IDAHO · 29TH OF 51

Cost of living in Idaho

Prices, pay, taxes, homes and family budgets, county by county, from the same official data the site's calculators use.

The short answer: Prices in Idaho run 4.5% below the national average, 29th most expensive of the 50 states and DC. Rents run 10.0% below the national average. The median worker earns $47,970 a year. A typical home in the median Idaho county is worth $400,056.
Prices

How far a dollar goes in Idaho.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures price levels in every state against a national average of 100. Idaho scores 95.5 overall, so a $75,000 salary at average US prices buys what $71,621 buys here. Compare any salary with another state.

Price levelIdaho (US = 100)Rank, most expensive first
Everything95.529th of 51
Rents90.024th of 51
Goods96.3—
Other services99.0—

Home electricity averaged 11.52 cents a kilowatt-hour in 2024, against 17.06 across all states. A gallon of regular gas cost $4.57 at the end of August 2026, against $4.12.

Pay and taxes

What people earn, and what they keep.

Across all 857,440 jobs the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts in Idaho, the median pay is $47,970 a year, or $23.06 an hour; that ranks 35th of the 50 states and DC. One worker in ten earns less than $29,300 and one in ten more than $103,240.

Idaho taxes wages at a flat 5.3%. The brackets in Idaho. A single filer on the median $47,970, with no retirement or health deductions, takes home about $38,181 a year, or $1,469 every two weeks, after $3,576 of federal income tax, $3,670 of Social Security and Medicare and $2,542 of state income tax. Work out your own paycheck in Idaho.

$47,970
median pay, all jobs
$23.06
median hourly pay
$38,181
take-home on the median, single filer
5.3%
flat state income tax
Jobs

The most common jobs in Idaho.

The five occupations employing the most people, with their median annual pay:

OccupationJobsMedian pay
Fast Food and Counter Workers25,810$28,940
General and Operations Managers24,880$80,390
Office Clerks, General20,790$44,830
Home Health and Personal Care Aides20,770$34,790
Retail Salespersons20,180$35,080

Of the 20 largest occupations, the best paid are registered nurses ($92,460), general and operations managers ($80,390), first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers ($61,390). See what common jobs pay in every state.

Housing

What a home costs, and who can afford one.

Across the 43 Idaho counties with their own Zillow home value, the median typical home is worth $400,056, and across the 20 with their own rent figure the median typical rent is $1,544 a month. A typical home costs 5.03 years of the county's median family income, at the median county.

With 10% down at 7.03%, the average 30-year rate on September 24, 2026, that home costs about $3,136 a month with tax, insurance and mortgage insurance, which takes $134,404 a year of income under the usual 28% guideline. The median family can afford its own county's typical home in 0.0% of Idaho's counties, against 44.9% of counties nationally. Try it with your own income.

At the median county, home values changed +2.5% over the past year and +21.0% over five years, and rents +2.8% over the past year.

The most expensive Idaho counties are Blaine County ($1,102,611), Teton County ($871,623) and Valley County ($684,915); the least expensive are Clark County ($253,647), Power County ($273,285) and Shoshone County ($282,936).

What a household needs

A modest budget, priced county by county.

The Economic Policy Institute prices what a modest but adequate standard of living costs in every county: housing, food, transport, healthcare, childcare, other necessities and taxes. In the median Idaho county, that comes to $46,711 a year for one adult and $95,301 for two adults and two children, of which $12,830 is childcare. The national averages are $47,367 and $101,771. Median family income in the median county is $77,565.

Two adults, two childrenPer year, median countyPer month
Housing$11,736$978
Food$12,918$1,076
Transportation$21,176$1,765
Healthcare$15,678$1,307
Childcare$12,830$1,069
Other necessities$7,944$662
Taxes$12,206$1,017

Each line is its own median across counties, so the lines do not add up exactly to the total.

College

What college costs here.

The Department of Education's College Scorecard lists 37 colleges in Idaho, 8 of them public. The median public college reports a cost of attendance of $19,930 a year, covering tuition, housing, books and other expenses. Ten years after enrolling, the median school's former students earn $33,140. Compare degrees and schools.

Every county

All 44 counties.

Show the table
Ada County$531,026+0.8%$1,968$107,531$126,763
Adams County$520,745+1.3%—$70,714$94,584
Bannock County$362,035+1.2%$1,087$85,065$93,043
Bear Lake County$405,904+1.6%—$86,655$105,052
Benewah County$351,218+2.7%—$66,274$92,044
Bingham County$393,977+3.5%$1,039$87,409$90,003
Blaine County$1,102,611+14.9%$3,101$92,889$114,545
Boise County$487,077+2.2%—$90,234$103,932
Bonner County$656,880+2.3%$1,894$77,825$96,735
Bonneville County$405,181+1.0%$1,447$91,829$101,334
Boundary County$474,433+3.3%$1,557$73,370$92,581
Butte County———$61,071$111,232
Camas County$394,271+7.0%—$82,386$103,130
Canyon County$420,078+1.0%$1,662$83,849$109,163
Caribou County$345,265+6.0%—$78,200$96,018
Cassia County$354,226+5.0%$1,250$76,731$89,391
Clark County$253,647−1.3%—$62,500$93,985
Clearwater County$316,398+4.8%—$78,011$100,974
Custer County$400,056+12.1%—$72,946$99,663
Elmore County$360,812+1.4%$1,604$71,695$88,652
Franklin County$444,233+2.5%—$83,263$91,733
Fremont County$475,382+7.4%—$79,899$92,143
Gem County$485,180+2.7%—$75,265$96,358
Gooding County$356,104+1.6%—$75,707$88,607
Idaho County$362,387+2.2%—$76,074$98,795
Jefferson County$478,394+2.7%$1,431$89,672$104,545
Jerome County$411,180+2.9%—$74,184$93,392
Kootenai County$605,460+2.5%$1,829$92,515$105,355
Latah County$480,339+0.5%$1,141$88,466$94,545
Lemhi County$389,056+7.5%—$73,176$98,173
Lewis County$291,152+4.3%—$63,450$96,335
Lincoln County$320,632+2.0%—$73,393$91,277
Madison County$426,123+4.9%$1,162$63,442$89,237
Minidoka County$327,419+0.7%$1,275$77,305$88,277
Nez Perce County$394,993+1.8%$1,337$91,340$103,693
Oneida County$355,081+2.7%—$82,837$92,600
Owyhee County$439,285+2.5%—$75,625$93,261
Payette County$418,854+3.5%$1,530$75,486$90,897
Power County$273,285+1.5%—$70,143$93,981
Shoshone County$282,936+0.2%$1,700$66,795$92,091
Teton County$871,623+3.4%$2,844$107,450$114,633
Twin Falls County$385,504+3.3%$1,573$78,328$97,605
Valley County$684,915+2.5%—$96,467$99,662
Washington County$395,899+1.4%—$64,943$93,804

A dash means the source publishes no figure for that county. Home values and rents are Zillow's own county figures only; counties Zillow does not cover are left blank rather than filled with a state average.

Metro areas

The largest metro areas in Idaho.

Boise, ID (typical rent $1,906).

Other states

Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Connecticut · Delaware · District of Columbia · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa · Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Maine · Maryland · Massachusetts · Michigan · Minnesota · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana · Nebraska · Nevada · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · New York · North Carolina · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · Pennsylvania · Rhode Island · South Carolina · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas · Utah · Vermont · Virginia · Washington · West Virginia · Wisconsin · Wyoming

See every state side by side

More about Idaho

Cost of living · Income tax · Child care costs

Run the numbersTake-home pay in Idaho · What a salary is worth in Idaho · How much rent you can afford · What a car costs in Idaho

Put this on your site

Embed these numbers.

Writing about Idaho? Paste this code into your page for a small card with the figures above, which update when the site's data does. It has no tracking and no cookies.

Where this comes from
Prices
Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. Electricity: EIA average residential price, 2024. Gas: AAA state averages, August 30, 2026.
Pay
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, all occupations. Take-home uses the paycheck calculator's 2026 federal tables and the state's own tax tables.
Homes and rents
Zillow Home Value Index and Observed Rent Index by county, July 2026. Mortgage rate: Freddie Mac, 7.03% on September 24, 2026; 1.1% property tax and $1,700 a year of insurance assumed.
Budgets and family income
Economic Policy Institute, Family Budget Calculator, 2026 edition, by county.
Jobs and colleges
BLS OEWS May 2025 by occupation. U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, latest cohort. Home value and rent changes compare Zillow's latest month with the same month one and five years earlier.

County figures are medians across Idaho's counties, each counting once, so they describe the spread of places rather than of people. Property tax and insurance vary widely; the calculators let you use your own.

Keep reading
Cost of Living Calculator
What your salary is really worth in another state or county.
Home Affordability Calculator
The most house your income and debts support, and what it costs monthly.
Paycheck Calculator
Take-home pay after federal, state and FICA withholding.