Best PlacesLane, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lane, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lane ranks 5,712th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lane
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.
Lane's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lane ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$133,151 median, better than 95% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
Where Lane ranks low
- Short commute43.5 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 20% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lane
A household needs to earn about $143,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lane home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $133,151; 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 Lane's effective rate of 0.33%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Lane
Lane runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lane.
Who works in Lane, and how
Work in Lane centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Lane
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lane.
What the weather is like in Lane, month by month
Lane sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 30° | 24° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 34° |
| July | 88° | 72° | 53° |
| October | 60° | 47° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Lane
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 270 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lane
Schools across Lane average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Harrison Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Fernan Stem AcademyB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- St Maries Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Lakes Magnet SchoolB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- St Maries High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Lake City High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Kootenai Jr/sr High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lane school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lane 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 Lane against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lane
Is Lane a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lane ranks 5,712th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on long commutes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lane expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $583,100. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $133,151 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Lane safe?
Yes, Lane is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $222 per resident a year.
Compare Lane with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lane. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lane 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.
Lane detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lane: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lane: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lane: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lane: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lane 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.