San Diegan seeking best place to live in Idaho (Boise: fit in, transplants)

[MySerendipity]

Hi I would like opinions on the best place a native San Diegan would fit in, in Idaho. We are a Christian, conservative family looking to move to Idaho for quality of life, political, and religious reasons. Looking for a slower pace but still need to make a living. My husband is a Special Education teacher, high school level preferably math, I am a manicurist. We have an eight year old child. Can anyone recomend some cities that we might feel comfortable with.

Thanks

[Trace_Rinaldi]

Just me, I think nothing in Idaho can compare to North Idaho. Im from So Cal. too and decided to move there a long time ago, its just taken forever to actually happen.
I have been over the whole state, and North Idaho just takes the cake. Its absolutely gorgeous, one of the prettiest places in the US you could live.
Couer D'Alene, Post Falls, Hayden, Rathdrum etc sound like they would fit your bill nicely.. Plenty of big town stuff in CDA, and Spokane Wa. is an easy commute if you work there or just need an International airport or whatever.
The outdoor recreation is incredible, from world class golf, skiing, water sports, river rafting, mountain bike trails, ATV trails, hunting, fishing, you name it its there.

Also dont overlook Sandpoint to the North, and even some small cities to the south especially if your wanting small amounts of snow. Where I bought land about 30 miles south of CDA in Plummer it only gets 16" a year on average. Its an easy commute still for big city work and shopping to CDA or Spokane Wa. Small town, but it has everything you need including a Hospital, and Super Market. The School system might not be as good as CDA area though.
Just about anywhere you land in North Idaho is going to be incredible.

Good Luck!! and let us know what happens!

[Torrie]

Check out Boise. We have lots of transplants from your area and you will find many of the same ammenties here that you all ready have there. The difference is you'll have a slower pace of life, a safe enviroment for your family, access to many outdoor activities, and a change of seasons. Winters here will be more mild than Northern ID if that's a concern for you. Average snowfall is 21.4 inches a year. Because Boise is a larger metro area, you will probably have more jobs in your field to choose from. Commuting will be minimal to Boise if you choose to live in one of the metro cities such as Meridian or Eagle.

If you haven't all ready, check out the the one stop shop thread under Boise and you will find lots of helpful info there.

[MySerendipity]

Thank You! I was looking more at South Idaho because I was afraid North might have too much snow. Living In San Diego my whole life, Im a little afraid of too much of a seasonal change. However, I am more drawn to the north for beauty and some of the other things I have read. I will look into it more. I appriciate your feedback and look forward to hearing more. Thank You again.

[Torrie]

I love Northern ID, it is absolutely beautiful, but the amount of snow, depending on where you live, can be overwhelming. Last winter was one of their worst on record, I believe(it was bad in a lot of places not just northern, ID). The nice thing about Boise is you still get the snow, but it doesn't seem to hang around as long as it does in Northern ID. In the past 5.5years I've lived here, it's like 2 inches here, 4 inches there, 3 inches, etc....the snow typically melts and you can go about your business. The roads are well maintained and rarely is anything shut down. If you do seek this area out, look for a South facing property- the snow melts faster!

Also, the Boise airport runs year round, it hasn't been an issue when it snows as it is for some areas, at least in the time that I've lived here it hasn't been.

[MySerendipity]

Thank you for your recomendations. I need to find out also about work for my husband, how easy or difficult it is to find employment as a teacher. Im reading other interesting threads about it being difficult if you aren't LDS, it's unclear to me if that is the case in the whole state or just the southern part.

[Sage of Sagle]

South Idaho (outside of Boise) is something like 25% or more LDS, higher in some towns (IF and Rexburg come to mind from what I read here on CDF). Boise is going to be mixed like about any major metro area. NID is very much NOT LDS, in fact LDS had problems in NID for quite some time, but that's eased up now. But this area is probably 75% protestant, like Baptist, Lutheran, non-denom, Calvary-ish, etc.

Here in NID, work can be scarce, but then again the LPOSD is one of our county's largest employers, so there ARE jobs there. The issue is that with the gentrification of this area, enrollment is down, so they're cutting back on teachers.

[MySerendipity]

Thank You for the information. When you mentioned the gentrification of the area, are you speaking about the entire northen part or specific areas? If we look at the northen part of Idaho it will have to be in areas where there is still plenty of sunshine and not too much snow. I know my husband won't do well without sun and with a lot of snow. I can handle that better I think.

[stingraynm]

In my experience in N. Idaho, there were years with snow pretty much all winter and draught years wherein it snowed one week and that was it. It gets fairly cold, though, with about one week out of the year going subzero.

For the most part, though, if you prefer Cali weather, Boise would serve you best. Boise gets cold in the winter, but RARELY goes below the 20s. The winters are short, too.

As for SE Idaho, I actually had lots of friends from SE Idaho, and it's unanimous opinion that it wasn't a fun place to grow up. Nothing to do but bleed and sweat on a farm, get converted to Mormonism, camp/fish in the mountains up north of I-84 a ways, or get in trouble the rural ways. Of course, I should clarify that SE Idaho isn't swarming with Mormons as some would suggest. It is a boring place to grow up, though, probably due to the Mormon politics.

Boise is nice for you because it is quite conservative politically, but still has some (small compared to SoCal) theme parks and rec centers where children and families can have some good family fun. There are also many schools in Boise compared to more rural areas of Idaho, and the economy is intentionally designed to invite small businesses. Also, Boise has a great park system and the "Greenbelt" provides a great means to get whatever exercize you prefer without contending with traffic or stuffy indoors.

[Sage of Sagle]

Originally Posted by MySerendipity

Thank You for the information. When you mentioned the gentrification of the area, are you speaking about the entire northen part or specific areas? If we look at the northen part of Idaho it will have to be in areas where there is still plenty of sunshine and not too much snow. I know my husband won't do well without sun and with a lot of snow. I can handle that better I think.

The gentrification factor starts around the lakefront area, and spreads to riverfront (and the larger creeks that "feel" like riverfront). It also spreads to areas of prime acreage as that's perfect equestrian land. So the Selle Valley north of Sandpoint, and the Dufort Valley in Sagle are both seeing large properties (5-20 acres each) with some very expensive homes, many with fancy stables/barns and such.

Once you get further down 95, and past the lakefront areas around Cocolalla, or North on 95 toward Moyie or Bonners Ferry, the real estate becomes quite a bit cheaper.

The same thing is true for the areas around CDA. Once you get away from water, it gets cheaper as you head East on I-90 or South on Hwy 95.

But with the gentrification process, the town becomes more full of people's 2nd and 3rd homes, retirees enjoying nice houses, adults without children, etc. Enrollment in LPOSD is down 9.4% since it formed as a district in 1999.