Leaving California? Stay Away From Idaho Unless You Can Handle These Big Differences

If you're considering leaving California and Idaho is on your list, you need to make sure you stay away from Idaho unless you can handle these big differences between California and Idaho. Ever since 2020 and even before that, we have had a flood of people moving to Idaho from California. But what can happen is if they move here and they don't actually like it after they've been here for a year or two, you'll find them moving either back to California or to another state. 

My name is Curtis Chism. I run one of the top relocation Services here in the Boise Treasure Valley area, helping people just like you make the move here to Idaho. When you're looking to buy a home, I help you with new construction or resell homes. So if that's you, all you got to do is reach out via phone, text, or email. Contact information on the screen. Hit subscribe so you get notified every week when we come out with new videos and hit that bell and hit that like button.

My Journey: From California to Idaho

I moved from San Diego, California, to Idaho. I'm really glad that I did. Now I do have family and friends still in California, and I certainly miss them and certainly will visit, but I don't miss the politics and the way that California was going, and I'm so glad that I made the move to Idaho. In this video, we're going to be covering the big differences between California and Idaho. We're going to be covering things like the weather, education systems, small business friendliness, traffic, cost of living, crime, taxes, and even things like hunting and gun culture.

Population Differences: California vs. Idaho

Let's look at the major population differences between the Boise, Idaho, and Treasure Valley areas compared to California. Now when I refer to Treasure Valley, that is Boise, and it's also made up of Ada County and Canyon counties as the primary counties. Now that's going to be Boise, Meridian, Eagle, Star, Cuna, and in Canyon, you're going to have essentially Nampa, Caldwell, and Middleton as the major towns in those areas. Now the entire population of the Treasure Valley is just under 800,000 people right now and that's spread over a square mileage area of just over 1,600 square miles.

Traffic Comparison: California vs. Idaho

Let's compare that to a couple of places in California. Of course, you've got San Diego where I'm from, 3.3 million people in the county and over 4,000 square miles. However, of course, if you look at the heat map of the density population you're going to see that everyone's congregated more along the coast versus that massive inland area that makes up San Diego County.

Income and Cost of Living: Idaho vs. California

Let's take a look at the median income for Boise which right now is sitting right around $64,000. Now that's compared to California as an overall of around $92,000. Now even though income is a little bit lower, the cost of living is also lower as well. Now, according to pay scale.com, the cost of living in Boise, Idaho, is 25% less than San Diego, it's 29% less than the Los Angeles area, and it's between 27 to 40% less than the Bay Area.

Crime Rates: Idaho vs. California

Next up, we're going to take a look at crime rates. This is according to bestplaces.net. We're going to be quoting some numbers here and these numbers are incidents per 1,000 people. The national average for violent crime is 22.7 per 1,000 people and for property crimes, it's 35.4. Boise has a violent crime rate of 16.3 and a property crime rate of 34.

Taxation: Idaho vs. California

Next, let's take a look at taxes. We're going to take a look at property taxes, income taxes, and sales tax. The property tax system is a bit different here in Idaho than it is in California. Here in Idaho, we use a levy system versus a rate-based system.

Social Climate: Idaho vs. California

Let's take a look at the type of people that live here in Idaho. Who's moving here to Idaho? I get asked all the time how conservative are the people moving here to Idaho, and you probably hear things like, "Don't California my Idaho."

Weather and Outdoor Lifestyle: Idaho vs. California

Another big difference we got here is the weather. In Idaho, especially here in the Treasure Valley area, it is so unpredictable. I spent a lot of time in the Sierra Nevadas and if you're familiar with the Sierras there's a saying that says if you don't like the weather in the Sierras just wait five minutes and it'll change. Honestly, it's the same with here in the Treasure Valley where it really is very unpredictable.