We've been to Idaho many times visiting family (30-40) over the years, mainly in Boise and Twin / Idaho Falls areas. We are entertaining the idea of moving there for the usual reasons like-minded conservative families do. We've been to Northern Idaho once, but just from the freeway. We do like trees and mountains, but I think our recreational travel would be UT, AZ, Tetons mainly. We are 45-50ish with older conservative teens. We are considering this move now before our kids get settled and start their lives.

If someone could offer some insight into these questions I would appreciate it. I am not looking for broad generalizations, but the intimate details one learns after living in an area for an extended amount of time. A few of the cities we are considering are Coeur D' Alene surrounding areas, Twin Falls, Idaho Falls, and the surrounding areas. We've been to Twin and Idaho falls plenty of times, but what are the small differences locals know about? We would like to have a bit of space between neighbors 1-10 acres. Basically, we are looking for very conservative areas that would be the last holdouts against all the crazy going on.

1. What are the cultural differences between these geographic locations? Northern vs Southern (not Boise Metro) Twin Falls, Idaho Falls, and surrounding areas.

2. Traveling 95 north and south during summer and winter months, endless traffic?

3. How do long-range shooting, hunting, and fishing differ between the Northern and South Eastern areas besides terrain?

1. What are the cultural differences between these geographic locations?
Boise is going to have a lot more California influence no matter where someone’s political influences are but with pockets of conservatives that happily live in denial of anything California even though everything is named after something in CA.
The Panhandle is going to be a lot more stereotypical Idaho with pockets of hippy-Liberals. While being heavily affected by tourists.

2. Traveling 95 north and south during summer and winter months, endless traffic?
It’s not so much the traffic while traveling until you get into Boise but mostly the lodging… It’s normal for places to run out of rooms by noon.

3. How do long-range shooting, hunting, and fishing differ between the Northern and South Eastern areas besides terrain?
Long range hunting on the bottom half the state / Shorter in timber hunting at the top. Generally speaking there is more fly fishing on the southern part  of the state - not really that there is more but the 5 Star stuff… But boat, lake & even big river fishing is phenomenal up here! As is the seasonal cutthroat fishing…


For some of us northern vs southern parts are different enough from each other that we can take a vacation to something different without having to leave the state…

I appreciate your input, thanks. Well aware of Boise metro area and we would like to avoid that area. Although downtown was surprisingly clean.

Thorn hit all the high points well, but I will add that northern Idaho feels entirely different than the southern half.  Compared to other states I’ve lived in you could go all over that state and it still felt like that same state.  The surroundings didn’t change all that much and everything was very familiar.  That doesn’t feel like that here.  When I go any further north than Grangeville, I feel like I’m in a totally different state, even the air, smells and the general order of things seems totally different to me.  

If I was going to move here I would probably move to northern or eastern Idaho.  Truth be told, I like the rest of the state far better than the Treasure Valley.  I’ve not been much of a fan of that area since I ventured out and away from it not long after I was stationed here with the military back in 2008.

@DefensorFortis This is what I'm looking for, in what way does the North feel different? i know about the treasure valley, been there many times.

Oh Lord! He used the “feel” word here it comes

I noticed the difference the first time I went to Coeur d’Alene and I could feel the difference.  Everything seemed different from the Treasure Valley.  The obvious things like topography and the vegetation stood out but even the way some buildings are built.  Then I noticed that the local people were different in the way they acted and went about their way seemed different than down by Boise.  They seemed nicer to me.  Now people down in the Boise area are nice but its become a different nice compared to other places I’ve lived.  I guess I would say people in Northern Idaho are more respectful.  I love that the further I go north the towns still have that small town vibe where people care about their neighbors and Cowboy ethics still prevail.

My Mom is from the south and she always said it was better to live and be among “God fearing people” thats the kind of folks you’ll run into up there.  

I hope this answer helps, you just have to go up there and get a feel for it yourself and you will see what I mean.  

You have to recognize though that there are crap tons of people from those other places up here and there will only continue to be more. Wether they have relocated or via tourism. There is no Utopia and subsequently we have watched the kids here die from overdose, suicide, grave suffering from lack of parenting and social influences. Along with the complete takeover of mental health by the pharmaceutical industry - doing the high school drop off it is common to see boys dressed as girls and girls dressed as streetwalkers. I know, I know I’m using the word common loosely but it’s just painful as a parent to see and try to navigate with our own kids…
We’ve found the churches, well at least the ones that we’ve tried to be too woke or too loud or the sweet combination of both. Literally people getting the same rush that you have at a concert and telling themselves it’s something spiritual. I think for ourselves our home is our happy place so we don’t need all those other things - that might be a north Idaho lesson in itself! Favorite quote “I’d rather be outside fly fishing in Idaho thinking about God than inside a building thinking about being outside.”

From a Sandpoint perspective McCall (<— insert a long list of other city names around the state here) would be just as nice as here.

Some other things I can think of to consider: !
Your kids future, work, education and affordability. Every kid that grows up in Sandpoint wants to leave ???????
Weather, up here winter is from the end of October all the way to April. The east side of the state is a whole other animal ?? and then the earthquakes!
Logistics, from up here it’s a whole day just to get down to Boise to start traveling to those places you’ve listed…

Thank you both for your responses. I really appreciate your time and experiences.

CDA has CA real estate prices, but is still paying Idaho wages.  I don't know how average working Joe's afford a $750,000 starter two story home here.  CDA has grown like crazy over the last 10 years, and that only accelerated after the covid influx of those escaping CA, OR, and WA.    CDA, Post Falls, and Hayden are quickly becoming one big cluster as the farm fields get plowed up and subdivisions have taken over the Rathdrum prairie. The new arrival cheer on what they see as the "small town feel" but have no clue the small town feel left a long time ago.  It's all relative.  What they see as a small town has changed drastically from the locals have known.

Everyone moving here has the same wish list: 5-10 acres, with a shop, on a county road, no HOA, adjacent to USFS/BLM land, no neighbors, easy access to shopping, but remote enough to shoot on, and close to a Costco.  

Don't expect to be welcomed with open arms when the neighbors see your CA plates.  Don't ever utter the phrase, "Well back in CA..."  No one cares how CA did it.  All of this is comical considering your new neighbors will also be CA transplants who beat you here by a year or two and now look down on you as being part of the problem.  For the love of all that is holy, please don't bitch and moan about the lack of mexican food and how great in-and-out was.  No one cares.    

1- North Idaho and South Idaho are two different states.  People in South Idaho have no clue what exists north of McCall.  They think it's all backwoods wackadoodles.  Some of them have been to the CDA Resort once, or sent a kid to U of I, but that's it.  People in N. Idaho have no use for S. Idaho.  Spokane is our major hub for city shopping and an airport, and Spokane is a shithole.  

S. Idaho and especially E. Idaho obviously have a much stronger Mormon influence than N. Idaho.

2-  95 isn't near as bad as some people make it out to be.  Growing up in Moscow, it was the only way to get to S. Idaho, but it's telling that the easiest route from CDA to S. Idaho is to travel through two other states (WA/OR).  You just have to accept that you may or may not make good time.  It's a beautiful scenic drive, so just enjoy it.  You may get stuck behind a logging truck or a guy pulling a 5th wheel for 30 miles, and only do 45-55 in the 65 portions, or creeping up hills and grades.  You may get caught up in construction with no alternate route, waiting 15 minutes for a pilot car to come back.  It's the main highway, so it will get the most plowing efforts in the wintertime, but it may not be great.  People who rely on the gov't to save them during the winters in Idaho are the ones who complain about their street not being plowed 15 minutes after the snow stops.  

95 sees a lot of summer traffic from Boise to Banks and then up to McCall, especially on Friday evening (northbound) or Sunday afternoon (southbound) as they all head back to town.  95 in N. Idaho isn't bad at all, once you get outside of CDA/Hayden.

3- Idaho has a zillion acres of state and federal land for hunting.  In S. Idaho you have more open deserts and BLM land to do distance.  The St. Joe in N. Idaho has some world class fly fishing.  Not a hunter, but elk hunters abound in N. and S Idaho.      

This is becoming less true as more and more coasters move here. The coasters have typical coast attitudes and just aren't as openly friendly, and the locals are being worn down by the crazy influx of people and the snowballing crowds over the past five-ten years.

Thank you for your input guys.

If you haven't been back to Idaho Falls in a few years, I would suggest taking another visit and seeing if it still matches your criteria. The town is growing way too fast, and as someone else said, the coasters moving in have changed the feel of the town. Hell, people are even stealing catalytic converters in IF now. If it wasn't for costco I'd prolly visit IF way less than I currently do.

Someone stole a family friend's catalytic from his pickup parked in his driveway in Fort Sherman in CDA. The riff raff is definitely here.

Much appreciated guys, thanks.

You can tell the people who have moved here...they call it NORTHERN Idaho.

Natives, long time residents, or people who understand the difference, It's NORTH Idaho.

That's because they're used to calling it Northern California.

My family has Idaho roots and I remember a completely different Idaho than the one that currently exists. I watched the (fake-LOL) moon landings from Hayden Lake. I worked for 15 years in the Boise area and lived the past three in the “outback”of the north part of the state in an off gridish cabin an hour north of CDA in Bonner CO. I traveled a lot.

It’s a BIG diverse state.

There is a difference between the two halves of the state but it’s disappearing at a breathtaking rate.  As us older independent-leave us the hell alone and mind your own business-types die off or get pushed out- the state as a whole is becoming more homogenized.
The southern part looks, feels, and acts like any other metro area-anywhere with the same attitudes, fears, and concerns.

Pocatello and Idaho Falls are actually more influenced by Salt Lake City than they are Boise.

Twin Falls has its own vibe that is agriculture influenced.  It’s a conflicted  confused poor step child.

In the north-Money has found Kootneni County (CDA) and it’s turning it into Billings West. They (city and developers) can’t  rip down enough forest, or prairie fast enough to build giant subdivisions. It’s California (or Boise) for people who don’t mind snow.
Even where I lived the dirt and gravel roads are being paved.

CDA has the Costco and that should tell you a lot.

In the north we (those in my peer groups) didn’t and don’t comply with .gov mandates. Get the hell off my property and leave me alone is an attitude and until you’ve “proven” that you are tough enough to live here people won’t be friendly.
Ruby Ridge is part of our memory and history. We suspect  the new guy being a .fed all the time.
Beards and facial hair. If you don’t have one-you don’t belong in the North.
Parts of North Idaho are tough as hell to winter in and it takes a different kind of person to do that.
The north is about….98% white.
Rules and “civilization” are coming to the north because assholes can’t or won’t take care of state or federal land on their own.

Were I to move back I would find somewhere east of the Lewiston area to live.

Sandpoint has been a pocket of liberalism for decades due to all the tourist that decide they just " have to live there because I ts soooo pretty" .

It's not a fair comparison to equate that to all of North Idaho.

Having homes in both western Washington and Nort Idaho I can tell you there's no comparison between them.

Washington is far worse in every regard except maybe winter and that could be debated .

Thank you for all the information. I appreciate your insight.

@BTccw

I didn't know you'd moved. Sad to lose you, good luck in Wyoming.

Thanks…. I’m sorry we don’t have a faces to go with screen name…although I suspect we know many of the same people.

Sorry for the less than chipper responses.  After awhile and after so many of the "moving to Idaho...tell me the best pace..." posts, they all blend together.  If you go back through the previous pages of posts, you will see plenty of moving to Idaho posts, some helpful, some not.

Yeah i get it. Thanks.

More bad news for Idaho

Heh. I was looking at moving to ID and Nampa checked all the boxes.