Best PlacesNampa, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Nampa, 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.
Nampa ranks 127th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on low crime and state finances. The weaker spots are distance from a big city, tree cover, and walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Nampa
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.
Nampa's strengths and weaknesses
Nampa lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low crime is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. State finances and cheap car insurance follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Distance from a big city, tree cover, and walkability hold the score down. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Nampa ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 96% of cities
Where Nampa ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 19% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Nampa
A household needs to earn about $98,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Nampa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $79,858, 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 Nampa's effective rate of 0.51%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Nampa
Nampa runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Nampa.
Who works in Nampa, and how
Work in Nampa centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Nampa
Nampa has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of cities and more parkland per resident than 83% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Nampa and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Nampa, month by month
Nampa sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 95° | 79° | 62° |
| October | 66° | 52° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Nampa
Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field sits about 17 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 Nampa
Schools across Nampa average a C, better than 29% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Legacy Charter SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Silver Trail Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
- West Canyon Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lake Hazel Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Middleton Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Meridian Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Marsing High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Mountain View High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Middleton High SchoolB · 49% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Nampa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Nampa 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 Nampa against the other 444 cities.
Who Nampa suits
Families
Schools land around the 29th percentile and crime safety beats 100%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Nampa
Is Nampa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Nampa ranks 127th of 445 cities. It scores highest on low crime, state finances, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on distance from a big city and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Nampa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $391,814. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $79,858 median income, cost of living beats 44% of cities.
Is Nampa safe?
Yes, Nampa is safer than 100% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $205 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Nampa?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 26. That works out to about 96 pleasant days a year, more than 45% of cities.
Is Nampa good for families?
Schools beat 29% of cities, crime safety beats 100%, and childcare runs $742 a month.
Is Nampa good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 44% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 65% of cities. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Nampa with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Nampa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Nampa 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.
Nampa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Nampa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Nampa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Nampa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Nampa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Nampa 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.