Looking to relocate to the "Magic Valley" area. Need help. (Boise: crime rate)

[sdraper]

We are looking to relocate to the "Magic Valley" area in Idaho. My wife and I are both 34 with three young children (14, 13, 6). I grew up in Layton, Utah just north of SLC. My wife is from San Diego. My company has moved us around a lot in the last 7 years.

From Utah we went to Phoenix, AZ for 4 years. We then spent 2 years in Charlotte, NC and know reside in Northern Alabama in a small town called Guntersville.

My wife is LDS as are my children. I am not a member as I had some bad expierances growing up in Utah as a non member. I still support my wife and kids and venture off to church with them every once in a while. Needless to say an organized ward is important to us, something that is hard to find in the South.

My work location would be Burley, ID and I am willing to commute up to 30 minutes. We are very outdoors type people. We own a ski boat and 4-wheelers. My folks live in Northern Utah and her family is down in Cedar City. The move makes sense to us, close to family. We do not want to be out in the sticks. A high school with with 500 - 1000 kids, just enough to get my kids envolved in sports.

I have read some negative comments about poor wages and the LDS community. I am more interested in the quality of life and being able to stay busy with outdoor activities.

Please any suggestions would be great.

[DESERTRYDER]

Twin Falls Filer and Kimberly are towns worth exploring.
Burley itself was a nice town from what we saw.

Filer had a great school and Kimberly was just far enough from Twin Falls that there was little traffic .

ATV trails all over the South Hills near Twin Falls.
Not sure about the boating but there is a whole lotta river in that area.

Good Luck

[redheadedsister]

I hate Twin Falls, Idaho. I've lived in many towns and cities and this is the most backward, apathetic, depressed town I've ever lived in. I wish I had the money to move, but the wages here are SO bad that I can't afford to leave. I have been trying to make friends for 3 YEARS and if you are not born here, they don't want to know you. The METH problem is beyond rampant. Nothing to do for young people but drugs. No place for them to gather. The crime rate is way up, the housing market has fallen off to nothing and jobs are far and few inbetween. Burley is a farm community...just farms. The LDS run the counties and if you aren't one of them, you can get nothing done in the towns. If I had it to do over again, and I HAD to live in Idaho, I would move to Boise. At least they aren't homaphobic and there is SOME culture. Do I sound bitter, yeah, I am. My dream to live in Idaho has become a nightmare. The beauty on the outside hides an ugliness like one I've never seen. Be forewarned.

[DESERTRYDER]

The only bad thing we found in Twin was the wind.
We had a different experience and were treated wonderfully by people who knew we were from Calif.

MAGIC VALLEY TRAIL MACHINE ASSOCIATION

Great group of trail riders with ATV's and motorcycles.

We will go back again next year just to hang out with them.

[Troystimes]

I like living in Twin Falls. My wife is a comunity leader and not LDS. The wind does get anoying. I have two children in the local High School, they stay busy with sports, music and local activitys. There is meth problem just like the rest of the country. We have many LDS friends and the wards seem to be well organized.