Best PlacesSandpoint, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sandpoint, 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.
Sandpoint ranks 9,701st 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 Sandpoint
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.
Sandpoint's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sandpoint ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Short commute17.4 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of towns
Where Sandpoint ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 13% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 21% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sandpoint
A household needs to earn about $130,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sandpoint home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $71,225, 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 Sandpoint's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 Sandpoint
Sandpoint 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 Sandpoint.
Who works in Sandpoint, and how
Work in Sandpoint 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 78%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Sandpoint
Sandpoint has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns and more parkland per resident than 86% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Sandpoint and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sandpoint, month by month
Sandpoint sees roughly 103 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 Sandpoint
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 66 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 274 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sandpoint
Schools across Sandpoint average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Northside Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Washington Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Kootenai Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sandpoint Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Boundary County Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Priest River Jr High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Sandpoint High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- 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 Sandpoint school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sandpoint 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 Sandpoint against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sandpoint
Is Sandpoint a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sandpoint ranks 9,701st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, biking, and walkability, and lowest on an overheated housing market and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sandpoint expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $522,821. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $71,225 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Sandpoint safe?
Yes, Sandpoint is safer than 81% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $248 per resident a year.
Compare Sandpoint with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sandpoint. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sandpoint 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.
Sandpoint detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sandpoint: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sandpoint: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sandpoint: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sandpoint: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sandpoint 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.