Best PlacesWardner, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wardner, 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.
Wardner ranks 35,803rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wardner
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.
Wardner's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wardner ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 89% of towns
Where Wardner ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 5% of towns
- Household income$48,117 median, better than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 14% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wardner
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wardner home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $48,117, 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 Wardner's effective rate of 0.64%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wardner
Wardner runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wardner.
Who works in Wardner, and how
Work in Wardner centers on retail trade and public administration. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Wardner
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wardner.
What the weather is like in Wardner, month by month
Wardner sees roughly 97 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 Wardner
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 66 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 274 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wardner
Schools across Wardner average a B−, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Silver Hills Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Pinehurst Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kellogg Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Kellogg High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Wallace Jr/sr High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wardner school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wardner 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 Wardner against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wardner
Is Wardner a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wardner ranks 35,803rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, fast internet, and heat safety, and lowest on a weak job market and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wardner expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $250,028. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $48,117 median income, cost of living beats 5% of towns.
Is Wardner safe?
Yes, Wardner is safer than 57% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $339 per resident a year.
Compare Wardner with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wardner. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wardner 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.
Wardner detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wardner: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wardner: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wardner: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wardner: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wardner 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.