Best PlacesPorthill, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Porthill, 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.
Porthill ranks 17,622nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Porthill
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.
Porthill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Porthill ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute15.5 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of towns
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
Where Porthill ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Porthill
A household needs to earn about $194,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Porthill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,290, 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 Porthill's effective rate of 0.30%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Porthill
Porthill runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Porthill.
Who works in Porthill, and how
Work in Porthill centers on agriculture & forestry and other services. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Porthill
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Porthill.
What the weather is like in Porthill, month by month
Porthill sees roughly 84 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 Porthill
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 89 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 281 miles away.
The best schools in and around Porthill
Schools across Porthill average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Priest Lake Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Valley View Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Boundary County Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Priest River Jr High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Bonners Ferry High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Priest River Lamanna HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Porthill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Porthill 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 Porthill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Porthill
Is Porthill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Porthill ranks 17,622nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, short commutes, and low property taxes, and lowest on biking and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Porthill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $796,500. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $60,290 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Porthill safe?
Yes, Porthill is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $217 per resident a year.
Compare Porthill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Porthill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Porthill 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.
Porthill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Porthill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Porthill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Porthill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Porthill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Porthill 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.