Idaho brings to mind images of Boise, beautiful landscapes, and some of the best people you’ll find in the good ole US of A.
However, like all states, Idaho has certain places that are going on hard times. These Idaho places have an above average percent of people that are living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
With all the talk about income inequality going on around the country, we thought it prudent to take a look at the places in each state that are struggling to make it even as the economy continues to improve. So we set our sites on bringing attention to the poorest places in Idaho.
To do so, we analyzed the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 33 places in Idaho with more than 5,000 people.
Here are the ten poorest places in Idaho for 2023:
Again, this isn’t a commentary on the people that live there or the vibrant culture and traditions of these places. Instead, it’s just a look at the facts.
What’s the poorst city in Idaho? According to the facts, Rexburg is the poorest place in Idaho for 2023.
Rich people more your cup of tea? Feel free to check out the best places in Idaho or the most dangerous.
For more on how we calculated the top ten, and for more information about these places, read on.
If you’re looking for something more national, check out the poorest states in America or the poorest cities in America.
For more Idaho reading, check out:
Article Table Of Contents
The 10 Poorest Cities In Idaho For 2023
1. Rexburg
Rexburg, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Idaho thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 33,684 people averages the 2nd lowest median household income in Idaho and the highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
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2. Weiser
The second poorest city in Idaho is Weiser.
The city ranks as having the 6th highest incidence of poverty and lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the highest in the Gem State.
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3. Moscow
Placing as the third poorest city, Moscow’s median income ranks as the 6th lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 21.031231848442875% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Gem State.
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4. Mountain Home
Mountain Home ranks as the fourth poorest place in Idaho.
The town ranks as having the 4th lowest median household income and the 9th highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
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5. Payette
The fifth poorest city in Idaho is Payette.
The city ranks as having the 7th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 15th highest in Idaho.
Still not the best news for Payette.
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6. Blackfoot
Blackfoot ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Gem State.
It ranks as having the 12th highest incidence of poverty and the 6th highest unemployment rate.
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7. Pocatello
Pocatello places as the seventh poorest city in Idaho.
The city of over 55,865 ranks as having the 10th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
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8. Rupert
Rupert ranks as the eighth poorest city in Idaho.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as the 28th highest in the state.
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9. Jerome
Jerome couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Idaho; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 14th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Jerome ranks as having the 5th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Idaho.
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10. Twin Falls
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Idaho is Twin Falls.
The city of 51,223 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Gem State.
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Methodology: How We Determined The Poorest Places In Idaho for 2023
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2017-2021 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income adjusted for the cost of living
- Unemployment Rate
The “median household income adjusted for the cost of living” attempts to gauge how expensive it is to live in a place and how that impacts the quality of life. For example, a town might have fewer people living below the official poverty line, but the cost of living is so high they’d still feel poor.
The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for improvement in the city or town. If more people are employed, the brighter the future looks and vice versa.
After we collected the data for all 33 places with more than 5,000 people in Idaho, we ranked each place from 1 to 33 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Rexburg, crowned the “Poorest Place In Idaho For 2023”.
Summary: The Poorest Places In Idaho For 2023
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Idaho, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Idaho.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.
If you’re curious enough, here are the richest cities in Idaho, according to data:
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Richest: Eagle
2nd Richest: Kuna
3rd Richest: Meridian
For more Idaho reading, check out:
- Richest Cities In Idaho
- Safest Places In Idaho
- Worst Places To Live In Idaho
- Most Expensive Places To Live In Idaho
Detailed List Of The Poorest Places To Live In Idaho
| Rank | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rexburg | 33,684 |
| 2 | Weiser | 5,578 |
| 3 | Moscow | 25,336 |
| 4 | Mountain Home | 15,863 |
| 5 | Payette | 7,999 |
| 6 | Blackfoot | 12,106 |
| 7 | Pocatello | 55,865 |
| 8 | Rupert | 5,994 |
| 9 | Jerome | 12,182 |
| 10 | Twin Falls | 51,223 |
| 11 | Burley | 11,274 |
| 12 | Preston | 5,545 |
| 13 | Emmett | 7,408 |
| 14 | Sandpoint | 8,448 |
| 15 | Nampa | 98,881 |
| 16 | Idaho Falls | 64,399 |
| 17 | Caldwell | 58,872 |
| 18 | Middleton | 9,091 |
| 19 | Lewiston | 33,964 |
| 20 | Garden City | 12,056 |
| 21 | Hailey | 9,001 |
| 22 | Boise City | 231,537 |
| 23 | Rathdrum | 9,099 |
| 24 | Fruitland | 5,903 |
| 25 | Star | 10,929 |
| 26 | Hayden | 15,316 |
| 27 | Coeur D’alene | 53,189 |
| 28 | Post Falls | 38,162 |
| 29 | Chubbuck | 15,445 |
| 30 | Ammon | 17,401 |
| 31 | Meridian | 115,227 |
| 32 | Kuna | 23,765 |
| 33 | Eagle | 29,665 |
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