Idaho, like its Rocky Mountain neighbors, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado, has changed significantly over the last 50 years. From a population of around 700,000 in 1970, by 2024 that figure had grown by 180.9%, to just over 2 million. Over the same period, the United States population grew by 67.2%. The economy of Idaho has also changed dramatically and is now far more diversified. Thus, not coincidentally, Idaho has witnessed a major increase in wealth compared to its past. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the top 1% takes home 14.9% of all income in Idaho and make 17.4 times more than the bottom 99%.
Recent studies have analyzed and identified the richest cities in various states. Continuing this Rocky Mountain investigation, this study analyzed 236 cities (defined as “places” by the Census Bureau; see below) in Idaho with complete data from the Census Bureau. This analysis analyzed them in terms of their median household income, mean (average) household income, median home value, and median property taxes paid per year, to come up with a list of the 20 richest cities in the state.
Read on to find out what the richest city in Idaho is, plus the top 20 wealthiest cities in the state overall.
What Are the Richest Cities in Idaho?
To fully capture the wealth of these cities, this study didn’t want to just look up the median household income for each one. Rather, the study sourced critical financial data from the Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey. Once these data points were compiled, they were scored using a four-factor system taking into account: 1) Median household income; 2) mean (average) household income; 3) median home value; 4) median property taxes paid.
For certain factors, the Census numbers have upper limits, so there’s no exact value for certain factors. For example, for median household income, the Census Bureau has an upper limit of “$250,000+”, so no median incomes are recorded above $250,000. For median home value, the upper limit is “$2,000,000+”. For median property taxes paid, the upper limit is “$10,000+”. For these reasons, the mean household income (which is the same as average household income) dataset is very important because the Census Bureau has exact figures for it. All four of these metrics were scored, added up, and then ranked by the cities’ combined scores.
Another thing to go over is the Census Bureau term “places.” The Census Bureau has a category of geographic units called Census-designated places — CDPs. The Census, more or less, treats CDPs as cities — their terminology is “place” — and so this study will this list of the richest cities in Idaho. But if you see cities on this list that you see as, for example, neighborhoods, you’re not wrong; they just are treated as cities by the Census Bureau.
You’ll find a table detailing the top 20 richest cities in Idaho and their associated dollar figures for each metric, below:
The No. 1 richest place in Idaho in this ranking is Rockford Bay, which is a CDP, located on the western shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene. Property values are quite high here, with the median home value being $981,300. This makes the median property tax bill comparatively high, too, at $4,458. Incomes are markedly higher than the state’s average. The median household income is $125,625, the second highest in Idaho. The average household income is the No. 1 highest, at $223,167. Unsurprisingly for a wealthy town, the two main occupations by employment are Management Occupations (25% of the workforce) and Business & Financial Operations Occupations (12.5% of the workforce), according to Data USA.
The second richest place in Idaho is Hidden Springs, a CDP in Ada County, north of Boise and tucked into a narrow valley in the mountains (hence, “hidden”). The top occupations by employment are Management Occupations (18.3% of the workforce), Health Diagnosing & Treating Practitioners & Other Technical Occupations (9.8% of the workforce), and Office & Administrative Support Occupations (6.9% of the workforce). The median income here is the highest in the state, at $159,439, while the average income is $199,589. Home values are very high, with the median being $683,800. Though that’s $300,000 less than in Rockford Bay, the median property taxes in Hidden Springs is only a little less than the former’s, $4,238 versus $4,458.
Coming in as the No. 3 richest place in Idaho is Sun Valley, a resort town on Ketchum’s eastern border. Sun Valley’s incomes bear the hallmarks of a resort town. The median household income is comparatively low for a wealthy town, at $82,045. But the average household income is roughly double, at $162,193, which is common in resort towns because they tend to be centers of wealth inequality. Home values are, not surprisingly, very high. The median home value is $845,600, the second highest after No. 1 Rockford Bay. Interestingly, the median property taxes in Sun Valley are higher than in Rockford Bay, at $5,402 per year. According to Data USA, the main industries by employment are Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services (32.7% of the workforce), Accommodation & Food Services (14.9% of the workforce), and Educational Services (11.3% of the workforce).
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