Best PlacesCottonwood, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cottonwood, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cottonwood ranks 14,160th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cottonwood
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.
Cottonwood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cottonwood ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
Where Cottonwood ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 14% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 15% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cottonwood
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cottonwood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,567, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Cottonwood's effective rate of 0.35%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cottonwood
Cottonwood runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cottonwood.
Who works in Cottonwood, and how
Work in Cottonwood centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Cottonwood
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cottonwood.
What the weather is like in Cottonwood, month by month
Cottonwood sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 30° | 25° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 85° | 68° | 52° |
| October | 58° | 46° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Cottonwood
The nearest airport, Lewiston/Nez Perce County, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 172 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cottonwood
Schools across Cottonwood average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Prairie Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Grangeville Elem/middle SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Prairie Jr/sr High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Grangeville High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cottonwood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cottonwood
Is Cottonwood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cottonwood ranks 14,160th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, cheap car insurance, and heat safety, and lowest on distance from a big city and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cottonwood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $202,613. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $82,567 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Cottonwood safe?
Yes, Cottonwood is safer than 55% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $315 per resident a year.
Compare Cottonwood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cottonwood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cottonwood 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.
Cottonwood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cottonwood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cottonwood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cottonwood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cottonwood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cottonwood 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.
- 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.