Best PlacesLower Stanley, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lower Stanley, 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.
Lower Stanley ranks 34,157th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lower Stanley
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.
Lower Stanley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lower Stanley ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
Where Lower Stanley ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lower Stanley
A household needs to earn about $110,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lower Stanley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $70,524, 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 Lower Stanley's effective rate of 0.43%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Lower Stanley
Lower Stanley 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 Lower Stanley.
Who works in Lower Stanley, and how
Work in Lower Stanley centers on hospitality & food and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 39%
- Work from home 56%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lower Stanley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lower Stanley.
What the weather is like in Lower Stanley, month by month
Lower Stanley sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 3. The comfortable stretch runs July and August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 15° | 3° |
| April | 51° | 35° | 20° |
| July | 84° | 62° | 38° |
| October | 57° | 38° | 23° |
Flying in and out of Lower Stanley
The nearest airport, Friedman Memorial, is about 62 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 70 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lower Stanley
Schools across Lower Stanley average a B, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Stanley Elem/jr High SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Ernest Hemingway Steam SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Basin Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Wood River High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Idaho City High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Challis Jr/sr High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lower Stanley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lower Stanley 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 Lower Stanley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lower Stanley
Is Lower Stanley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lower Stanley ranks 34,157th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, state finances, and quiet, and lowest on cell coverage and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lower Stanley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $445,086. The overall cost of living runs about 29% above the national average. Set against a $70,524 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Lower Stanley safe?
Lower Stanley is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $509 per resident a year.
Compare Lower Stanley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lower Stanley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lower Stanley 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.
Lower Stanley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lower Stanley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lower Stanley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lower Stanley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lower Stanley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lower Stanley 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.