All-items parity
95.5
US = 100.0
Idaho (ID) | All-items parity 95.5
Idaho Cost of Living 2026
Idaho reads 95.5 on the BEA all-items price parity for 2024, still below the national 100, but the composition has changed: a decade of the nation's fastest in-migration pushed the median home to $446,400 while everything else stayed cheap, utilities price at 70.4, the lowest tier in the country, on Snake River hydropower at 10.92 cents per kWh. A flat 5.3% income tax (cut repeatedly since 2021), a 0.56% property tax with a homeowner's exemption, and a grocery tax offset by a per-person credit complete an unusual ledger: cheap state, boom-priced houses.
Lowest-tier utilities (hydro)Flat 5.3% income taxMedian home $446,400
Median Home
$446,400
2BR rent $1,275/mo
Median Income
$81,166
Household, Census ACS
Category breakdown
The four BEA price parities vs the nation
| Category | ID index | National avg | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| All items | 95.5 | 100.0 | -4.5% |
| Services: housing rents | 90.0 | 100.6 | -10.5% |
| Goods | 96.3 | 99.6 | -3.3% |
| Services: utilities | 70.4 | 98.4 | -28.5% |
| Services: other | 99.0 | 100.1 | -1.1% |
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes these four component parities and no others. There is no federal grocery, healthcare or transportation price parity, so this table shows none. Food at home sits inside Goods; medical and transport services sit inside Services: other.
Sources: BEA Regional Price Parities by State (table SARPP), 2024 reference year, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Census ACS 2024 1-year (median income, home value), Idaho State Tax Commission (income tax, grocery credit), Tax Foundation (effective property tax), EIA (electricity rates), KFF (uninsured rate).
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Pros / offsets
What works in Idaho.
Hydropower makes Idaho power nearly free by national standards. Snake River dams deliver 10.92 cent electricity, an average bill of $102, and the country's lowest-tier utilities parity at 70.4; heating a real winter costs less here than cooling a mild summer does elsewhere.
Taxes have been cut session after session. The income tax went flat and has been trimmed to 5.3%, among the Mountain West's lowest on middle incomes, while the homeowner's exemption shields the first slice of a primary residence's value and keeps effective property tax at 0.56%.
Boise punches far above its size. A walkable downtown, the Boise River greenbelt through the city, Micron's expanding fab investment and a growing tech-and-remote-work economy give Idaho a genuine capital-city amenity set that its price level never used to carry.
Outside the Treasure Valley, the old Idaho prices persist. Twin Falls, Pocatello and Idaho Falls still sell family homes in the $300,000s with the same cheap power, low crime and public-land access that drew the boom in the first place.
Cons / drivers
Where Idaho costs more.
Housing repriced a full tier above the state's wages. The $446,400 median against a $81,166 median income is the worst price-to-earnings ratio of any cheap-index state; California-equity buyers set the marginal price in Boise, and local first-time buyers have been the casualty.
Groceries carry the full sales tax. Idaho taxes food at the ordinary 6.0% rate, offset by a per-person annual grocery credit on the tax return, structurally a refund rather than relief at the till, and it leaves spenders above the credit's assumptions worse off.
Wages trail the amenities. Outside Micron, the INL and healthcare, professional salaries run thin; many households arrive with remote income, which is precisely what keeps the housing premium alive.
North Idaho is its own expensive market. Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint price on Spokane-plus-lifestyle demand, resort-tier housing with modest local payrolls, among the widest house-to-wage gaps in the inland Northwest.
Tax + benefit signals
Idaho tax and access overview
State income tax
5.3%
Graduated or flat
Property tax effective
0.56%
Of assessed value, annual
Sales tax (state)
6.00%
Local can add 1-4% more
Uninsured rate
8.2%
Medicaid: expanded
Your take-home pay in Idaho
Federal, Idaho and any local income tax on your salary, per paycheck.
The mortgage on a $446,400 home
Monthly payment at today’s rates with Idaho property tax (0.56%) and average home insurance.
Metro variation
State averages mask city variation.
Idaho averages 95.5 on the BEA all-items parity, but the housing map is a boom map:
Boise and the Treasure Valley: The in-migration epicenter: Boise's North End and foothills neighborhoods price far above the state median, while Meridian, Nampa and Caldwell stack the metro's growth westward at successively lower price points.
Coeur d'Alene and the Panhandle: Lake-and-resort pricing sustained by Spokane commuters, retirees and remote wealth; the gap between house prices and local wages is the state's widest.
Idaho Falls and Pocatello: The INL's engineering payroll anchors eastern Idaho; both metros hold the $300,000s with low crime and short commutes, the state's best value-to-amenity ratio today.
Twin Falls and the Magic Valley: Ag-processing growth (Chobani's flagship plant) and canyon-rim scenery at the state's most ordinary prices.
Sun Valley: A resort island, Ketchum and Hailey price like Aspen's quieter cousin and distort Blaine County's figures entirely.
Frequently Asked
Idaho cost of living, answered
Why are Idaho utilities the cheapest tier in the nation?
Hydropower: the Snake River system and Pacific Northwest grid deliver residential electricity at 10.92 cents per kWh, roughly half coastal rates, and the BEA utilities parity of 70.4 is among the lowest readings of any state. Average bills run $102 for electricity and $58 for gas even with genuine four-season weather. For heat-pump households, cheap power effectively discounts winter itself.
How does Idaho's grocery tax credit work?
Idaho is one of the few states taxing groceries at the full 6.0% sales-tax rate, and it compensates with a flat per-person credit (higher for seniors) claimed on the state income-tax return, designed to refund the tax on a basic food budget. Households spending modestly come out roughly whole; bigger grocery budgets eat the difference. Repeal-at-the-till proposals surface most sessions, but the credit model has survived them all so far.
What did the Boise boom do to affordability?
Between the mid-2010s and today Idaho repeatedly led the nation in population growth, and the Treasure Valley absorbed most of it: the statewide median home hit $446,400 while median household income stayed at $81,166, the widest house-to-wage stretch of any low-price-parity state. Rents at $1,275 for an median two-bedroom remain gentler than ownership. The practical move for buyers is west down the valley (Nampa, Caldwell) or east to Idaho Falls.
How do Idaho taxes treat retirees?
Social Security is fully exempt from Idaho income tax. Other retirement income is generally taxed at the flat 5.3% rate, with a deduction for certain public pensions, and the over-65 circuit-breaker program plus the homeowner's exemption keep property tax near 0.56% effective or below for modest homes. With the grocery credit enhanced for seniors and cheap utilities, eastern Idaho in particular has become a quiet retirement value play; North Idaho's lake towns are the premium version.
Boise or the smaller Idaho metros?
Boise buys the amenity set: the airport, the foothills trail system, the restaurant economy and most of the state's professional jobs, at a housing premium that now assumes outside money. Idaho Falls and Pocatello offer INL-grade engineering employment, short commutes and $300,000s housing; Twin Falls is cheaper still. A remote worker who visits Boise monthly rather than daily keeps most of the lifestyle and skips most of the premium.
Is Idaho still a bargain overall?
Split the question: as a place to run a household, yes, the 95.5 parity, bottom-tier utilities, moderate flat tax and low crime still beat the national baseline. As a place to buy a first home on a local salary, the boom took that bargain off the table in the Treasure Valley and the Panhandle. Movers with equity or remote income keep the old arithmetic; local-wage buyers now face Mountain West prices with Idaho pay. The /calculator shows both sides against your current state.