Best Places To Live In Idaho Doesn’t Include Any MV Towns
I have to start this story by stating that I don't agree with the results of a new study ranking the best places in Idaho to live in. There are a number of reasons, one of them glaring, that I'll get to in a bit. The study comes from the HomeSnacks website and this is their sixth year ranking the best places in the state. They call the cities on the list the 'pockets of greatness' in Idaho and claim to have used science and data to determine which ten cities belong on the leader list.
HomeSnacks gives the top spot to Meridian because the FBI crime data and recent census info says Meridian is the best. Home values are high in Meridian and so is pay while unemployment is low. It should be noted that this data came in before the pandemic, so numbers may have changed. Second on their list is Eagle followed by Star. Further down the list is where I really start questioning the credibility of the data.
No city or town in the Magic Valley makes it in the top ten best places, yet Post Falls, Rexburg, and Chubbuck make the grade. That's the glaring reason where I draw the line. No way Chubbuck is a better place to live than Twin Falls or any surrounding town. I've heard people call Chubbuck the armpit of Idaho. Nobody wants to live in an armpit. In fact, all Magic Valley towns are included in their worst of list. Twin Falls is ranked 11th worst in the state and Jerome is the 5th worst. Burley and Rupert are raked 6th and 7th worst.