Recommend possible areas to live in Idaho

Our family is making a tough decision to relocate out of WA state. About 90% certain it'll be to Idaho, but considering a couple other states too. Because, well...the psychotic raging leftist culture in this state has made it unlivable. It's gone beyond the point where you can just avoid leftist outhouses like Seattle. Anyone who's here knows: they're invading the schools with LBGTQ and anti-family/anti-religious/anti-American propaganda, controlling how you can use water/wells on private property, planning to tax you on how many miles you drive on the road, planning to ban or confiscate firearms, and a slew of other overwhelmingly authoritarian actions. It's gotten so bad we need to move.

Can anyone recommend good options or areas in Idaho that we should check out?

Main things we're looking for:
* A small town or distant suburb of a larger town is preferred. Not a remote rural location, and not within Boise city limits either.
* Do want to be within say 90 minutes driving distance of Boise or another mid-sized city with good hospital/healthcare, shopping, transpo options.
* Looking for an area that with quick access to great outdoor gun ranges, preferably 600 - 1K yards.

I live in Northern Idaho, in the Coeur D' Alene area, and it is starting to get a little too big for me. It's beautiful, and I love the lake, but it's growing insanely fast. Had I not purchased my house in 2015 I really am not sure I could afford to buy one now.

Based off your criteria, I would honestly suggest looking at Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Or even Sandpoint, or Ponderay. Bonners ferry is 30 minutes from Sandpoint, and about an hour and 15, to an hour 45 from Spokane, WA. Sandpoint has all the amenities, hospital, shopping, another beautiful lake, it's also a ski town with a great mountain. Good food, breweries, etc. If I was in the market, and didn't just refinance, I would be looking up in Bonners area. If you have any other questions feel to PM me.

Thanks, we will check those out.

Any intel about what it's like around Lewiston or Moscow? Or farther south, Payette, or Caldwell?

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Originally Posted by maximus83

Any intel about what it's like around Lewiston or Moscow? Or farther south, Payette, or Caldwell?

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Moscow is a pretty typical college town. University of Idaho is there. More Liberal than most Idaho areas because of that. Lewiston sits in a bowl. It's always hot, smoggy and smells bad to be completely honest. They are directly across the river from Clarkston, WA which is the nicer side imo.

I'm really not a huge fan of Lewiston proper.

I have only been through Caldwell, never stayed there.

The housing market in Bonners and Sandpoint is insanely high and not looking to come down anytime soon. What makes you think that Idaho isn't going to become just like Washington with the amount of West Coast folks moving here? Boise is already a fairly left-wing sanctuary city.

Good intel from all. We are looking anywhere pretty much up and down the west edge of the state. Our kids and first grandkid will still be in Puget Sound area so we're sticking to the west side of Idaho where we can drive to Puget Sound within 5 to 8 hours, depending on starting point. So being fairly near to one of the main freeways would help. Looking anywhere in the areas just north of Boise, all the way to around Coeur d'Alene area that Willis suggested. We both grew up on farms and don't want to live in any big city, so we're looking to either smaller towns like Payette or a small suburb that's far out from Boise. From checking a few real estate listings, it does look like there's kind of a resort effect driving up prices in some places in the north. Let me guess: some of our friends from Cali moving there and driving up prices, just like they've done in Puget Sound. :dirol:

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Originally Posted by maximus83

Our family is making a tough decision to relocate out of WA state. About 90% certain it'll be to Idaho, but considering a couple other states too. Because, well...the psychotic raging leftist culture in this state has made it unlivable. It's gone beyond the point where you can just avoid leftist outhouses like Seattle. Anyone who's here knows: they're invading the schools with LBGTQ and anti-family/anti-religious/anti-American propaganda, controlling how you can use water/wells on private property, planning to tax you on how many miles you drive on the road, planning to ban or confiscate firearms, and a slew of other overwhelmingly authoritarian actions. It's gotten so bad we need to move.

Can anyone recommend good options or areas in Idaho that we should check out?

Main things we're looking for:
* A small town or distant suburb of a larger town is preferred. Not a remote rural location, and not within Boise city limits either.
* Do want to be within say 90 minutes driving distance of Boise or another mid-sized city with good hospital/healthcare, shopping, transpo options.
* Looking for an area that with quick access to great outdoor gun ranges, preferably 600 - 1K yards.

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Yeah, you also want something less than 2 million, right? I have looked into Idaho for some time. Southern Idaho is a desert and now has west coast big city prices. You will have to buy a lot in a tract area and wait to have it built. OR you go to Central/Northern Idaho (three northern counties have no building codes) and live either high up or hugging Canada. Either way it is miserable weather for 9 mo. a year.

I have not ruled Idaho out though. My situation is not as bad as yours but my daughter and family recently escaped Seattle and are having a house built in Meridian. You are right to move, it is just the fact that Idaho is receiving a flood of refugees and prices are crazy right now.

Yep agree it's not the optimal time to be moving price-wise, when there's a flood of political refugees as well as equity-rich folks looking to buy/build fancy houses near the skiing areas. Drives up all the price levels. However price is relative: the value of our current home in our area is about the same as some equivalently sized new houses in some of the areas we've been looking at (one is Middleton). So for us, still a better deal than staying here with the boot of Washington authoritarians on our necks. Wish we could convince the kids to leave too, they're not leftists but they still feel attached to friends/jobs/etc and don't want to go yet. Probably the thing that'll finally convince them is when their kids start school, they'll want to raise them as conservative freedom-loving Christians, but they'll see how bad the indoctrination is and either switch to private schools, home school, or leave the state.

We have a house and property in Mackay, Custer County. This is Southeastern Idaho and it's about an hour and a half (depends how you drive) from Idaho Falls. Good values and California has not invaded this area yet. Home prices are very reasonable, unlike Boise.

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Originally Posted by CoryCop25

We have a house and property in Mackay, Custer County. This is Southeastern Idaho and it's about an hour and a half (depends how you drive) from Idaho Falls. Good values and California has not invaded this area yet. Home prices are very reasonable, unlike Boise.

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Mackay is cool. Great jumping off point to Copper Basin and the Pahsimeroi. Idaho is great.

Own property in the Copper Basin. Beautiful is an understatement. Been going there since I was 8.

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Originally Posted by CoryCop25

We have a house and property in Mackay, Custer County. This is Southeastern Idaho and it's about an hour and a half (depends how you drive) from Idaho Falls. Good values and California has not invaded this area yet. Home prices are very reasonable, unlike Boise.

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You weren't kidding. Some beautiful areas up there and nice listings.

Yes.
I know it is a bit further East than you want but it checks all your other boxes.
There is a medical center in town and there's a small hospital in Arco which is about 30 minutes away. Most emergencies get a helicopter to Idaho Falls. Winters are long and cold but the rest of the year is beautiful. They get about 100 days of above freezing temperatures and that's not bad at 5600 feet above sea level.
No snakes either because of the elevation. Once you get down to the Pahsimoroi Valley and into Salmon, you get rattlers.
People are nice, they look you in the eye and say hwody. There's a real mix of people from rich ranchers to poor irrigation workers, but everyone's just plain nice.

I live in Logan Ut but I can see southeast Idaho from my back porch haha, and a lot of my coworkers commute from Franklin county. I love this area, you’re 2 hours from either IF or Slc and as CoryCop was saying, people are just nice out here. The views are stunning, can’t beat the hunting and fishing, but yeah winters last a good 6 months, but the weather from spring to fall it’s downright heaven

Hmm...wife and I are starting to talk options to escape WA as well. Watching threads like this with interest...

Anywhere that ain't Dubois.

Just kidding, I just did a job there this winter. Not as nice as some places I've been in Idaho. I've hunted Elk north of McCall, love that area.

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Originally Posted by maximus83

Any intel about what it's like around Lewiston or Moscow? Or farther south, Payette, or Caldwell?

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PM me, I lived in Caldwell for a bit

Been to northern ID. It was great. Still, it isn't free enough for a patriot to sleep easy. I reckon no place is now, though.

Well it took a long time, and I stopped posting on the forum here over a year ago, but we finally got it done. Signed a contract on a new place being built in Star, ID, planning to move around next April-May when it's done. The cost of the new place--which is 900 sq. ft. larger than our than our existing 50-year-old home, and laid out much better--was 35% lower than the low-end range of what our current place is assessed to sell for in Puget Sound. Lots of tech people moving here and snapping up all the houses.

Can't wait to get to a place that upholds the Constitution. The leftist tyrants running this state have lost their minds. And there are too many hipsters around here, the culture in Puget Sound makes me crazy. I hear there are some in ID too :rolleyes:, but mostly concentrated around Boise and resort areas. Hope they stay there.

As AOTAC says, there *is* no perfect place. We're realistic about that. But we have some friends there in Western ID. And we figure we should be in a community of folks that share at least the same core values we do about the country, the Constitution, and liberty.

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Originally Posted by VIP3R 237

I live in Logan Ut but I can see southeast Idaho from my back porch haha, and a lot of my coworkers commute from Franklin county. I love this area, you’re 2 hours from either IF or Slc and as CoryCop was saying, people are just nice out here. The views are stunning, can’t beat the hunting and fishing, but yeah winters last a good 6 months, but the weather from spring to fall it’s downright heaven

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Funny thing me, my wife, and daughter just moved from the Logan, Utah area to the Boise, Idaho area for work (about two months ago). Home prices here are insane, very similar to Utah where we left. We are currently renting in Kuna, which is about 30 minutes Southwest of Boise without traffic. It is much more rural than Boise, a bit of a drive to the standard shopping places (winco, cosco, etc.), but we chose it over another option in downtown Boise just to avoid living in the bigger city. We really enjoy the area, people are very nice, the area is great for taking walks and day trips to hiking locations and the like. We are still just barely scratching the surface of what to do here, but if you like the outdoors, I don't think you could do better. I know of one decent public range about 20 minutes away, but I have only driven past, never actually shot there. If you like shooting competitions, they have everything from USPSA to shotgun shooting. Parma and Nampa both have solid practical shooting clubs, and ranges with plenty of bays to use.

The one downside is cost of housing. I have read several reports of Boise being the highest increase in housing costs in the entire country. It might not be #1, but it is close. Several coworkers have mentioned their values doubling in not many years. I sure hope things level out eventually, because we would really like to buy/build a home here, but it is just not possible in the current market. There is a lot of development though, so hopefully supply/demand comes a bit more in balance in the next few years.

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Originally Posted by maximus83

Well it took a long time, and I stopped posting on the forum here over a year ago, but we finally got it done. Signed a contract on a new place being built in Star, ID, planning to move around next April-May when it's done. The cost of the new place--which is 900 sq. ft. larger than our than our existing 50-year-old home, and laid out much better--was 35% lower than the low-end range of what our current place is assessed to sell for in Puget Sound. Lots of tech people moving here and snapping up all the houses.

Can't wait to get to a place that upholds the Constitution. The leftist tyrants running this state have lost their minds. And there are too many hipsters around here, the culture in Puget Sound makes me crazy. I hear there are some in ID too :rolleyes:, but mostly concentrated around Boise and resort areas. Hope they stay there.

As AOTAC says, there *is* no perfect place. We're realistic about that. But we have some friends there in Western ID. And we figure we should be in a community of folks that share at least the same core values we do about the country, the Constitution, and liberty.

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Good luck, brother; wish I could get the old boatanchors pulled up to follow you.

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Originally Posted by Diamondback

Good luck, brother; wish I could get the old boatanchors pulled up to follow you.

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Well you have some aging family in the area, if I remember right. I'd probably do the same thing in your situation.

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Originally Posted by maximus83

Well you have some aging family in the area, if I remember right. I'd probably do the same thing in your situation.

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The "boatanchors" ARE my relatives, who somehow think a little weather inconvenience (and don't get me wrong, I hate winter myself) is a bigger problem than a Leftist regime that actively WANTS to kill or enslave you. "Ewww, cold winters, hot summers, icky inbred hicks..."*snort*