Relocating from California to Idaho (Boise, Nampa: apartment complexes, crime, how much)

[d1l3mm4]

Originally Posted by NW Crow

Would you consider Moscow Idaho? Smaller than Twin Falls metro but not by that much if you include Pullman WA. Bigger if you add in Lewiston ID.

How small would you go for "small town feel"? It sounds like you mean small metro with small being 100k. But you clarify if you wish / need to.

Can you get what you want from Idaho public schools? Different people might answer differently. Money and school quality aren't necessarily in lock step but many think they are at least somewhat correlated. Twin Falls and Idaho Falls schools spend barely over half the national average. Boise 70%. Sacramento 80%. Moscow about 75%.

Moscow averages a moderate amount of snow for North country but it will vary month to month and year to year. Think snow a few times a week most of the time though every day might happen in certain stretches. Prep time might be 5 minutes of scraping car glass or some amount of time with a shovel, snow blower or plow depending on snowfall and driveway length and pitch.

Where we live now is a sub-city of Sacramento with about 75,000, but Sacramento itself is roughly 500,000. A bit too large for me. Where we came from 2 years prior had a population of 74,000 but 33,000 people living here are college students. When I mean small town I more or less just mean I don’t want to live in the middle of a metropolitan area.

[NW Crow]

Boise metro is 770k population. Go to consolidated MSA with Ontario OR and it is pushing 900k with 1 mil coming soon. That doesn't sound like it is what you are looking for.
Though maybe an outer suburb could sorta work, mostly ignoring the metro except when you want something from it. That strategy could be used in Kuna or Mt. Home.

Pocatello is worth researching.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by NW Crow

Boise metro is 770k population. Go to consolidated MSA with Ontario OR and it is pushing 900k with 1 mil coming soon. That doesn't sound like it is what you are looking for.
Though maybe an outer suburb could sorta work, mostly ignoring the metro except when you want something from it. That strategy could be used in Kuna or Mt. Home.

Pocatello is worth researching.

Yup. The folks who live in Weiser, New Plymouth, Fruitland, and Payette don't drive into Boise to go shopping; they all go to Ontario, the local hub city, where there's no sales tax on food or other stuff.

And to buy pot, which is still illegal in Idaho. There's so much legal Oregon pot being sold in Ontario now that the town has become a little Chicago, bursting with dope, money, and crime.

Ontario is just a few miles away from all of them, and the traffic isn't as overwhelming getting there. Ontario has boomed while all the surrounding Idaho towns have shriveled.

[d1l3mm4]

Originally Posted by NW Crow

Boise metro is 770k population. Go to consolidated MSA with Ontario OR and it is pushing 900k with 1 mil coming soon. That doesn't sound like it is what you are looking for.
Though maybe an outer suburb could sorta work, mostly ignoring the metro except when you want something from it. That strategy could be used in Kuna or Mt. Home.

Pocatello is worth researching.

Awesome, thank you for the other suggestions. I'm not keen on how this thread works, so I did post a reply in my original post about other options like Caldwell, Pocatello, or Nampa.

[d1l3mm4]

Originally Posted by banjomike

Yup. The folks who live in Weiser, New Plymouth, Fruitland, and Payette don't drive into Boise to go shopping; they all go to Ontario, the local hub city, where there's no sales tax on food or other stuff.

And to buy pot, which is still illegal in Idaho. There's so much legal Oregon pot being sold in Ontario now that the town has become a little Chicago, bursting with dope, money, and crime.

Ontario is just a few miles away from all of them, and the traffic isn't as overwhelming getting there. Ontario has boomed while all the surrounding Idaho towns have shriveled.

Interesting, almost gives me pause to check those area's out since it seems like Ontario is very much preventing other Idaho economies from thriving.

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by d1l3mm4

Interesting, almost gives me pause to check those area's out since it seems like Ontario is very much preventing other Idaho economies from thriving.

Weiser, Fruitland are more rural areas.

[d1l3mm4]

Originally Posted by nowhereman427

Weiser, Fruitland are more rural areas.

Got it, thanks.

[banjomike]

If you need easy year-round access to an airport for your job, I wouldn't be looking at any city in Idaho that doesn't have one.
I wouldn't worry about finding 'a small town feel' here. That feel is universal here; you'll find it in Boise just as much as you would in Greenleaf or Pocatello.

[d1l3mm4]

Originally Posted by banjomike

If you need easy year-round access to an airport for your job, I wouldn't be looking at any city in Idaho that doesn't have one.
I wouldn't worry about finding 'a small town feel' here. That feel is universal here; you'll find it in Boise just as much as you would in Greenleaf or Pocatello.

I really appreciate that feedback.

[TohobitPeak]

Originally Posted by banjomike

Yup. The folks who live in Weiser, New Plymouth, Fruitland, and Payette don't drive into Boise to go shopping; they all go to Ontario, the local hub city, where there's no sales tax on food or other stuff.

And to buy pot, which is still illegal in Idaho. There's so much legal Oregon pot being sold in Ontario now that the town has become a little Chicago, bursting with dope, money, and crime.

Ontario is just a few miles away from all of them, and the traffic isn't as overwhelming getting there. Ontario has boomed while all the surrounding Idaho towns have shriveled.

Those small towns near the border of Oregon are actually growing, not booming but growing. New Plymouth has a new hi tech company in a large new building. Lots on new lol.

Ontario is booming financially because of the generosity of thousands of Idahoans spending money there at the cannibas shops and supplying Ontario with tax revenue.
Every cannibas shop in that little town has parking lots full of Idaho vehicles. It's a quick 45 minute drive from downtown Boise. Treasure Valley Cannibas has a great mural showing all of the city names in the Treasure Valley. Boise is represented well there.