Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetID-GARDEN-VALLEY-ID · Garden Valley, ID 364 pop · income 72nd pct
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 Garden Valley
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Garden Valley on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Steamboat · lowest
29,783
Steamboat · lowest
29,783 median HH income
32.7% of the leader · rank #1
Garden Valley · this city
91,042
Garden Valley · this city
91,042 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #2
North Palm Be… · near
91,042
North Palm Be… · near
91,042 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #3
Peekskill · near
91,042
Peekskill · near
91,042 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Thatcher · near
91,042
Thatcher · near
91,042 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Kahlotus · near
91,042
Kahlotus · near
91,042 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Osino · highest
91,052
Osino · highest
91,052 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
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.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Garden Valley 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: 364.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Garden Valley lands in the 72nd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
72nd
percentile, household income
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: Garden Valley, ID
364 people live in Garden Valley, Idaho - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Garden Valley households earn a median of $91,042 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. The median resident age is 36.8 years. 46.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 61.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA puts Garden Valley's yearly average temperature at 46.8°F with 26.6 inches of precipitation per year and 69.4 inches of snowfall.
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Idaho run around $170, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Garden Valley'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 work and mobility to schools and households to comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Garden Valley, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Garden Valley?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 64.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
What does the education layer cover for Garden Valley?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 46.2% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Which cities make useful reference points for Garden Valley?
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.
Within Idaho, the closest population matches are Eden (366 residents, $31,346 income); Tetonia (368 residents, $63,125 income); Yellow Pine (369 residents, $31,940 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Steamboat, AZ (364 residents); Hindsboro, IL (364 residents); Trivoli, IL (364 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.
What physical conditions frame life in Garden Valley?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 46.8°F, with 26.6 inches of precipitation and 69.4 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Idaho is 38.5 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
Above median income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
95.5 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Idaho average
B+
City profile score · Garden Valley, ID
77/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A-
46.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B
$91,042
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Garden Valley profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 80/100 (A-) · 46.2%
Household income: 70/100 (B) · $91,042
Cost of living: 61/100 (C+) · 95.5 index
How does Garden Valley compare to other US cities?
Where Garden Valley sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income72% higher than other cities
Median rent51% 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 Garden Valley 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 Garden Valley near the bottom of Idaho's cities
Among the 215 Idaho cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Garden Valley ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Garden Valley only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#21 of 206
90th percentile in Idaho
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 215
0th percentile in Idaho
Poverty Rate
#187 of 215
0th percentile in Idaho
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#15 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.
Gauge source note
72nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$91,042Garden Valley, ID median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Garden Valley, 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 Garden Valley, ID.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)46.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
364
Median Income
$91,042
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
36.8
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
61.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
46.2%
Climate
Avg Temperature
46.8°F
Annual Precipitation
26.6"
Annual Snowfall
69.4"
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
64.1%
Carpool
11.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
18.2%
Work from Home
6.3%
Based on 192 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 Garden Valley. 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 Garden Valley 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 Garden Valley sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Garden Valley 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.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, 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.