Best PlacesAda County, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Ada County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ada County ranks 25th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $100,616, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are an overheated housing market, noise, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in Ada County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Ada County
The parts of Ada County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Star
More households have young kids, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Kuna
Streets are more car-dependent and biking is worse.
Garden City & Eagle
Scores close to Kuna, except that schools score higher here.
Meridian
Fewer adults hold degrees.
Boise
Crime runs higher and fewer residents vote.
Scores across Ada County run from about the 29th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Ada County's strengths and weaknesses
Ada County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Low crime is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Biking and cheap car insurance follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. An overheated housing market, noise, and childcare costs hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Ada County ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- BikingBetter than 99% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 97% of counties
Where Ada County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 18% of counties
- Cheap childcare$974 a month, better than only 18% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 19% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 22% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Ada County
A household needs to earn about $139,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ada County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $100,616, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Ada County's effective rate of 0.53%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ada County
Ada County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ada County.
Who works in Ada County, and how
Work in Ada County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Ada County
Ada County has more late-night spots per resident than 87% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Ada County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Ada County growing, and who is moving in?
Ada County has grown about 26% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Boise, ID metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Ada County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Ada County, month by month
Ada County sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 24° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 38° |
| July | 97° | 80° | 62° |
| October | 68° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Ada County
Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field sits about 6 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.6 million passengers in 2025, with 59 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Ada County
Schools across Ada County average a B+, better than 83% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Discovery Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Highlands Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Galileo Magnet SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
Top middle schools
- Heritage Middle SchoolA+ · 71% proficient
- Eagle Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Victory Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Renaissance High SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
- Meridian Technical Charter High SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Idaho Fine Arts AcademyA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ada County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ada County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Ada County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Ada County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 18% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 72% of counties and health care access beats 71%.
Common questions about living in Ada County
Is Ada County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ada County ranks 25th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low crime, biking, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on an overheated housing market and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ada County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $553,854. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $100,616 median income, cost of living beats 93% of counties.
Is Ada County safe?
Yes, Ada County is safer than 99% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $204 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ada County?
July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 42 with lows near 24. That works out to about 117 pleasant days a year, more than 72% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Ada County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Star, Kuna, and Garden City & Eagle. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Ada County good for families?
Schools beat 83% of counties, crime safety beats 99%, and childcare runs $974 a month.
Is Ada County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 63% of counties. About 18% of workers already work from home.
Compare Ada County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ada County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ada County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Ada County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ada County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ada County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ada County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ada County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ada County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.