Best PlacesCouncil, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Council, 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.
Council ranks 31,265th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Council
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.
Council's strengths and weaknesses
Where Council ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute16.5 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 95% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
Where Council ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Council
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Council home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $52,231, 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 Council's effective rate of 0.34%, 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 Council
Council runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Council.
Who works in Council, and how
Work in Council centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Council
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Council.
What the weather is like in Council, month by month
Council sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 22° | 12° |
| April | 52° | 38° | 26° |
| July | 85° | 68° | 48° |
| October | 58° | 42° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Council
Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field sits about 83 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 Council
Schools across Council average a B−, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Barbara R Morgan ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Donnelly ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Cambridge Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Payette Lakes Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Mccall-donnelly High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Council Jr/sr High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Cambridge Middle/high SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Council school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Council 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 Council against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Council
Is Council a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Council ranks 31,265th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, state finances, and short commutes, and lowest on disaster risk and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Council expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $245,121. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $52,231 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Council safe?
Yes, Council is safer than 76% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $250 per resident a year.
Compare Council with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Council. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Council 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.
Council detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Council: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Council: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Council: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Council: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Council 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.