Best PlacesOldtown, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oldtown, 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.
Oldtown ranks 22,522nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oldtown
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.
Oldtown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oldtown ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 84% of towns
Where Oldtown ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 23% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oldtown
A household needs to earn about $117,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oldtown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $67,148, 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 Oldtown's effective rate of 0.39%, 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 Oldtown
Oldtown runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Oldtown.
Who works in Oldtown, and how
Work in Oldtown centers on manufacturing and other services. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Oldtown
Oldtown has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Oldtown and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oldtown, month by month
Oldtown sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 29° | 26° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 68° | 52° |
| October | 56° | 44° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Oldtown
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 251 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oldtown
Schools across Oldtown average a B−, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Idaho Hill Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Priest River Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Priest River Jr High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Priest River Lamanna HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oldtown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oldtown 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 Oldtown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oldtown
Is Oldtown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oldtown ranks 22,522nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, cheap car insurance, and low disaster risk, and lowest on an overheated housing market and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oldtown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $475,352. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $67,148 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Oldtown safe?
Yes, Oldtown is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $220 per resident a year.
Compare Oldtown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oldtown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oldtown 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.
Oldtown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oldtown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oldtown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oldtown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oldtown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oldtown 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.