price is about $537,000, and that data is for Ada and Canyon counties combined, our two major counties in the Treasure Valley. Now, what you can get for that price will depend on location, age of home, size of property, all of that stuff, but in general, for $449,000, you could purchase a newer 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 2 car garage 1600-1800 sf home on a pretty standard sized lot, about 6000 sq ft or so. So, for going over other averages for this cost of living related to the home, I will keep referring to a $450,000 home price point. 

Property Taxes

The Next important cost with the home is property taxes. The property taxes vary from area to area here, some areas, like southwest Boise, are significantly less than other areas, like NE Boise, but for a general idea, it is best to assume a 1% property tax rate. Okay and then you pay property taxes here based on the assessed value of the home, not the purchase price. And then another factor in property taxes is that you get a $125,000 homeowner’s exemption if you live in the home as your primary residence. So let’s see the math.

Let’s say you have a $450,000 sales price on a home. Maybe It gets assessed by the county at a $400,000 valuation. You then get a $125,000 homeowner’s exemption, so your tax basis would now be $275,000, and you would pay 1% of that, so your property taxes on that $450,000 home would be about $2,750. Again, it could be more in some areas of the valley and quite a bit less in others, but that’s the general idea.

HOAs

And let’s talk about the cost of utilities and other bills associated with the home. Most homes here are in Homeowners Associations and have fees with them. I made a video all about that I will link below, but in general, the HOA fees here are anywhere from $100 a year to a few areas being upwards of $2500/year, but most common is around $500-$700 per year. 

What about utility bills? 

Idaho Power is our main electric company here, and according to their website, prices for power run from 8 cents to about 12.5 cents per kilowatt hour depending on time of day and time of year. So again, this is an estimate, but for an 1800 sq ft single level newer home, your electric bill should run you about $30/month on the coldest months and about $120/month on the hottest months when you use your AC the most. I will just touch on another note regarding electricity here, Idaho has no plans to switch to all electric homes like I know for sure California is doing, and since most of our power comes from hydroelectric, it is pretty affordable and available, and the only blackouts we have are if someone runs into a power pole or something like that. And although people can get solar here if they want, it is not a requirement on new construction homes like it is in California, and it is not always cost effective either. 

Okay and how about natural gas?

Intermountain Gas is our main gas company, and most homes here, unless built before a certain time, have natural gas. I don’t know the exact cost of gas per unit of measurement, but based on knowing gas bills here, for this average home we are talking about, your natural gas bill should be about $30 on the hottest months and about $120 on the coldest months when you are running your heater. 

House water, sewer, and trash prices vary by area and who is servicing it, but in general, sewer and trash are about $60 every 2 months…again this varies by area. House water and landscape water vary by area quite a bit as well as there are several different providers. But my house has Veolia water, and for our entire house water bill is about $13 a month. Now that is without watering the yard. We only water here 6 months out of the year, and some homes have irrigation water for their yard, which is cheap, and some homes, like mine, have city water for the yard. So, I live on a quarter acre lot with a large garden, and we water quite a bit in the summer, and our most expensive bill in the summer for the landscaping water has been about $60/month. If you live on a very large lot here and have city water, it can be upwards of $200 a month to water your yard. However, that is actually pretty rare. Most homes here have irrigation water to water their yards. So, you get a once-a-year bill from the irrigation company, or sometimes that fee is included in the HOA fees, and the irrigation companies charge anywhere from $30 – $120 to water your yard, for the entire season! Not per month, for the whole watering season. So, you can live on a half-acre of lawn, and if you have irrigation water, it could be very, very cheap. So, that is one reason why all the communities here can keep their lawns so green. Water is inexpensive and there is usually enough of it to go around so everyone can water to their heart’s content without restrictions. 

Okay some other costs of living besides the house that really affect your bottom line are things like Income Tax. Yes, Idaho has a state income tax and it is anywhere from 1-6%. Most people are paying at the 6% rate. 

How about sales tax?

Our sales tax is 6% and although it could vary by city, it doesn’t seem to, at least not like I’ve seen it vary in Washington and California. We do get taxed on grocery food. 

And gas for your car is a huge monthly expense. As of right now in April of 2023, we are paying about $3.60/gallon for gas in the Boise Idaho area. 

In general, if you are moving here from the West, Boise has a less expensive overall cost of living than any other major city in the West. There is one thing that can be more expensive here, however, and that is the cost of services like house cleaning and yard care. Due to higher demand with fewer people working in those service areas here, many of my clients have let me know that they are paying more for those services here than in the states they came from. And I don’t even want to say what I pay to get my hair cut and highlighted, but it is about the same as what I would pay if I were in California. So, it seems as if services like nails and massages and things like that are all about the same prices here as they are in other states to the West. 

Okay so how about some real-life comparisons to compare costs of home ownership and other things… I’ll focus on the 3 states we get the most newcomers from and give examples from California, Washington, and Oregon, so I am sorry if I leave you out, but this is just for a general idea, and of course, every situation is quite different and it’s hard to compare apples to apples.

Okay starting with California, this data is from an average single story, 2000 square foot home in the suburbs of Sacramento that does not have solar panels. This house is valued at about $725,000. It is the type of home you could expect to find in the Boise area for about $600,000. Now the property taxes on this home are low for the area, about $4000 a year, because the owners have lived in the home a long time and were able to do a one-time transfer of a property tax base from their previous home, but if they didn’t have that benefit, they’d be paying much, much more on property taxes. The natural gas bill for this home this past January was close to $300 for one month. And their highest electric bill last summer was about $250 for one month. 

This home only waters the front little patch of lawn and has a drip system to the rest of the yard, the owner put in a faux lawn in the backyard to save on watering costs, so they are paying about $80 a month for water, but I know clients from California express they pay much more than that per month for water depending on where they live and how much yard they have. 

For this location of this house outside of Sacramento,  the sales tax is 7.75%  and they  don’t have to pay taxes on groceries.

Let’s not talk about how high-income tax rates are in California so we don’t make the Californian’s watching this too sad, but it is safe to say, the California income tax is much higher than in Idaho. And then in this area of northern California, right now the gas for cars is about $4.90/gallon. So, will you come out ahead financially if you move to the Boise area from California to retire or work from home? Absolutely, even if the home prices are closer to being on par with home prices from where you are coming. Now if you have to get a job in Idaho to move to Idaho, make sure you are aware of what your salary here can be much lower than people expect. 

Okay let’s look at an example from a suburb of Portland, Oregon. This home is about 2400 sf, 2 story, and worth about $650,000. This size of home for the price is quite comparable to some areas of Boise. The highest winter gas bill is about $120 a month and the lowest is about $30, so that is comparable as well. The highest electric bill is about $118 and the lowest is about $100 a month, but this homeowner has an electric car that they use regularly. Sewer and garbage together are about $100/month, so that is more than the Boise area. The highest water bill for this house is about $85/month and the lowest is about $45 per month, but this person does not water their yard in the summer at all and says that if they were to water, their summer water bill would be about 2 times as much. Oh, and property taxes on this home are about $5500/year, but property taxes vary greatly in the Portland area based on all kinds of things. Of course, Oregon has no sales tax, but their income tax rate is about 4.75 to close to 10%. And car gas is about $4.50 a gallon in this area of Oregon right now. So, overall, it seems as if Boise is less than the cost of living in the suburbs of the Portland area but cost of homes themselves may be similar in some areas. 

And then an example from a suburb of Seattle Washington. This home is bigger than the others we’ve talked about, about 3200 sf and two stories. It is valued at just over $1.5 million and would be the type of home in the Boise area that would be valued at probably around $800-$900,000. The highest winter gas bill on this home was about $235 and the lowest was about $18, so that is pretty comparable to a 3200 sf home in the Boise area. The electric is similarly comparable, about $134 for the high and $59 for the low. Water and sewer are more expensive in this area, about $137 per month and trash is more at about $53/month. The property taxes come in at about $1170/month, making that just over $14,000 per year. If you were to purchase a $1.5 million dollar house in the Boise area, in the property taxes would actually be closer to $6000-$10,000 per year, depending on many factors, unless the home was in a more expensive tax area like North or Northeast Boise, and then the property taxes would be comparable, upwards of $11-$13,000 a year.  And then the cost of car gas in the greater Seattle area is about $4.80 per gallon. Washington has no state income tax, but King County does enjoy a sales tax rate of 10.25%. 

So what did we learn from all of this? Well, for sure that Californian’s are being ripped off. But we also learned that the overall cost of living in the Boise area is less than most states to the West, and of course, you can take the numbers I shared from the Boise area and compare them to what you are paying wherever you live now, keeping in mind that you would adjust some numbers up or down based on the home’s size, lot size, location, and things like that. Boise has become one of the most popular places to move to due to the better overall costs of living and great medical services, which we didn’t get into costs of that…and of course, you can check out all my other videos to see that the Boise, Idaho area is just a nice, clean, and safe place to live as well. 

Check out the following helpful videos:

HOA’S VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbsQHiLhLpI

What’s the weather like in Boise Idaho: https://youtu.be/4eyPmZtgb-w

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Helpful Boise, Idaho links for you!!!!

LINK TO GET OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER: https://summerastonrealestate.com/newsletter/

LINK TO GET BOISE MAP TOUR VIDEO: https://youtu.be/K-xWSra013U

LINK TO GET BOISE RELOCATION GUIDE: https://summerastonrealestate.com/relocation-guide/

LINK FOR EAGLE IDAHO AREA COMMUNITY GUIDE: https://summerastonrealestate.com/eagle-area-comparison-guide/