Moscow, ID - Your feedback appreciated! (Lewiston, Post Falls: real estate market, universities, high income)

[30somethings]

Hi everyone,

I've been hearing so many wonderful things about the Moscow area, so I thought I would ask for everyone's feedback...

How is the real estate market holding up there? Property taxes? One of the things that I'm really struggling with when it comes to ID is state income tax (in TX there is no state income tax), so if I decided to pack up and move to ID it would cost me nearly 8% of my income each year to do so (according to what I've read so far).

Also, what DON'T you like about the area?

Thanks in advance for your input, the ID forum really is one of the most friendly, helpful forums I've visited on City Data!

[DESERTRYDER]

Never been to Texas to live but 8% to get out of Texas seems cheap.
Moscow is beautifull but in the city itself prop taxes are a bit high.
Just a few miles out of town and they get affordable.
Could get BIG snow in the winter but at least no Tornado's

[30somethings]

...forgot to mention, what does everyone here think about Pullman, WA and Palouse, WA? Both of those are relatively close to Moscow but WA state has no state income tax.

Thanks!

[elousv]

Property tax can be much higher though in WA.

[Sage of Sagle]

A big part of people moving to Idaho is that it ranks solidly on the "personal freedom" scale of all 50 states (I think it was 9th best), where Washington State is down near the worst (like California and New York) for just having a plethora of laws and conditions that so limit a person's personal freedoms.

[tc1000]

What I would like to know is why a rural, conservative state has such a high income tax rate?

[boisefan88]

I'm just not sure I'd want to live in Moscow if I weren't a student or working at the university.

The Palouse is a bizarre place - it's miles and miles of fenceless, rolling hills that is dark and loamy in the late fall to early spring and full of wheat the rest of the year. It's surrounded by dense, forested mountain country, but the Palouse itself is somewhat like being on Mars.

Not a lot to do in the town itself, and it's isolated - seems everything centers on the Universities. I'm not saying it's a bad place at all - just make sure you visit first.

[Sage of Sagle]

Originally Posted by boisefan88

Not a lot to do in the town itself, and it's isolated - seems everything centers on the Universities. I'm not saying it's a bad place at all - just make sure you visit first.

I'm not faulting your own personal anecdotal view if you lived there, or spent a lot of time there, but my experience is much different.

We're involved in sports and Moscow is in our league, so we're there with some frequency, and I have several close friends living there. (20's to 30's in age, some older with sports-age kids). They love it, and think there is plenty to do, with Pullman (WA) and Washington State University only 8 miles to the west, and Lewiston (ID) and about 35K people 30'ish miles to the south.

Most of our friends there don't see the need to leave Moscow for their entertainment and shopping for most things they need. So while I agree that Moscow/Pullman is something of an "island" amongst the rolling hills, I would suggest that maybe "isolated" is a bit extreme for a town with 50K people in a 10-15 mile corridor, and the CDA-Post Falls area (100K people) just 83 miles north, and Spokane Metro area (400K people) just 85 miles away.

[boisefan88]

Originally Posted by Sage of Sagle

I'm not faulting your own personal anecdotal view if you lived there, or spent a lot of time there, but my experience is much different.

We're involved in sports and Moscow is in our league, so we're there with some frequency, and I have several close friends living there. (20's to 30's in age, some older with sports-age kids). They love it, and think there is plenty to do, with Pullman (WA) and Washington State University only 8 miles to the west, and Lewiston (ID) and about 35K people 30'ish miles to the south.

Most of our friends there don't see the need to leave Moscow for their entertainment and shopping for most things they need. So while I agree that Moscow/Pullman is something of an "island" amongst the rolling hills, I would suggest that maybe "isolated" is a bit extreme for a town with 50K people in a 10-15 mile corridor, and the CDA-Post Falls area (100K people) just 83 miles north, and Spokane Metro area (400K people) just 85 miles away.

Point taken - I'm just relating what the dozens and dozens of friends that went to the University of Idaho throughout the years have stated.

There's a reason why Moscow has remained as small as it is, and hasn't grown as many, many college towns end up doing. Don't ask me what exactly that is - as much as Idaho grads love their college town, none of them stay.

Lewiston is a close trip if you need anything Moscow or Pullman doesn't offer, though Spokane is a good hour and a half to two hours away on that highway.

Beautiful country up there, for sure, though.