Best PlacesMeadow Creek, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Meadow Creek, 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.
Meadow Creek ranks 18,498th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Meadow Creek
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.
Meadow Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Meadow Creek ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute16.4 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap childcare$552 a month, better than 87% of towns
Where Meadow Creek ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Meadow Creek
A household needs to earn about $99,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Meadow Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,021, 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 Meadow Creek's effective rate of 0.35%, 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 Meadow Creek
Meadow Creek runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Meadow Creek.
Who works in Meadow Creek, and how
Work in Meadow Creek centers on real estate and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Meadow Creek
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Meadow Creek.
What the weather is like in Meadow Creek, month by month
Meadow Creek sees roughly 105 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 28° | 24° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 70° | 54° |
| October | 55° | 44° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Meadow Creek
The nearest airport, Glacier Park International, is about 96 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 297 miles away.
The best schools in and around Meadow Creek
Schools across Meadow Creek average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Valley View Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Boundary County Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Bonners Ferry High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Meadow Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Meadow Creek 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 Meadow Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Meadow Creek
Is Meadow Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Meadow Creek ranks 18,498th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, short commutes, and low property taxes, and lowest on distance from a big city and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Meadow Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $402,457. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $76,021 median income, cost of living beats 49% of towns.
Is Meadow Creek safe?
Meadow Creek is safer than 49% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $360 per resident a year.
Compare Meadow Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Meadow Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Meadow Creek 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.
Meadow Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Meadow Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Meadow Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Meadow Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Meadow Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Meadow Creek 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.