Best PlacesMackay Bar, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mackay Bar, 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.
Mackay Bar ranks 16,721st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mackay Bar
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.
Mackay Bar's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mackay Bar ranks high
- Short commute12.4 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 92% of towns
Where Mackay Bar ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mackay Bar
A household needs to earn about $168,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mackay Bar home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,658, 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 Mackay Bar's effective rate of 0.41%, 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 Mackay Bar
Mackay Bar's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Mackay Bar.
Who works in Mackay Bar, and how
Work in Mackay Bar centers on public administration and other services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 58%
- Work from home 36%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Mackay Bar
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mackay Bar.
What the weather is like in Mackay Bar, month by month
Mackay Bar sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 22° | 12° |
| April | 52° | 38° | 26° |
| July | 85° | 68° | 48° |
| October | 58° | 42° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Mackay Bar
Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field sits about 94 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.6 million passengers in 2025, with 59 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Mackay Bar
Schools across Mackay Bar average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Barbara R Morgan ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Donnelly ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Cascade Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Payette Lakes Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Mccall-donnelly High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Cascade Jr/sr High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mackay Bar school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mackay Bar 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 Mackay Bar against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mackay Bar
Is Mackay Bar a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mackay Bar ranks 16,721st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, state finances, and good schools, and lowest on an overheated housing market and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mackay Bar expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $676,802. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $60,658 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Mackay Bar safe?
Yes, Mackay Bar is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $261 per resident a year.
Compare Mackay Bar with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mackay Bar. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mackay Bar 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.
Mackay Bar detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mackay Bar: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mackay Bar: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mackay Bar: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mackay Bar: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mackay Bar 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.