Best PlacesSalmon, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Salmon, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Salmon ranks 19,834th 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 Salmon
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.
Salmon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Salmon ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute14.5 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
Where Salmon ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 16% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
- Household income$55,297 median, better than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Salmon
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Salmon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $55,297, 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 Salmon's effective rate of 0.32%, 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 Salmon
Salmon runs older than the country, 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 Salmon.
Who works in Salmon, and how
Work in Salmon centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Salmon
Salmon has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Salmon and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Salmon, month by month
Salmon sees roughly 147 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 18° | 8° |
| April | 61° | 44° | 29° |
| July | 90° | 70° | 50° |
| October | 60° | 43° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Salmon
The nearest airport, Bert Mooney, is about 87 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 159 miles away.
The best schools in and around Salmon
Schools across Salmon average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Salmon Pioneer Primary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fern-waters Public Charter SchoolA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Salmon Jr/sr High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Challis Jr/sr High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Salmon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Salmon 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 Salmon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Salmon
Is Salmon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Salmon ranks 19,834th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, short commutes, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on an overheated housing market and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Salmon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $324,750. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $55,297 median income, cost of living beats 16% of towns.
Is Salmon safe?
Yes, Salmon is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $290 per resident a year.
Compare Salmon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Salmon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Salmon 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.
Salmon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Salmon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Salmon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Salmon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Salmon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Salmon 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.