Growth and Change Take Hold in Boise

Jim Carlton reports from Boise, where statistics and anecdotes tell a story of rapid growth and resulting concern.

According to Carlton, "[l]ow costs and a business-friendly government are luring new employers, whose workers relish the backdrop of forested mountains above cities like Boise and the easy access to an outdoor paradise." The state of Idaho was the fastest growing state in the nation as a result.

"But as Idaho—and its capital city—have boomed, the state is also struggling to cope with the byproducts of its success: soaring housing prices, labor shortages and worsening traffic congestion in one of the more wide-open places in America," adds Carlton. The results in the housing market, for instance, are starting to look like the places Boise's new residents recently departed. Median single-family home prices in Ada County have doubled since 2011. Carklton finds evidence that rents are going up too. Earlier in March, Planetizen also picked up on news of a lack of affordable housing in Boise. There have also been reports of development opposition and a rapid loss of farmland on the city's periphery.

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