Middleton (Boise, Nampa, Meridian: crimes, house prices, employment)

[Arlene]

I have been checking with a realtor in the Idaho area and she says that Nampa and Caldwell and some parts of Boise and Meridian have had an influx of gang crimes.

What areas would be safest and still have employment opportunities?

[markpemble]

It's more like middle school kids who are wannabees.

These kids really aren't much of a problem.

[pinkpalace]

I agree with Mark. My brother-in-law is a police officer, and has also said that they're just wannabe punks. That said, IMO the highest concentration of these "wannabe punks" will be in Caldwell, Nampa, Boise, and Meridian. (In decending order.)

I wouldn't live in Caldwell.

Parts of Nampa are really nice, and other parts aren't very nice. There are new neighborhoods going up on the Southern end of Nampa and Northern end of Nampa that would both be fine. In the center might be "iffy". Living in Southern Nampa is closer to Nampa shopping and the relatively new Rec center. Northern Nampa is closer to the freeway and easier access to Boise.

Boise and Meridian are like any normal city, with good neighborhoods and bad ones. Any realtor should be able to point out which neighborhoods are good and bad.

For what it's worth, Eagle is a beautiful city. I haven't see any bad neighborhoods in Eagle. On the other hand, house prices in Eagle tend to be higher than Boise, Meridian, Nampa, and Caldwell too.