Counties / Idaho / Lemhi County

Lemhi County, ID

FIPS 16059 · population 8,249 · outside every metro area

$396k
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
$396k
▲ 6.9% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$754
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
$992
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+67.1%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+6.9%FHFA HPI2025−2.9%
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$326k
Surveyed gross rent$754
Rent burden 30%+56.8%
Median year built1979
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
26.1%vacant
4,676estimated housing units
Occupied tenure20.7% renter
owner 79.3%renter 20.7%
Structure mix74.8% single-family
Single-family 74.8%20+ units 1.0%Mobile home 15.6%Other 8.6%
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 jobs2,789▲ 2.5% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments450annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$993▲ 4.6% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities24.3% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+2.5%WEEKLY WAGE+4.6%Trade, transportation, and utilities24.3%
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

Lemhi County presents conflicting price evidence, so buyers underwriting near-term value support should investigate rather than treat appreciation as established. Zillow’s county median home value was $396,380 in 2026-06, up 6.94% year over year. FHFA’s 2025 annual repeat-transaction HPI fell 2.93%, despite a supplied cumulative gain of 67.12%. FHFA is an index, not a home value; its observation and Zillow’s use different methods and vintages and cannot be averaged.

02Housing economics

Rental underwriting is incomplete: market asking rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. The HUD FMR of $992 is a payment standard, not measured market rent. The effective property-tax rate is 0.35%; this carrying-cost input does not establish an individual assessment, insurance cost, or net operating income. Verify leases, achievable asking rents, assessments and insurance quotes before testing property economics.

03Demand & competition

In QCEW’s 2025 annual average, covered employment at county workplaces grew 2.54%, and the covered-worker average weekly wage was $993. Trade, transportation, and utilities—the largest disclosed private supersector—represented 24.28% of private covered jobs, not the whole economy or resident employment. The six-household net inflow came with an inbound-versus-outbound average AGI gap of $35,101, requiring local renter-depth verification. Investors accounted for 1.67% of 60 purchase mortgages, indicating limited observed non-occupant competition in this measure.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled expected annual climate loss equals 0.42% of building value; it is not a property-specific loss estimate. No flood-zone, elevation, deductible, insurance or prior-loss evidence is supplied, preventing site-level risk pricing. Realtor.com MLS listing-market figures—asking price, active listings, days on market, price reductions and pending ratio—are also not published. Without those measures, closed-sale evidence and market rent, liquidity, concessions, purchase basis and income return remain untested. Check parcel hazard, insurance, leases, rent comps, MLS and closed-sale records.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Lemhi 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
Salmon city3.2KLeadore city135
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

2 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Salmon cityIncorporated place
    3,203
  2. 02
    Leadore cityIncorporated place
    135

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 hazardinland flooding

0.424% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.35%

$1,156 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+6

205 in · 199 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$35,101

$83,322 arriving · $48,221 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors1.7%

1 of 60 mortgages

investorother financed
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; no wider market is mapped for it either.
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. The conflicting Zillow and FHFA readings may leave near-term valuation support unconfirmed.
  2. Missing market rent and property-level operating costs could materially change rental economics.
  3. Parcel-specific flood exposure and insurance terms may differ from the county-level modeled climate-loss measure.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Market asking rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot substitute for market rent.

Do the available price sources show the same direction?

No. Zillow shows a year-over-year increase, while FHFA’s annual repeat-transaction index declined; they also use different methods and observation dates.

What does the QCEW employment figure measure?

It measures annual average covered jobs located at workplaces in the county, not resident employment or unemployment.