Wages and Cost of Living in Idaho (Boise, Pocatello: stores, expenses)

[vintage]

I've got a pretty good idea of the wage situation in the Boise Valley. Very few people work at the minimum wage. The de facto minimum wage seems to sit at about $5.75 to $6.00 an hour. There are always attempts to raise the minimum wage but I’m not sure if it would result in a noticeable improvement in meeting the cost of living in Idaho.
I’m not familiar with what is going on in other parts of the State. What is the trend concerning wages in relation to living expenses? Are the new big box stores in your area reducing the expense of products? I’ll gather some of my thoughts about Boise and post them a bit later.

[jinxs18]

We are in SE Idaho, and while the job scale seems lower in comparison with other states it is pretty much in line with expenses and such. In CA my master cement mason hubby would probably get 30-40$ph, here it's more like 28-35ph-BUT union is not and issue and because they need them so much employers are pretty danged loyal. Tradesmen are DesPERATELY needed,so ...again its individual. Pocatello is booming right now,and its winter sooo what can I say?? If you love it you live here if not...stay 5 minutes longer and the weather changes along with your mind.