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City Cast Boise

All year, much of the U.S. has braced for an economic recession, wary of tariffs, federal layoffs, and general cost-of-living. But when it comes to the job market, how has that actually played out in Idaho?

After the initial pandemic crash of 2020 that led to the highest rates of unemployment so far in the 21st century, Idaho has hovered around a remarkably stable and low unemployment rate.

 shows a 3.7% unemployment rate — which is identical to where it stood a year prior.

, the rate is a tad lower at 3.4% unemployment.

Judging by the unemployment rate alone, the job market looks healthy. But a key imbalanced factor casts a big shadow on the unemployment success.

That imbalance is, of course, in the cost of housing. Wages are increasing in Idaho, but still trailing far behind housing prices. The long-held budgetary benchmark is that a household should spend no more than 30% of its income on housing.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Data, Boise budgets fit comfortably

 underneath that 30% market from late 2008 to 2018. But the median home price in Boise started soaring out of that “affordability threshold” in January 2021, and since April 2022 have bounced between 47% and a staggering 53%.

In short, over the last two years a Boisean earning the median income has had to put one out of every two dollars towards buying a home.

Unemployment Remains Low, But Housing Affordability Stays Out of Reach

What Boiseans have been wondering. We break down why things in Boise are the way they are and how they work.


Boise, Explained

 bogged down by the news, and sometimes it’s helpful to combat that by looking into the history books. Sometimes that makes it worse — so you turn to the history of rocks instead. Here’s a quiz about the geological and geographic history of our area, to get your head out of the present for a few minutes!

How Well Do You Know Idaho's Geological History?

How well do you know Boise’s parks? I kept these largely limited to Boise’s most popular parks, so see if you can place them. Some will also have clues, if needed.

Quiz: How Well Do You Know Boise's Parks By Sight?

well-documented that the Treasure Valley is keen on passenger rail

, even if we’re afraid of getting burned by a plan falling through (again). But if an interstate rail is too big for us in the short-term, what about a commuter rail between Treasure Valley cities?

Beginning last year, the Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho, or Compass, conducted a study to assess new public transit options from Caldwell to Boise. They considered three proposals: Bus rapid transit (BRT) on Fairview Avenue and Franklin Road, BRT on I-84 and the Connector, and a commuter rail called the Boise Cutoff.

Idaho Statesman reporter Rose Evans covered the study’s release, and 

she joined City Cast Boise to break down its potential

When Compass surveyed the public, the “definitive” popularity of rail over other forms of alternative transportation surprised the agency, which has a board of directors composed of Treasure Valley mayors, county officials, and other public officials.

Logistically, there’s a lot that would have to be accomplished on an infrastructure level for this commuter rail to happen. There’s purchasing the trains themselves, for one. But there’s also the issue of the railroad tracks.

For the majority of the Boise Cutoff route, there’s only one track, and the continuous use of both freight and commuter rails would require an additional track be built at least fifteen feet away from the current freight track. Additionally, many bridges couldn’t accommodate adding a second track, and would have to be restructured.

All of that and much more requires funding — an estimated $2.5 billion. But Compass was quick to say those are rough estimates, and costs could be decreased with more detailed planning.

What this study sets Compass up to do is apply for Federal Transit Administration grants, which has a category called New Starts that offers funding for projects over $400 million.

Once up and running, the commuter rail would connect the Boise Depot to Caldwell, and tack on the existing bus route from the Depot to downtown Boise. During peak traffic hours, a train could carry you on your commute every 15 minutes. During off hours, the trains would run every hour.

A Compass study found that the Boise Cutoff rail is immensely popular, but it would require an additional track to be laid and bridges to be rebuilt. And federal grants would need to cover it.

A Commuter Rail from Boise to Caldwell is Popular. Is It Possible?

What Would It Take? Dreaming of Commuter Rail in the Treasure Valley.

, and the news. We’re going with something a little more concrete today. How well do you know Boise’s streets?

The premise is simple: Based on a few clues, you pick which street or road (or pathway) you think I’m referring to.

How Well Do You Know Boise’s Streets?

Peer-reviewed research doesn’t make front-page news all that often, but a 

 grabbed public attention in late July. The lead researcher, Dr. Ed McEachern, and family physician Dr. Deb Roman joined the City Cast Boise podcast this week.

Starting in August 2022, McEachern’s team of researchers tracked Idaho’s 268 obstetricians. By December 2024, 114 of them had left the state, retired, or quit. When accounting for the 20 new OB-GYNs who moved here, 35% of Idaho’s OB-GYNs had closed their practices in just over two years.

Before this data analysis, Idaho already ranked among the bottom of the barrel for fewest OB-GYNs per capita of any state. When you take over one third of those doctors out and add 

30,000 people to Idaho’s population in one year

, McEachern said, “it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that we’ve got a problem with access. And delayed care is bad care.”

“So many things are lost when people feel that they can no longer practice in this state,” Dr. Roman said. “And not only does it affect the medical community … but these are people in our communities, our neighbors, and our friends.”

While Boise is feeling the loss of the physicians and community members keenly, the City of Trees is relatively safe compared to the rest of the state. Some 85% of practicing OB-GYNs in Idaho are concentrated in the seven most populated counties. Across the state’s remaining 37 counties, there are only 23 physicians to provide obstetrics to 569,000 people.

Most doctors work at or near the same hospital in which they trained. None of Idaho’s universities have an obstetrics residency program, which explains why the state is already at rock bottom for obstetricians. It also makes it even harder for hospitals to recruit out-of-state OB-GYNs to come here when their colleagues are already leaving.

McEachern’s analysis ended in December 2024, weeks before the 2024 legislative session began. During that session, the 

 about tempering Idaho’s abortion bans to a minimum.

After fighting the state’s bans every step of the way, the largest lawsuits against the state over abortion have all been settled or put on ice. In April, the last major contender implemented a small but significant exception to Idaho’s almost complete abortion ban.

 that abortions could be provided in Idaho if a doctor judged that their patient faced a “non-negligible risk of dying sooner without an abortion.” The state could have appealed that ruling, but instead 

Three years after Idaho’s first abortion ban went into effect, Idaho has limited exceptions for the health of the parent, and exceptions for rape or incest only if the parent reports to law enforcement and can get an abortion within the first trimester of pregnancy. 

All but two doctors and Planned Parenthood could be eligible for prosecution

 if they refer patients out of state for an abortion.

In the Interim: A Ballot Initiative Building Momentum

With so few options left, a group of Idahoans started a new organization called 

 and decided to take the issue of abortion out of the courtroom and back to the ballot box.

Earlier this summer, they began gathering signatures for their ballot initiative, which would be on the November 2026 ballot if it qualifies. 

You can read the full initiative for details

Challenges to Idaho's Abortion Bans Are Mostly Finished, and OB-GYNs Are Fleeing. What's Next?

 earlier this year, barring cities with a population of more than 100,000 from allowing people to sleep in public, whether in a tent, car, or on the sidewalk. The law went into effect July 1 and it’s already affecting how Boise — and other cities around the Treasure Valley — are handling homelessness.

Didn’t Boise Already Have an Anti-Camping Law?

,” (named thus after the Boise Senator who sponsored the bill) city ordinance included definitions of when it was unlawful for someone to camp in public and outlined how police should enforce the ban.

Perhaps most notably, Boise did not allow for law enforcement to enforce its public camping ban if nearby shelters were at capacity and an individual had nowhere else to go.

 in June to comply with the new state law, removing the requirement to check shelter availability and adding a $10 citation to anyone sleeping in public. The amendment essentially forces police to enforce the camping ban without discretion, though Boise Police Chief Chris Dennison told KTVB that the department would focus on repeat offenders, adding that 

the change would strain other police resources

We spoke to Connor O’Hora from CATCH, a local organization that partners with nonprofits and law enforcement to provide wraparound services to people experiencing homelessness in the Treasure Valley, to find out 

how the new state camping ban is impacting Boise

. He told us that the Galloway Law is already leading to increased interaction with law enforcement, potentially putting people in the legal system and adding barriers to finding housing and other resources.

O’Hora said Idaho should focus on adding affordable housing and improving quality of life for people experiencing homelessness instead of creating what he called punitive measures that put people at risk.

For its part, Boise City Council’s amendment of city ordinance also outlined the ways in which it would continue to work with local organizations 

Police and housing advocates agree: The state’s punishment for public camping actually hurt the public's ability to help unhoused people.

What the New Anti-Camping Law Means for Boise

To celebrate the benevolent weather and mostly smoke-free air, today’s quiz is all atmosphere! Meteorological nerds, this is your time to shine — and maybe learn a fancy term.

 quiz necessarily, so you won’t find these answers in past Hey Boise newsletters.

How Well Do You Know Your Meteorology?

Since Idaho public school was last in session, House Bill 41 went into effect. The bill was written, proposed, and passed within a matter of weeks after an incident in a West Ada middle school classroom.

Now, teachers are banned from hanging posters, banners, and flags that “

.” With school starting next week, there’s still some confusion on what that means.

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador has been a vocal contributor to the alignment of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies with, as 

, a “comprehensive worldview that undermines parental authority over children’s moral development.”

The acronym “DEI” has been so thoroughly lambasted that it’s mostly been abandoned by the people who promoted policies with the term. But conservatives like Labrador and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who Labrador cited in his op-ed, are still getting mileage out of it.

According to Labrador, DEI policies are a disguise for indoctrination. To him, a teacher putting signs in her classroom that say “Everyone is Welcome Here” with rainbow colors and raised hands of a range of skin tones cross the line into promoting a political ideology.

What the Teacher Who Refused to Take Down a Poster Says

Sarah Inama, who displayed those flags and refused the West Ada School District’s orders to take them down, 

told City Cast Boise in mid-July that she thought parts of Labrador’s argument

 were inaccurate to her situation, and disagreed that her poster indicated a political ideology.

“I work very hard to make sure that my students don't know my political view, they don't know my religious views, and I want them to learn the curriculum that I'm teaching,” she said. “How is a sign that's letting students in my classroom know that they're welcome there — no matter what they look like — detrimental or damaging or indoctrinating to any student?

After finishing the semester for West Ada, Inama got a new job with the Boise School District. Amid the social media-fueled criticisms of West Ada, the 

Boise School District posted a photo of 15 administrators

 wearing “everyone is welcome here” T-shirts on Facebook, which received over 5,500 reactions.

The bill only applies to flags, banners, and posters. As 

 on the bill, it allows for religiously affiliated holiday items like Easter egg baskets and Christmas trees. The American flag, Indigenous tribal flags, military flags, and the flags of nations that the U.S. is not in “hostile action” with are exempt from the ban.

The day after the ban went into effect, someone filed a complaint with the state saying that the display of the phrase “In God We Trust” violates the ban. 

The Idaho Department of Education said it does not

With School Almost Back in Session, What Makes a Poster Political?

Wild Rye is a success story based in Ketchum: A women-led company that manufactures outdoor apparel for women. But like 

97% of the U.S.-owned businesses navigating rising tariffs

, it’s a small business — and founder and CEO Cassie Abel told City Cast Boise that means Wild Rye is bracing for volatility and pursuing every possible solution to stay afloat.

How much have tariffs changed your costs and impacted consumers?

“What we’re looking at today is very much still in flux. We have no idea what our tariffs are going to be and when those are going to change because things have been changing so much, so fast and so erratically. … Historically our duties have been on average between 20 and 30%, depending. When April 2 hit, we were looking at an additional 145%. So say we’re manufacturing a $20 pair of shorts, that price would’ve jumped to about $60.”

You’ve said this has been the hardest year of your career. Why do these tariffs feel so different from anything else you’ve seen so far?

“Because it feels like they’re being done 

us, first of all. And small businesses in particular are being hit extra hard because we only sell in the U.S. Multinational brands are able to absorb some of these tariffs through selling to other countries. For a brand like us, we can’t absorb any of these tariffs and gradually raise prices the way that larger brands can.”

You’re also planning for products two years before they actually hit the market — how are you planning ahead at all?

“With the constant changing of tariff rates in every single country across the U.S., there’s no way to make smart decisions or long-term decisions. We’re making decisions right now for 2027, and we can’t justify starting from scratch with a new factory in Vietnam or Cambodia or even Europe with the concern that there’s going to be a tweet [from President Trump] that ‘I’m mad at the president of France, all of the European Union is going to be hit with a 40% tariff right now.’ That’s what we’re up against right now, is just this insane volatility with zero predictability.”