Best PlacesShoshone County, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Shoshone County, 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.
Shoshone County ranks 1,510th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shoshone 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.
Shoshone County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shoshone County ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 96% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 95% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of counties
Where Shoshone County ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 10% of counties
- Household income$56,118 median, better than only 18% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 20% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 23% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 29% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Shoshone County
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shoshone County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $56,118, 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 Shoshone County's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Shoshone County
Shoshone County 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 Shoshone County.
Who works in Shoshone County, and how
Work in Shoshone County 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 81%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Shoshone County
Shoshone County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Shoshone County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Shoshone County growing, and who is moving in?
Shoshone County has grown about 14% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Coeur D Alene, ID.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Shoshone County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Shoshone County, month by month
Shoshone County sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 74 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs July and August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 23° | 18° |
| April | 43° | 33° | 26° |
| July | 74° | 62° | 53° |
| October | 47° | 38° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Shoshone County
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 68 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 273 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shoshone County
Schools across Shoshone County average a C+, better than 52% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Silver Hills Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Athol Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Canyon Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Canfield Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
- St Maries Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Kellogg Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Coeur D'alene High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- Troy Jr/sr High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- St Maries High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shoshone County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shoshone 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 Shoshone County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Shoshone County
Is Shoshone County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shoshone County ranks 1,510th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state finances, cheap car insurance, and fast internet, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shoshone County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $267,005. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $56,118 median income, cost of living beats 10% of counties.
Is Shoshone County safe?
Yes, Shoshone County is safer than 84% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $298 per resident a year.
Compare Shoshone County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shoshone County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shoshone 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.
Shoshone County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shoshone County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shoshone County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shoshone County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shoshone County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shoshone 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.