Cheaper than the country on most things, dearer on housing. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures every metro’s price level against a national 100, and for the Boise metro in 2024 the all-items figure was 98.4 — 1.6% below the national average. Housing alone was 105.6, or 5.6% above it. The Census Bureau’s median home value for the metro was $484,000 in 2024 against a national $360,600, and median gross rent $1,628 against $1,487.
The price level, item by item
| Boise metro, 2024 | Index (U.S. = 100) |
|---|---|
| All items | 98.4 |
| Goods | 96.2 |
| Services: housing | 105.6 |
| Services: utilities | 70.7 |
| Services: other | 99.0 |
From the BEA’s metro price parity files, last updated 19 February 2026. Utilities are the outlier: 29% below the national level, and below it in every year the series covers. Everything else clusters near 100.
Housing did not always sit above the line. The same series puts Boise’s housing parity at 79.6 in 2016, 88.3 in 2020, 98.2 in 2023 and 105.6 in 2024. That is a 26-point move in eight years, and it is the whole reason the answer to this question changed.
What houses cost
Two independent indexes agree on the direction and differ on the recent turn. Zillow’s home value index for the metro was $320,275 in December 2019, peaked at $543,333 in June 2022, and stood at $497,096 in July 2026 — 8.5% below that peak, against a national $371,774. The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s all-transactions index for the same metro reads 300.68 in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 514.91 in the second quarter of 2026, a rise of 71.2% and the highest reading in that series. The two measure different things: Zillow values the housing stock month by month, the FHFA index tracks repeat transactions and appraisals quarterly.
What it takes to live there
The MIT Living Wage Calculator prices a household budget for Ada County, the metro’s core. In its February 2026 update, a single adult with no children needs $25.00 an hour, or $42,790 a year after taxes — of which $14,969 is housing. Two adults with two children need $45.16 an hour if one of them works, or $30.19 each if both do, and $84,013 a year after taxes. The metro’s median household income in 2024 was $88,695.
Taxes
| Tax | Rate |
|---|---|
| Idaho individual income tax | 5.3%, flat |
| Idaho sales and use tax | 6% |
The State Tax Commission records the income tax rate falling from 5.69% to 5.3% effective 1 January 2025, and puts the sales and use tax at 6%. How the homeowner’s exemption changes a property bill, and how these rates fit a household’s whole ledger, is in what the numbers say about moving to Boise.
Reading the answer
The answer moves with the comparison. Against the United States as a whole, Boise is slightly cheap and its housing slightly dear. Against the states that send it the most people it is cheaper on every count — the BEA’s state price parities for 2024 put Idaho at 95.5, Washington at 107.0, Oregon at 103.4 and California at 110.7. Against Boise itself ten years ago it is a different city, because housing moved 26 index points while nothing else did.
Which of those comparisons applies depends on where a household is coming from — the flows are in where Idaho’s new residents come from, and the non-price side of the same trade in what the data says about living in Boise.