Counties / Idaho / Boise County

Boise County, ID

FIPS 16015 · population 8,273 · part of Boise City, ID

$490k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$490k
▲ 1.8% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$850
occupied-unit survey; not current asking rent
Census ACS · surveyed
Gross yield
n/a
gross yield cannot be computed without measured market rent
requires both measured price and measured rent
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,655
the Section 8 payment standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

The annual signals disagree
FHFA five-year cumulative+62.8%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+1.8%FHFA HPI2025−6.9%
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$476k
Surveyed gross rent$850
Rent burden 30%+29.7%
Median year built1991
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
36.8%vacant
5,689estimated housing units
Occupied tenure9.7% renter
owner 90.3%renter 9.7%
Structure mix85.0% single-family
Single-family 85.0%20+ units 0.1%Mobile home 13.2%Other 1.7%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs1,838▲ 3.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments274annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$981▲ 26.3% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorLeisure and hospitality52.1% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+3.1%WEEKLY WAGE+26.3%Leisure and hospitality52.1%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Boise County presents a pricing-validation problem rather than a clear momentum case: investors relying on appreciation or leverage should investigate, and cash-flow underwriting warrants caution. Zillow’s 2026-06 median home value is $490,130, up 1.82% year over year. In contrast, FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI fell 6.88% annually. These are different vintages and methods: the HPI is an index, not a home value, so the rates cannot be combined or read as a closed-sale trend.

02Housing economics

Cash flow cannot be underwritten from the supplied record because market asking rent is not published; therefore gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $1,655 is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent and cannot fill that gap. Against the reported value, the 0.34% effective property-tax rate is a carrying-cost input, but parcel assessments, bills and exemptions require verification. Missing rent also prevents a supported comparison of income against price and recurring ownership costs.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS view reports 124 active listings; median listing price and visible supply both declined year over year. Median marketing time was 61 days, and 22.02% of listings had a price reduction; the pending-to-active ratio was 36.03%. These are asking-price, supply, marketing-time and seller-concession evidence, not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. QCEW’s 2025 annual data show covered jobs at county workplaces and wages increased, with Leisure and hospitality the largest disclosed private supersector. That is workplace evidence, not resident employment, unemployment or a housing-demand forecast.

04Risk & next checks

Tax-return migration was negative because more returns moved out than in, while incoming movers reported higher average AGI than outgoing movers. The mixed volume-and-income signal needs local renter and owner-occupier validation. Investor participation was 6.92% of 130 purchases, so non-owner buyers were present but not dominant in the observed purchase count. Wildfire is the dominant hazard, and the modeled annual building-value loss ratio is 0.70%; it is not an insurance premium or realized loss. Missing market rent, closed-sale comparables, vacancy, insurance quotes, parcel-specific taxes and hazard exposure prevents a supported yield, resale or full carrying-cost conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Boise County

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Robie Creek CDP1.2KHorseshoe Bend city758Idaho City city581Garden Valley CDP438Crouch city214Lowman CDP46Placerville city30Banks CDP0
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

8 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Robie Creek CDPCensus-designated place
    1,213
  2. 02
    Horseshoe Bend cityIncorporated place
    758
  3. 03
    Idaho City cityIncorporated place
    581
  4. 04
    Garden Valley CDPCensus-designated place
    438
  5. 05
    Crouch cityIncorporated place
    214
  6. 06
    Lowman CDPCensus-designated place
    46
  7. 07
    Placerville cityIncorporated place
    30
  8. 08
    Banks CDPCensus-designated place
    0

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardwildfire

0.701% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.34%

$1,611 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-19

346 in · 365 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$41,809

$104,006 arriving · $62,197 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors6.9%

9 of 130 mortgages

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings124▼ 20.6% year over year
Median days on market61▲ 21.3% year over year
Listings price-reduced22.0%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 8.3% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

No rent index is published for this county.Zillow’s county rent series does not cover every county, and estimating one from a neighbouring county would be a guess wearing a number’s clothes. Everything above is measured here; for a rent figure, the Boise City, ID page covers the wider market.
Same metro

The other counties in Boise City, ID

A metro is an average of these. Which side of a county line a property sits on can change the tax bill, the hazard profile and the tenant pool.

CountyPopulationPriceRentYieldHazard
Boise County8,273$490kn/an/awildfire
Ada County518,935$531k$1,9264.3%inland flooding
Canyon County250,790$421k$1,6734.8%inland flooding
Gem County20,614$488k$1,4903.7%wildfire
Owyhee County12,503$447kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Unpublished market rent, vacancy and operating costs could materially change cash-flow economics.
  2. County-level price and MLS indicators may not represent the subject property’s submarket or condition.
  3. Wildfire insurance availability and parcel-specific exposure may exceed what the modeled county loss ratio captures.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from the supplied record?

No. Market asking rent is not published, and HUD Fair Market Rent is a payment standard rather than market rent.

Do the supplied price figures establish a closed-sale transaction trend?

No. Zillow reports a home-value measure, FHFA reports a repeat-transaction index, and Realtor.com reports MLS listing-market evidence rather than closed sales.

What does the QCEW labor evidence measure?

It measures annual covered employment and wages at workplaces in the county, not resident employment, unemployment or a housing-demand forecast.