Best PlacesSpirit Lake, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Spirit Lake, 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.
Spirit Lake ranks 9,977th 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 Spirit Lake
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.
Spirit Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Spirit Lake ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 92% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of towns
Where Spirit Lake ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Short commute36.0 minutes each way, better than only 12% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 23% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 30% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 42% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Spirit Lake
A household needs to earn about $120,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Spirit Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $77,750, 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 Spirit Lake's effective rate of 0.39%, 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 Spirit Lake
Spirit Lake runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Spirit Lake.
Who works in Spirit Lake, and how
Work in Spirit Lake 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 79%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Spirit Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Spirit Lake.
What the weather is like in Spirit Lake, month by month
Spirit Lake sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 30° | 24° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 34° |
| July | 88° | 72° | 53° |
| October | 60° | 47° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Spirit Lake
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 256 miles away.
The best schools in and around Spirit Lake
Schools across Spirit Lake average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Priest Lake Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Priest River Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Spirit Lake Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Timberlake Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Priest River Jr High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Timberlake Senior High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Priest River Lamanna HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Spirit Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Spirit Lake 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 Spirit Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Spirit Lake
Is Spirit Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Spirit Lake ranks 9,977th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, low disaster risk, and civic engagement, and lowest on an overheated housing market and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Spirit Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $485,356. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $77,750 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Spirit Lake safe?
Yes, Spirit Lake is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $270 per resident a year.
Compare Spirit Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Spirit Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Spirit Lake 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.
Spirit Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Spirit Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Spirit Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Spirit Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Spirit Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Spirit Lake 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.