Best PlacesIsland Park, ID Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Island Park, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Island Park ranks 5,755th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.

#5,755
of 50,333 towns
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 50,333 towns
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Island Park

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Island Park area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Island Park's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%Civic engagement
Top 3%State finances
Top 3%A strong job market
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Island Park with other towns.

Where Island Park ranks high

  • Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
  • State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
  • Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
  • Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of towns

Where Island Park ranks low

  • Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
  • Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
  • Internet speedBetter than only 25% of towns
  • Air qualityBetter than only 25% of towns

What it costs to buy a home in Island Park

A household needs to earn about $123,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Island Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $91,500, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$123,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,878
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $494,000 home

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,519
Property tax$195
Homeowners insurance$165

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 Island Park's effective rate of 0.47%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.


Who lives in Island Park

Island Park runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
62
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
43%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.1
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1811%
18 to 346%
35 to 4916%
50 to 6423%
65 and older43%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Island Park.


Who works in Island Park, and how

Work in Island Park centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
23%
above the national average
Unemployment
1.3%
below the national average
Job growth
+12.1%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Construction15%
Retail trade12%
Hospitality & food11%
Agriculture & forestry9%
Admin & support services7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 70%
  • Work from home 23%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 7%

Life in Island Park

Island Park has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Island Park and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
1,549
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 21634.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 99% of towns
Coffee shops
274
about 3826.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 99% of towns

What the weather is like in Island Park, month by month

Island Park sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs July and August.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January25°15°
April46°34°23°
July80°61°40°
October51°36°24°

Flying in and out of Island Park

The nearest airport, Yellowstone, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 248 miles away.

Nearest airport
WYS
Yellowstone, about 21 miles
Airport size
Nonprimary
2 nonstop destinations
Average drive
29 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Island Park

Schools across Island Park average a C+, better than 51% of towns.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Island Park school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Island Park 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 Island Park against the other 50,332 towns.


Common questions about living in Island Park

Is Island Park a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Island Park ranks 5,755th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, state finances, and a strong job market, and lowest on distance from a big city and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Island Park expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $494,000. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $91,500 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.

Is Island Park safe?

Yes, Island Park is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $227 per resident a year.


Compare Island Park with other towns


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Island Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Island Park 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.

Island Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Island Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Island Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Island Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Island Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Island Park detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.