Best PlacesGooding County, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Gooding County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Gooding County ranks 864th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gooding 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.
Gooding County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gooding County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 96% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 95% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 161 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of counties
Where Gooding County ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Gooding County
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gooding County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $63,680, 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 Gooding County's effective rate of 0.44%, 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 Gooding County
Gooding County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Gooding County.
Who works in Gooding County, and how
Work in Gooding County centers on agriculture & forestry and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Gooding County
Gooding County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Gooding County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Gooding County growing, and who is moving in?
Gooding County has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Twin Falls, ID.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Gooding County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Gooding County, month by month
Gooding County sees roughly 161 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 63° | 48° | 34° |
| July | 93° | 76° | 58° |
| October | 66° | 50° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Gooding County
The nearest airport, Joslin Field/Magic Valley Regional, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 89 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gooding County
Schools across Gooding County average a C+, better than 47% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Hagerman Virtual SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Popplewell Elementary SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Camas County Elem/jr High SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gooding Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Buhl Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Wendell Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Camas County High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Wendell High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Gooding High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gooding County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gooding 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 Gooding County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Gooding County
Is Gooding County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gooding County ranks 864th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, state finances, and a strong job market, and lowest on education levels and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gooding County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $290,784. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $63,680 median income, cost of living beats 31% of counties.
Is Gooding County safe?
Yes, Gooding County is safer than 85% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $272 per resident a year.
Compare Gooding County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gooding County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gooding 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.
Gooding County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gooding County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gooding County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gooding County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gooding County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gooding 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.