Best PlacesLava Hot Springs, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lava Hot Springs, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lava Hot Springs ranks 21,818th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lava Hot Springs
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.
Lava Hot Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Lava Hot Springs ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 82% of towns
Where Lava Hot Springs ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lava Hot Springs
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lava Hot Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $72,647, 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 Lava Hot Springs' effective rate of 0.46%, 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 Lava Hot Springs
Lava Hot Springs 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 Lava Hot Springs.
Who works in Lava Hot Springs, and how
Work in Lava Hot Springs centers on retail trade and professional & technical. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lava Hot Springs
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lava Hot Springs.
What the weather is like in Lava Hot Springs, month by month
Lava Hot Springs sees roughly 105 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 62° | 46° | 31° |
| July | 93° | 74° | 51° |
| October | 65° | 47° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Lava Hot Springs
The nearest airport, Pocatello Regional, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Salt Lake City International, about 126 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lava Hot Springs
Schools across Lava Hot Springs average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lava Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Mountain View Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marsh Valley Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Marsh Valley High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lava Hot Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lava Hot Springs 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 Lava Hot Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lava Hot Springs
Is Lava Hot Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lava Hot Springs ranks 21,818th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, cheap car insurance, and walkability, and lowest on noise and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lava Hot Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $383,300. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $72,647 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Lava Hot Springs safe?
Yes, Lava Hot Springs is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $186 per resident a year.
Compare Lava Hot Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lava Hot Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lava Hot Springs 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.
Lava Hot Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lava Hot Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lava Hot Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lava Hot Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lava Hot Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lava Hot Springs 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.