City profile · Idaho · Census ACS 2023

Boise City, ID

Boise City's Census ACS profile: residents, income, housing, and the joined public-record layers available for this place.

235,701
Residents
$81,308
Median income
$456,000
Median home
$1,173
Median rent (state)
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See how it ranks

State rank, size-class rank, and four peer cities for Boise City.

Place dossier plate

Sheet ID-BOISE-CITY-ID · Boise City, ID 235,701 pop · income 63rd pct · 129 tracts

POP-MID · INC-HIGH · COL-PAR · SAFE-UNK · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · HOME-HIGH · BOOK-MEGA

  • POP-MID 235,701
  • INC-HIGH $81,308
  • COL-PAR 95.5
  • SAFE-UNK Safety pending
  • RANK-UPPER 63rd
  • PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Clatskanie
  • HOME-HIGH $456,000
  • BOOK-MEGA 129 tracts

Nearest income peer: Clatskanie, OR ( $1 income $)

Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.

Income neighbourhood around Boise City

Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Boise City on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.

median HH income

What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.

Source U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 5-Year Estimates As of 2026-08-08

Compare beyond this state

Nationwide peers by population, income

Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Boise City on ACS population and median household income . Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.

Similar population

Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 235,701.

4 peers

Similar household income

Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS median household income. This city: $81,308. Population peers are excluded.

4 peers

Boise City - the verdict

Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Boise City lands in the 63rd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.

63rd
percentile, household income
82nd
percentile, home value
51st
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this

Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.

Data Snapshot: Boise City, ID

Census ACS 2023 estimates count 235,701 residents in Boise City, a mid-sized U.S. city within Idaho. Boise City households earn a median of $81,308 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.0%. Typical homes in Boise City are valued around $456,000, and the median resident age is 38.2 years. 46.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 65.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.

In 2024, 741 residential building permits were authorized in Boise City (Construction Slowdown), down 53% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data.

Living costs in Idaho run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Idaho scores 95.5 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,173 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Idaho's average monthly utility costs around $170 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 38.5 out of 100 (Very Low).

A decision-led reading path

Useful questions to ask of Boise City's data

How this reading path is ordered

This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from within-city variation to housing and income to population change to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.

For Boise City, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles. No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.

1. Within-city variation

What can 129 Census tracts reveal inside Boise City?

That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.

PlainCities matches 129 Census tracts to this city.

Explore Boise City's tract profiles →

Question 2

How far does income reach against housing in Boise City?

The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.

This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.

Compare the housing trade-off →

3. Population change

Is Boise City growing, shrinking, or holding steady?

Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.

Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +2,396 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 741 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.

See the national growth ranking →

Question 4

Which cities make useful reference points for Boise City?

Within Idaho, the closest population matches are Meridian (124,865 residents, $98,686 income); Nampa (106,289 residents, $72,122 income); Idaho Falls (66,672 residents, $69,630 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Arlington, VA (235,463 residents); Norfolk, VA (235,037 residents); Enterprise, NV (232,043 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.

Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.

Open a side-by-side comparison →

Other supported questions

Why these stay compact

These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.

Work and mobility

What does the journey to work look like in Boise City?

Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.

Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 68.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.

Public transit
0.6%
Work from home
15.8%
Drive alone
68.6%

City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 128,120 workers age 16+.

Compare commute patterns →

Population

235,701 residents

Large city (200k–999k)

Median Household Income

$81,308 /yr

Above median income · poverty 6.0% (Below-median poverty)

Cost of Living Index (state)

95.5 (US=100)

Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Idaho average

City profile score · Boise City, ID

64/100

4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023

Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians (income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out and redistribute weight. How it is calculated.

Bachelor's+ share A-
46.6%

Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.

Household income C+
$81,308

Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.

Cost of living C+
95.5 index

BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.

Poverty rate C
6.0%

Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.

Violent crime N/A
N/A

No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).

Boise City profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions) 4-axis radar comparing 1 series across Bachelor's+ share, Household income, Cost of living, Poverty rate. Bachelor's+ shareHousehold incomeCost of livingPoverty rate 64 C+
Boise City profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)
Read the chart values
  • Bachelor's+ share: 81/100 (A-) · 46.6%
  • Household income: 61/100 (C+) · $81,308
  • Cost of living: 61/100 (C+) · 95.5 index
  • Poverty rate: 59/100 (C) · 6.0%

How does Boise City compare to other US cities?

Here's how Boise City stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.

Household income 63% higher than other cities
Home value 82% pricier than other cities
Median rent 51% pricier than other cities

"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.

How we calculate these percentiles & ranks

Each percentile compares Boise City against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Idaho only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.

Idaho-relative analysis

Median Gross Rent places Boise City near the bottom of Idaho's cities

Among the 215 Idaho cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Boise City ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Boise City only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.

Median Household Income
#40 of 206
81st percentile in Idaho
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 215
0th percentile in Idaho
Median Home Value
#21 of 204
90th percentile in Idaho
Poverty Rate
#132 of 215
37th percentile in Idaho
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#14 of 215
93rd percentile in Idaho
How in-state ranks are ordered

Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Idaho only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.

63rdIncome percentile
Gauge source note

63rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.

How Boise City's home value compares nationally

Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)

$456,000 18th percentile more affordable than 18% of 15,600 US cities

Show national distribution $0–$25,000: 5 US cities (0%). Below this entry. $25,000–$50,000: 54 US cities (0%). Below this entry. $50,000–$75,000: 352 US cities (2%). Below this entry. $75,000–$100,000: 1,086 US cities (7%). Below this entry. $100,000–$125,000: 1,516 US cities (10%). Below this entry. $125,000–$150,000: 1,170 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $150,000–$175,000: 1,278 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $175,000–$200,000: 1,229 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $200,000–$225,000: 1,035 US cities (7%). Below this entry. $225,000–$250,000: 976 US cities (6%). Below this entry. $250,000–$275,000: 754 US cities (5%). Below this entry. $275,000–$300,000: 712 US cities (5%). Below this entry. $300,000–$325,000: 521 US cities (3%). Below this entry. $325,000–$350,000: 526 US cities (3%). Below this entry. $350,000–$375,000: 465 US cities (3%). Below this entry. $375,000–$400,000: 393 US cities (3%). Below this entry. $400,000–$425,000: 317 US cities (2%). Below this entry. $425,000–$450,000: 300 US cities (2%). Below this entry. $450,000–$475,000: 307 US cities (2%). This entry sits in this band. $475,000–$500,000: 250 US cities (2%). Above this entry. $500,000–$525,000: 160 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $525,000–$550,000: 156 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $550,000–$575,000: 172 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $575,000–$600,000: 172 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $600,000–$625,000: 163 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $625,000–$650,000: 167 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $650,000–$675,000: 135 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $675,000–$700,000: 101 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $700,000–$725,000: 95 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $725,000–$750,000: 71 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $750,000–$775,000: 65 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $775,000–$800,000: 70 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $800,000–$825,000: 57 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $825,000–$850,000: 67 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $850,000–$875,000: 60 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $875,000–$900,000: 58 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $900,000–$925,000: 47 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $925,000–$950,000: 37 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $950,000–$975,000: 31 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $975,000–$1,000,000: 470 US cities (3%). Above this entry. $1,000,000–$1,025,000: 0 US cities (0%). Above this entry. Boise City $0 $1,025,000 every US city, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023

Boise City's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.6×

ACS median home value divided by median household income.

Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,713 of 15,516
More affordable than 12% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#85 of 117
Large cities (200,000–999,999)

At 5.6×, Boise City sits in the pressured band: national rank #13,713 of 15,516 and #85 of 117large cities (200,000–999,999). Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.

How this ratio is calculated

Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000. Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0). This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.

Income distribution context

$81,308 Boise City, ID median household income (Census ACS)

Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Household income distribution - Boise City, ID Boise City, ID's median household income ($81,308) against the U.S. national quintile-share pattern. The Lorenz curve and quintile bars are national context, not Boise City, ID-specific shares. $ Household Income Distribution Boise City, ID median $81,308/yr, vs. U.S. national quintile pattern QUINTILE SHARE OF AGGREGATE INCOME Lowest 20% 3.4% Second 20% 9.2% Middle 20% 15.1% Fourth 20% 23.2% Top 20% 49.1% LORENZ CURVE cumulative income vs. population 100% 0% 100% pop. 0%
Boise City, ID median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Boise City, ID.

Key socioeconomic indicators

Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+) 46.6%

Census ACS S1501, educational attainment

Poverty rate (households below FPL) 6.0%

Census ACS S1701, poverty status

Labor force participation (adults 16+) 65.8%

Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force

Population
235,701
Median Income
$81,308
Median Home Value
$456,000
Median Age
38.2
Poverty Rate
6.0%
Labor force participation
65.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
46.6%

Population Change

PEP vintage

Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025

See the fastest-growing cities →
235,000 residents236,000 residents237,000 residents238,000 residents239,000 residents 202020212022202320242025 236,033 residents 238,429 residents ▲ +1.0%
Boise City's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.
Read the chart as text
Period Population
2020 236,033 residents
2021 238,202 residents
2022 237,416 residents
2023 236,297 residents
2024 237,730 residents
2025 238,429 residents

Housing Supply

BPS source

Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized

📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
741
housing units authorized
Single-Family
468
detached homes
Multifamily
273
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.1
permits per 1,000 residents

5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)

Year Total
2019 1,581
2020 1,125
2021 2,021
2022 1,602
2023 1,897
2024 741

Permit volume decreased 53% from 2019 to 2024.

Commute Patterns

Commute source

How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023

Drive Alone
68.6%
Carpool
7.6%
Public Transit
0.6%
Walk
3.4%
Work from Home
15.8%
Other
4.0%

Based on 128,120 workers 16 and over.

Monthly Utility Costs

Idaho statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $170

EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Idaho at $170 (electricity about $80 , water and sewer about $40 ).

These are Idaho statewide averages, not a meter reading for Boise City. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.

Living Costs & Risk

Idaho's BEA cost-of-living index is 95.5 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Boise City is $1,173/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Idaho statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 38.5 / 100 (Very Low).

Cost/risk geography note

Cost of living is a Idaho statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Boise City sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.

How Boise City compares to similar-size Idaho cities

Same-state peer method

Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.

City Population Median Household Income
Boise City (this city) 235,701 $81,308
Meridian 124,865 $98,686
Nampa 106,289 $72,122
Idaho Falls 66,672 $69,630
Census BPS 2024
Primary sources on this page

Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Citation & verification links Data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCities

Primary sources: Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES. Joins use OMB Bulletin 23-01 / FIPS keys.

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Estimate caveats

ACS and UCR figures are citywide estimates with vintage lags; they do not replace a local visit, school visit, or insurance quote.

Editorial standards, provenance, and how to cite this page

Every figure on PlainCities is rendered directly from Census ACS source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Census ACS source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

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