Best PlacesSmiths Ferry, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Smiths Ferry, 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.
Smiths Ferry ranks 22,635th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Smiths Ferry
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.
Smiths Ferry's strengths and weaknesses
Where Smiths Ferry ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of towns
- QuietBetter than 80% of towns
Where Smiths Ferry ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Smiths Ferry
A household needs to earn about $122,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Smiths Ferry home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $84,336, 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 Smiths Ferry's effective rate of 0.33%, 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 Smiths Ferry
Smiths Ferry runs older than the country, 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 Smiths Ferry.
Who works in Smiths Ferry, and how
Work in Smiths Ferry centers on retail trade and construction. 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 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Smiths Ferry
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Smiths Ferry.
What the weather is like in Smiths Ferry, month by month
Smiths Ferry sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 22° | 12° |
| April | 52° | 38° | 26° |
| July | 85° | 68° | 48° |
| October | 58° | 42° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Smiths Ferry
Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field sits about 52 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 Smiths Ferry
Schools across Smiths Ferry average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ola Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Cascade Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Emmett Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Mccall-donnelly High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Cascade Jr/sr High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Emmett High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Smiths Ferry school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Smiths Ferry 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 Smiths Ferry against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Smiths Ferry
Is Smiths Ferry a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Smiths Ferry ranks 22,635th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, cheap car insurance, and state finances, and lowest on internet speeds and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Smiths Ferry expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $496,738. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $84,336 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Smiths Ferry safe?
Smiths Ferry is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $428 per resident a year.
Compare Smiths Ferry with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Smiths Ferry. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Smiths Ferry 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.
Smiths Ferry detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Smiths Ferry: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Smiths Ferry: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Smiths Ferry: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Smiths Ferry: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Smiths Ferry 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.