I’m sure you’ve been hearing all the buzz about Boise, Idaho being such a great place to live, but there’s got to be a downside right?
Well, Boise is an awesome place to live, but there are just a few downsides. So I’ll give you my honest opinion of the pros and cons of living in Boise, Idaho. Keep in mind that some pros can be cons, and some cons can be pros – it’s all about your personal perspective! So just keep an open mind, and let’s start with the pros!
- Boise is safe!
It was even ranked as the 8th safest city in the whole world! This seems to be the number one concern of all of our out-of-state clients. So, if safety is what you are seeking for you or your family, you will find it in Boise. It is also very safe in the surrounding communities like Eagle, Star, and Meridian. - Amazing outdoor recreation!
Another huge reason people love living in Boise is all of the amazing outdoor recreation. There’s almost anything that you could want to do here.
There’s: mountain biking, road biking, running, horseback riding, skiing, fishing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, hunting, ATVing, camping, rock climbing, hiking, boating, hiking paths, walking trails, there’s a river, there’s lakes, there’s river rafting, kayaking, paddle boarding, canoeing, and there is even surfing! It is on the river, so you have to be really brave to do it- but you can surf in Boise! - Boise is more affordable!
Now this depends on where you are moving here from, but compared to the West Coast states and the East Coast states, the cost of living is very affordable in Boise. The median home price in Ada County is currently around $540,000. Things like medical bills, gas, taxes, your children’s activities and lessons…they are all less expensive here than in our neighboring states to the west. - Boise has many school choices!
You can choose from public schools, charter schools, private schools, online schools, magnet schools, homeschool, and even dual enrollment (a combination of homeschool with one of the other choices). You have so much freedom to homeschool and choose your curriculum to your heart’s content without having to be accountable to the government if you want. - Boise area has fewer mandates!
This is another huge reason people move here-fewer mandates than their home states. Now people’s feelings and opinions behind this are personal and vary widely, but it effects everyone from the individual to small businesses to large business. - Boise has a small town feel with all the great amenities of a larger city!
Arts, sciences, cultural events, philharmonic, Broadway shows, dance, theater, community fun runs, marathons, races, Boise State Bronco football, the list could go on and on….but there is always something going on downtown. Downtown Boise is easily accessible, safe, and clean. - Boise is a very healthy city!
Boise was actually voted in several magazines as one of the healthiest cities in the country. Everywhere you go, you will see people outside running, biking, and walking…even through the winter. And of course in the winter, there are plenty of outdoor activities to keep you physically fit and warm. Boise also has more gyms per capita than any other city (I once read in a fitness magazine). But there are gyms all over town, and gyms for every lifestyle.
Is fresh, local organic food part of your healthy lifestyle? You’ll find that in Boise too! With a couple of different farmers markets and farms surrounding us, it’s easy to get local, fresh food. You’ll find local honey, raw milk, grass fed meats, organic fruits and veggies, local herbs, locally made breads and pastries, and even locally made, fantastic food representing several different countries from all around the world made by our awesome refugees.
I could go on and on about all the great things about living in Boise, but…you all want to hear what’s bad about living in Boise!
- Okay, there are a few negatives. So let’s start with the one I personally hate!
- 1. Inversion is the worst!
What is inversion, you wonder? It’s a weather pattern where the cold air gets trapped in the valley and the warm air is “inverted” to the higher elevations. Now the good news is, the inversion usually only lasts a few days here and there in the winter, most typically in January or February. And some years, we don’t get inversion at all! But one year (I’ve lived in Boise for almost 20 years) inversion lasted several weeks. It got colder and colder and everyone was taking spontaneous vacays to sunnier areas for a little retreat.
So inversion in Boise is NOT as bad as the inversion in Salt Lake City….you can still see the mountains, and it really doesn’t last too long. But when it comes, it is cold, very cold, grey, gross air quality, and depressing. So you can either go up to Bogus Basin Ski Resort to get a break, it will be sunny and much warmer up there..you can just hang out at the lodge in the sunny windows, you don’t even have to ski. Or you can use all the money your are saving by living in Boise and take your family to Hawaii for a week-that is always a cure for the Inversion Blues.
2.Boise has horrible city planning and major growing pains!
Boise has exploded in the last few years, so we expect there to be some growing pains. But it would have been nice if the powers that be had planned and prepared for future growth. It’s like they followed the mantra, “If you don’t build it, they won’t come”, except that’s not really the saying…. and they didn’t build roads, houses, stores, or schools, and people came anyways…and they’re still coming by the thousands.
You know how some parts of Phoenix, cities outside Sacramento like Folsom or Roseville, or even some areas in Orange County like San Clemente…you know how they have these big parkways with six lanes for traffic and a median filled with trees and landscaping, and they go out into the open land waiting for the proper development of schools, houses, apartments, stores, parks…etc… all planned out many years in advance where they will be located so it’s not total chaos when the growth comes?
That does not happen in Boise or any of the surrounding areas.
They just build, build, build houses like crazy…then they are not widening roads (they really can’t widen them fast enough), planning for schools, planning for services or parks…just a sea of new houses with no services. This is resulting in very traffic ridden country roads that get backed up for miles at the stop signs during rush hour, crowded schools, and people all having to funnel in to drive to certain major shopping areas since there is nowhere for residents who live on the outskirts of town to go shopping, or get a coffee, or a pizza.
Boise is a hodge podge of all kinds of housing mixed together….with many subdivisions here and there surrounded by all kinds of housing built on infill lots, or original acreage properties, or trailers, or whatever the person in charge of zoning that day allowed. And I actually have grown to like that because it brings a nice mix of incomes and people to the community. But what is really frustrating is that the city is rezoning all kinds of land with what seems to be no rhyme or reason. No one denies there must be housing built for everyone coming here, but we would like it to be done in a logical way, keeping some green spaces, keeping areas for parks and trails, and being more considerate of where the high density housing is built. So living in Boise, or the surrounding areas, means dealing with construction, traffic, and growing pains. I know it’s nothing like the traffic in our larger cities to the west, but the traffic in Boise has doubled in the last few years, so it is hard for the local residents to get used to.
3. Boise’s airport has very few direct flights, is more expensive, and it takes longer to fly places. But is it getting more direct flights all the time!
So I actually love the Boise airport in that it is still easy to get in and out of, and it is still not that crowded (they have tried to plan for growth ahead of time…except for the cell phone “lot”, which is really just a lane for about 10 cars but it is being expanded). But this goes on the “con” list because we tend to fly more living here in Boise since most of our family does not live here. So there are direct flights to Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, LA, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, and several others….but other than that, you pretty much have to stop into another airport to get to another destination. And of course it can’t be on the way or logical. You’ll get a flight to Pheonix and have to fly to Seattle first or something. So because of that, it is more expensive to fly out of Boise than other, larger airports.
4. Boise has low wages and increasing income disparity.
The minimum wage in Idaho is still $7.25, yet the cost of housing has increased almost 20% a year, every year, for the past few years. People moving here from out of state are largely keeping their salaries from other states and just working from home, or traveling back to their job in another state a couple times a month. And that’s awesome…I love that they can move here and get closer to retirement, have a better quality of life, and finally buy a nice home. But local Idahoan’s are really suffering as the wages are not being increased here. Almost every Idahoan used to be able to afford a nice, small home in a two income household, even if they were each making $10/hr. Those days are long gone, and not only has the cost of buying a house increased sharply, but rent did too. And those Idaho wages…well, the minimum wage has stayed the same, BUT employers in general have risen “minimum wage” type jobs to start at about $9-$13/hr. So we are starting to see a little bit more income disparity. We didn’t used to have that great of an income disparity, and there was not a distinct division between the “haves” and “have nots”. And I really loved that about Boise. But that is changing, and I would guess that that disparity will become even greater in the next several years as people continue to bring high wages from other states here while local wages stay low.
So, that’s about it for the cons! I really can’t think of any more cons of living here…now Boise is not perfect. And if you come to Boise expecting your personal idea of perfection, you will be disappointed. But most people realize that Boise offers so much more than where they currently live, Boise is safe, Boise is clean, Boise is more affordable, and Boise offers a fantastic quality of life….we overlook Boise’s imperfections because the good things about living in Boise are just so great.
