Best PlacesHope, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hope, 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.
Hope ranks 12,666th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hope
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.
Hope's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hope ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of towns
Where Hope ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 19% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hope
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hope home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $88,619, 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 Hope's effective rate of 0.38%, 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 Hope
Hope runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hope.
Who works in Hope, and how
Work in Hope centers on construction and admin & support services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Hope
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hope.
What the weather is like in Hope, month by month
Hope sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 29° | 26° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 68° | 52° |
| October | 56° | 44° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Hope
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 73 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 286 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hope
Schools across Hope average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Northside Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Hope Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sandpoint Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Sandpoint High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Clark Fork Jr/sr High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hope school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hope 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 Hope against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hope
Is Hope a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hope ranks 12,666th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, a strong job market, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hope expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $457,257. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $88,619 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Hope safe?
Yes, Hope is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $202 per resident a year.
Compare Hope with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hope. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hope 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.
Hope detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hope: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hope: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hope: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hope: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hope 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.