WHY IS EVERYONE MOVING TO BOISE, IDAHO? SHOULD YOU?

Post Summary: It seems like everyone is moving to Boise, Idaho. See why it’s the hottest new city to live in and if it’s right for you.

Does it seem like everyone is talking about Boise these days? Seriously, one quick scroll through Google, and you’ll find everyone from Forbes, Livability, Lonely Planet, Jetsetter, and Thrillist touting the glories of why you should be visiting or moving to Boise. The Boise metro area is one of the fastest-growing cities in the US and is seeing a surge of younger millennials moving to the “city of trees” for its economic opportunity and higher quality of life. Perhaps that’s why Jetsetter listed Boise as one of the 7 US cities that are hipper than you think.

As a full-time travel family wandering the US to find where we want to live, how could we not include Boise in our list of places to visit? So we did. We spent four months in “the Treasure Valley” to see if it lived up to its hype and if it could be a place we would be happy to call home. Read on to see why everyone’s relocating to Boise, our thoughts on this up and coming city, and if we’re moving to Boise.

Living in Boise, Idaho: Pros and Cons

First, here’s a quick summary of the pros and cons of living in Boise.
Pros:
-Genuine, friendly people
-Mild weather
-An abundance of outdoor activities
-Low Traffic
-Low unemployment rate
-Burgeoning food and wine scene
-Family Oriented

Cons:
-Rising development and house prices
-Air quality
-Low diversity
-Lack of quality public transportation

If you have followed our prior summary posts of the cities we’ve visited, you’ll know we have some core “wants” from each city we visit. In a nutshell, we’re looking for natural beauty, human-made beauty, affordability, a dynamic food scene, creative culture, diversity, access to urban amenities, a mid-size city, low traffic, community feeling, and chemistry. You can read more about what those mean to us in our are we moving to Asheville, NC post.

Here’s our rating system done in a completely subjective unscientific scale of 1-5 stars

1 Star  – Nope, next.
2 Stars – Below average and leaning towards no.
3 Stars – A little, but I’m not bragging about it on social media. 
4 Stars – Yes, solid yes.
5 Stars – Wowza, holy moly you’re perfect!

NATURAL BEAUTY

The number one thing you’ll hear about why people move to Boise is because of it’s extraordinary access to natural beauty. I never got tired of driving on the 84 towards downtown Boise and seeing the sweeping views of the snow-topped mountains cradling the city. If you’re a nature lover, Boise is a fantastic place to live. In the winter, there’s nearby Bogus Basin to get all your winter mountain recreation in, the foothills for unlimited hiking and mountain biking, and the incredible Boise River that flows through the city for fishing, tubing, and kayaking. Not to mention the rest of Idaho’s wilderness that’s only a short road trip away. Within one to two hours of Boise, you can visit one of the tallest sand dunes in North America, soak in a natural hot spring, or visit a 60-foot waterfall – swimming hole. Plain and simple, Boise is for people who want to enjoy the gifts of the natural world.

That being said, it is a high desert city. Even though its nickname is the “city of trees,” don’t be fooled to think it’s a lush forest town. No siree. You’ll need to travel to Northern Idaho if you want that kind of environment. We lived in a desert metropolis for over 15 years, and we know without a shadow of a doubt that we are not desert people. We want tall lush forests where the trees envelop you, rather than the sweeping desert views you get on Table Rock, the most famous hike in Boise. So while we recognize that Boise has spectacular beauty, it’s not the right kind of natural beauty for us.

Related:
Read our post on 10 amazing day trips to take from Boise

HUMAN MADE BEAUTY

While natural beauty is a MUST for us, we also like to see if the city we’re visiting puts pride in the aesthetic and upkeep of its city. We love downtown Boise and if it were in our budget, living in the historic North End would be a dream. It borders Downtown, and its close location to the foothills makes it a stellar option for those who want easy access to hiking trails. We love the mix of Victorian and Craftsman homes. If you’re not into that style, Boise does have a love affair with the mid-century modern aesthetic, and you’ll find a lot of updated mid-century modern homes in “The Bench” neighborhood.

Boise has a lot of charm to it, and its Downtown is one of our favorite downtown areas in the entire US. It’s clean, not too big, not too small, a great mix of local shops and well-known shops, and excellent walkability.

I’d be remiss not to mention all the outstanding public parks in Boise. The city, along with businesses and prominent Boisean families, have done great work in offering a bountiful supply of beautiful unspoiled land that everyone can enjoy. My personal favorite is the Boise Whitewater Park and the Military Reserve Bike Park, both funded in part by the Albertson family.

AFFORDABILITY

Boise is soooo affordable….if you moved here five years ago. Sorry guys, while Boise was once an incredible place to move for its affordable homes, that is not the case anymore. Boise home prices have dramatically risen, and Boise is now one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. As of February 2020, the median home price was $355,590, an increase of 11.25% from the last year. The steep increase in home prices has caused frustration and ire among long time residents who’s paycheck hasn’t increased with the rising costs. Who can afford these more expensive homes? People from out of state. It’s a contentious topic, and I’ll get more into that later.

That being said, Boise is still a more affordable place to live than other costly cities in the Pacific Northwest. Overall, the cost of living in Boise is 1.2% lower than the national average. Here are a few stats from Nerd Wallet on living in Boise:

-The median price of a two-bedroom apartment is $1,189.
-If you were making 60,000 a year salary (pre-tax) in LA you would need a 40,743 salary to maintain your standard of living.

Affordability is a metric that is going to be different for every person and their lifestyle. For us, Boise appears to be heading in the direction of Portland and may become inaccessible and too expensive for us.

DYNAMIC FOOD SCENE

It’s not that Boise has a bad food scene or a lack of high-quality restaurants serving inventive, excellent food; it just doesn’t have A LOT of that…yet. I do not doubt that with Boise’s rising development that there is big potential for an exciting foodie scene. There’s even a new 19,000 square-foot food hall slated to open downtown in the near future that will focus primarily on renting to local businesses. There are a lot of great restaurants in the downtown area, but what they’re mostly lacking are diverse food options. So many great places to get a craft beer, healthy eats, and general American fare, but if you’re looking for excellent Thai, Ethiopian, Vietnamese…you’re going to have to wait for Boise to catch up to other cities.

Boise does have a popular craft beer scene, exciting up and coming wineries, a plethora of hip coffee shops, and two fabulous farmers markets that open up in the spring. Boise may not be in full foodie status yet, but it’s only time till it starts to carve itself out as a fun food destination.

Related:
Where To Get An Amazing Craft Beer In Boise
5 Great Places To Get Dessert In Boise.

CREATIVITY

Having a city where the arts are thriving, and creative pursuits are not only accepted but applauded, is something that we think is very important to the vibrancy of a city. Boise has a fantastic art scene! It’s an excellent place for those who are creatively inclined and are looking to be in a creative community. Walking around the downtown area, you’ll see Freak Alley, the largest outdoor gallery in the NW. You’ll find the Boise Art Museum, the Idaho Shakespeare company, the Boise Jazz Society, and numerous music festivals that make their way in the spring and summer. The most famous music festival being Treefort, a 5-day indie rock festival that takes over downtown Boise. There’s also Garden City, (technically it’s own city and not in Boise) the “hipster” neighborhood that is having an urban renaissance into a thriving live-work-create community, complete with galleries, hip restaurants, and wineries.

DIVERSITY

Yeah, it’s pretty white here. I’ll let the raw statistics speak for themselves.

-White: 89.06%
-Two or more races: 3.28%
-Asian: 3.13%
-Black or African American: 2.12%
-Other race: 1.66%
-Native American: 0.61%
-Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: 0.15%

For us, the lack of diversity in Boise gives us serious pause. We’re hoping to raise our son in an environment where he can see that humanity comes in many different backgrounds and cultures. The lack of diversity does not mean that Boise is an unwelcoming place or deeply divided. Far from it, my personal experience as a multi-ethnic woman was one of staggering friendliness and warmth. Of course, it goes without saying that my single experience doesn’t speak for the whole. Overall, Boise is becoming a more liberal city (they even have a female Democratic mayor) that is exceptionally welcoming to people. In fact, Boise has a large refugee population and has taken great strides to be a haven for people from Iraq, Syria, Somalia, and Congo. Currently, Boise has over 19,000 refugees from all over the world.

ACCESS TO URBAN AMENITIES

Boise has access to everything you could want. Great hospitals, an international airport, a fun selection of restaurants, thriving local businesses, community events, Boise State University, and every big box store you could ever want.

MID SIZED CITY

Boise has an estimated population of 228,790 people. For us, that’s a great number that isn’t overwhelming. Of course, with Boise being the fastest growing city in the US, those numbers are rising every year. From 2010-2018 the population in Boise rose by 18.2%, and the population is growing every year by around 2 – 3%. Do you want to hear something crazy? It’s predicted that by 2040, Ada County will have over 1,000,000 people. Of course, Ada County is made up of more than just Boise, but there’s no refuting that Boise’s population will continue to grow.

LOW TRAFFIC

You ask me if there’s traffic in Boise? No. You ask a long time resident? It’s awful. Can’t get anywhere these days!

I don’t know how to break it to you guys, but the traffic is not bad in Boise. I understand that if you lived here, you would see the change in commute times, but in comparison to the rest of the US, time spent in the car in Boise is very low. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, drivers spend an average of over 25 minutes for commute time in their vehicle. In Boise, the average time spent commuting is 17 minutes. The only time we ever saw traffic in Boise was when we were in the neighboring cities of Meridian and Nampa.

Is traffic going to get worse in Boise? Probably. It’s what happens when a city grows.

COMMUNITY

Boise gets an A++ for its community. You guys, everyone says hi to you here. Even when you’re in your car, they wave…from their car! For real, the people are incredibly friendly, welcoming, and warm. Boise may be a mid-sized city, but it has retained its small-town charm. I don’t mean to paint it as this utopian Mr. Rogers society, because there’s going to be rude people wherever you go, but the Boise community stands out for its genuine nature. People from Boise love their city and put a lot of love and pride towards creating a community-focused environment.

If you’re thinking about relocating to Boise, Idaho, because you have kids and are looking for a family-friendly place, then you can’t go wrong with Boise. Boise is listed by MSN as the eighth safest city in the world. In fact, Idaho, in general, is one of the safest states in the US.

Related:
25 Fun things to do in Boise with kids

CHEMISTRY

So how was the chemistry for us? Did it excite us? Did it feel like…maybe I want to see more of you? Yeah. It did. We really enjoyed our time there. It took a little while. But once the weather warmed up and we spent more time outdoors we saw the great potential this amazing city has.

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Will people hate me if I’m from California?

If I’m going to talk about moving to Boise, I have to address the narrative that Idaho despises California and all of its residents selling their mini-mansions, scooping up Boise’s cheap property (to them), and raising the housing prices for everyone. Is it true? Partially. There is a massive influx of people moving to Boise, and a lot of them are from California. They’re also from Washington, Utah, and Texas. In truth, the biggest group of people moving to Boise are residents from within the state. That doesn’t mean that their concerns about the Californication of Idaho are unwarranted.

I’ve spent a small amount of time in Idaho now, four months in Boise, and several months in Northern Idaho. No one ever treated me like a pariah when I told them I used to live in California. Mostly they would just joke with me not to tell anyone, and then we would move on. It’s easy to hate a faceless group who you don’t know who you’ve stripped of their humanity; it’s a lot harder to despise an actual breathing human who’s standing in front of you with their cutie pie two-year-old telling you how great your city is.

Because I’m a super curious person, I did ask every single person I talked to about their feelings on the rapid development and if they hated me because I once lived in the state of California. Sidenote: I’ve also lived in Maryland, Texas, Boston, and Georgia, so I’m not sure if I’m an actual Californian. What makes one a Californian? I digress.

Here’s what I’ve gleaned from my small sampling of Boiseans. If you’re going to move to Boise and you are coming from a state that rhymes with schmalifornia, here is what you should NOT do:

-Talk about how much better your state is
-Talk about how much better your food is
-Talk about how much smarter and better you are

That’s it. Just stop talking about how much better you are. Stop living up to the stereotype that Californians are elitist snobs. Look, people in Boise are incredibly nice. If you are warm and show a genuine love for their great city, they’re not going to hate you.

But if you are moving from California to Idaho, you might want to change your California plates as soon as possible.

Final thoughts about moving to Boise, Idaho

We loved our time in Boise, and we went back and forth on if this is where we want to live. The high quality of life, the outstanding nature, the growing downtown area, and the warm community vibe left us with a lot to think about. Ultimately, we’re not sure yet. While we love the natural beauty here, we crave a different type of nature with thick dark forests we can get gleefully lost in. We’ll see. Our journey isn’t over yet, and we still have so much more to see. Stay tuned.

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Are you thinking about moving to Boise, Idaho? Let us know your thoughts below or if you have any questions.

Also, check out our sister post on living in Asheville and our thoughts on the funky mountain town.

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