Best PlacesOwyhee County, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Owyhee County, 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.
Owyhee County ranks 1,625th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Owyhee County
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.
Owyhee County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Owyhee County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 96% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 88% of counties
- Cheap childcare$552 a month, better than 83% of counties
Where Owyhee County ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 13% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 18% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Owyhee County
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Owyhee County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,050, 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 Owyhee County's effective rate of 0.40%, 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 Owyhee County
Owyhee County's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Owyhee County.
Who works in Owyhee County, and how
Work in Owyhee County centers on construction and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Owyhee County
Owyhee County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Owyhee County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Owyhee County growing, and who is moving in?
Owyhee County has grown about 13% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Boise, ID metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Owyhee County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Owyhee County, month by month
Owyhee County sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 67° | 51° | 36° |
| July | 96° | 78° | 58° |
| October | 68° | 51° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Owyhee County
Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field sits about 27 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 Owyhee County
Schools across Owyhee County average a B−, better than 58% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Jordan Valley Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Melba Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Grand View Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Homedale Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Mountain Home Junior High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Marsing Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Marsing High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Jordan Valley High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Melba High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Owyhee County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Owyhee County 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 Owyhee County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Owyhee County
Is Owyhee County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Owyhee County ranks 1,625th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, state finances, and low property taxes, and lowest on education levels and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Owyhee County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $377,261. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $68,050 median income, cost of living beats 20% of counties.
Is Owyhee County safe?
Yes, Owyhee County is safer than 64% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $330 per resident a year.
Compare Owyhee County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Owyhee County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Owyhee County 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.
Owyhee County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Owyhee County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Owyhee County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Owyhee County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Owyhee County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Owyhee County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.