Best PlacesIdaho Falls, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Idaho Falls metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime read low across the board, which puts the choice down to which part suits you. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by nunit0616, Unsplash License, via unsplash
Idaho Falls ranks 14th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It earns the spot by being affordable and steady rather than flashy: everyday costs run well below the national average, and crime is low. The trade is distance from a big city: the nearest large city and its jobs, flights, and culture are a drive away.
The best neighborhoods in the Idaho Falls metro
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 Idaho Falls
The towns and districts of the Idaho Falls metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Ammon
Local pay stretches further, it is quieter, and incomes run higher.
Iona
More households have young kids, though biking is worse.
Downtown Idaho Falls
Streets are more walkable.
Rigby
Fewer homes sit empty and more residents vote.
Scores across Idaho Falls run from about the 16th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Idaho Falls' strengths and weaknesses
Idaho Falls ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. A strong job market is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. State finances and cheap car insurance follow.
The one real hole is distance from a big city, near the bottom of the country. Internet speeds and transit also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Idaho Falls ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of metro areas
Where Idaho Falls ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than only 21% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Idaho Falls
A household needs to earn about $94,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Idaho Falls home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $86,097; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Idaho Falls' effective rate of 0.53%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Idaho Falls
Idaho Falls 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 Idaho Falls.
Who works in Idaho Falls, and how
Work in Idaho Falls 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 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Idaho Falls
Idaho Falls has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Idaho Falls and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Idaho Falls growing, and who is moving in?
Idaho Falls has grown about 24% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Madison County, ID.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Idaho Falls go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Idaho Falls, month by month
Idaho Falls sees roughly 151 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 21° | 11° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 30° |
| July | 91° | 71° | 49° |
| October | 62° | 45° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Idaho Falls
The nearest airport, Idaho Falls Regional, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Salt Lake City International, about 187 miles away.
The best schools in and around Idaho Falls
Schools across Idaho Falls average a B−, better than 67% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Fairview Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Riverview Elementary SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Westside Elementary SchoolA · 64% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rigby Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Rocky Mountain Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Taylorview Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Firth High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Rigby High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Compass AcademyB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Idaho Falls school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Idaho Falls 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 Idaho Falls against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Idaho Falls suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of metro areas and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 88% of metro areas and it is quieter than 81%.
Common questions about living in Idaho Falls
Is Idaho Falls a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Idaho Falls ranks 14th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on a strong job market, state finances, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on distance from a big city and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Idaho Falls expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $373,069. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $86,097 median income, cost of living beats 86% of metro areas.
Is Idaho Falls safe?
Yes, Idaho Falls is safer than 96% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $230 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Idaho Falls?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 30 with lows near 11. That works out to about 151 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Idaho Falls?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Ammon, Iona, and Downtown Idaho Falls. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Idaho Falls good for families?
Schools beat 67% of metro areas, crime safety beats 96%, and childcare runs $707 a month.
Is Idaho Falls good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 7% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Idaho Falls with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Idaho Falls. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Idaho Falls 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.
Idaho Falls detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Idaho Falls: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Idaho Falls: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Idaho Falls: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Idaho Falls: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Idaho Falls 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.