Idaho ( ) is a landlocked

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

and Mountain West subregions of the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

. It borders

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

and

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

to the east,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

and

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

to the south, and

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

and

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

to the west; the state shares a small portion of the

Canada–United States border The international border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world by total length. The boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada' ...

to the north with the Canadian province of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. Idaho's

state capital Below is an index of pages containing lists of capital city, capital cities. National capitals *List of national capitals *List of national capitals by latitude *List of national capitals by population *List of national capitals by area *List of ...

and largest city is

Boise Boise ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and nor ...

. With an area of , Idaho is the 14th-largest state by land area. The state has a population of approximately two million people; it ranks as the 13th-least populous and the seventh-least densely populated of the 50 U.S. states. For thousands of years, and prior to European colonization, Idaho had been inhabited by

natives There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

. In the early 19th century, Idaho was considered part of the

Oregon Country Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long Oregon boundary dispute, dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been demarcat ...

, an area which was disputed between the U.S. and the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

. Idaho officially became a U.S. territory with the signing of the Oregon Treaty of 1846, but a separate

Idaho Territory The Territory of Idaho was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1863, until July 3, 1890, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as Idaho. History 1860s The territory ...

was not organized until 1863, instead being included for periods in

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Oreg ...

and

Washington Territory The Washington Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...

. The state was eventually

admitted to the Union Admission to the Union is provided by the Admissions Clause of the United States Constitution in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1, which authorizes the United States Congress to admit new states into the Union beyond the thirteen states that a ...

on July 3, 1890, becoming the 43rd state. Forming part of the Pacific Northwest (and the associated Cascadia bioregion), Idaho is divided into several distinct geographic and climatic regions. The state's north, the relatively isolated

Idaho Panhandle The Idaho panhandle—locally known as North Idaho, Northern Idaho, or simply the Panhandle—is a salient region of the U.S. state of Idaho encompassing the state's 10 northernmost counties: Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Idaho, ...

, is closely linked with

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the H ...

, with which it shares the

Pacific Time Zone The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00 ...

—the rest of the state uses the

Mountain Time Zone The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when standard time ( UTC−07:00) is in effect, and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time ( UTC−06:00). The ...

. The state's south includes the

Snake River Plain The Snake River cutting through the plain leaves many canyons and Canyon#List of gorges, gorges, such as this one near Twin Falls, Idaho The Snake River Plain is a geology, geologic feature located primarily within the U.S. state of Idaho. ...

(which has most of the population and agricultural land), and the southeast incorporates part of the

Great Basin The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...

. Idaho is quite mountainous and contains several stretches of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. The

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...

holds about 38% of Idaho's land, the highest proportion of any state. Industries significant for the state economy include manufacturing, agriculture, mining, forestry, science and technology, and tourism. Idaho has been a predominantly Republican state since statehood, with the Republican Party dominating in both state and national elections;

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

is severely restricted and the state retains the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

, including methods like the

firing squad Firing may refer to: * Dismissal (employment), sudden loss of employment by termination * Firemaking, the act of starting a fire * Burning; see combustion * Shooting, specifically the discharge of firearms * Execution by firing squad, a method of ...

. The state contains the

Idaho National Laboratory Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is one of the national laboratories of the United States Department of Energy and is managed by the Battelle Energy Alliance. Historically, the lab has been involved with nuclear research, although the labora ...

. Idaho's agricultural sector supplies many products, but the state is best known for its potato crop, which comprises around one-third of the nationwide yield. Its official state nickname is the "Gem State".

Etymology

In the early 1860s, when the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

was considering organizing a new territory in the

, the name "Idaho" was suggested by

George M. Willing George Maurice "Doc" Willing, Jr. (c. 1829March 12 or 13, 1874) was an American physician, prospector, and political lobbyist. He is known for his time as an unelected delegate to the United States Congress for Jefferson Territory and as the per ...

, a politician posing as an unrecognized delegate from the unofficial

Jefferson Territory The Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson was an extralegal and unrecognized United States territory that existed in the Pike's Peak mining region from October 24, 1859, until it yielded to the new Territory of Colorado on Jun ...

. Willing claimed that the name was derived from a

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...

term meaning "the sun comes from the mountains" or "gem of the mountains", but it was revealed later that there was no such term and Willing claimed that he had been inspired to coin the name when he met a little girl named ''Ida''. Since the name appeared to be fabricated, the U.S. Congress ultimately decided to name the area

Colorado Territory The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the 38th State of Colorado. The territory was organized ...

instead when it was created in February 1861, but by the time this decision was made, the town of

Idaho Springs, Colorado The City of Idaho Springs is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality in Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. Idaho Springs is a par ...

had already been named after Willing's proposal. The same year Congress created Colorado Territory, a county called Idaho County was created in eastern

. The county was named after a

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

named ''Idaho'', which was launched on the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

in 1860. It is unclear whether the steamship was named before or after Willing's claim was revealed. Regardless, part of Washington Territory, including Idaho County, was used to create

in 1863. Idaho Territory would later change its boundaries to the area that became the U.S. state.

History

Humans may have been present in the Idaho area as long as 14,500 years ago. Excavations at

Wilson Butte Cave Wilson Butte Cave is located on the Snake River plain in Jerome County, northeast of Twin Falls and southeast of Shoshone, Idaho. It is an archeological site listed on the National Register of Historic Places and maintained by the Bureau of Lan ...

near Twin Falls in 1959 revealed evidence of human activity, including arrowheads, that rank among the oldest dated artifacts in North America. American Indian peoples predominant in the area included the Nez Percé in the north and the Northern and Western

in the south. A Late

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...

site was identified at Cooper's Ferry in western Idaho near the town of Cottonwood by archaeologists in 2019. Based on evidence found at the site, first people lived in this area 15,300 to 16,600 years ago, predating the

Beringia Beringia is defined today as the land and maritime area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; on the east by the Mackenzie River in Canada; on the north by 70th parallel north, 72° north latitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south ...

land bridge by about a thousand years. The discoverers emphasized that they possess similarities with tools and artifacts discovered in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

that date from 16,000 to 13,000 years ago. The discovery also showed that the first people might not have come to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

by land, as previously theorized. On the contrary, they probably came through the water, using a

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

coastal route. An early presence of French-Canadian trappers is visible in names and

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

s: ''Nez Percé, Cœur d'Alène, Boisé, Payette''. Some of these names appeared prior to the

Lewis and Clark Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...

and Astorian expeditions, which included significant numbers of French and

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

guides recruited for their familiarity with the terrain. Idaho, as part of the

, was claimed by both the United States and Great Britain until the United States gained undisputed jurisdiction in 1846. From 1843 to 1859, present-day Idaho was under the de facto jurisdiction of the

Provisional Government of Oregon The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected settler government created in the Oregon Country (1818-1846), in the Pacific Northwest region of the western portion of the continent of North America. Its formation had been advanced ...

. When Oregon became a state in 1859, what is now Idaho was situated in what remained of the original Oregon Territory, designated as the Washington Territory. Between 1849 and the creation of the

in 1863, parts of present-day Idaho were included in the

, and Dakota Territories. The new Idaho territory included present-day Idaho,

, and most of

. The Lewis and Clark expedition crossed Idaho in 1805 on the way to the Pacific, and in 1806, on the return trip, largely following the Clearwater River in both directions. The first non-indigenous settlement was

Kullyspell House Kullyspell House (also spelled Kullyspel House) was a fur trading post established in 1809 on Lake Pend Oreille in what is now North Idaho. It was built by Finan McDonald under the direction of David Thompson of the North West Company. The post ...

, established on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille in 1809 by David Thompson of the

North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...

for fur trading. In 1812 Donald Mackenzie, working for the

Pacific Fur Company The Pacific Fur Company (PFC) was an American fur trade venture wholly owned and funded by John Jacob Astor that functioned from 1810 to 1813. It was based in the Pacific Northwest, an area contested over the decades among the United Kingdom of G ...

at the time, established a post on the lower Clearwater River near present-day Lewiston. This post, known as "MacKenzie's Post" or "Clearwater", operated until the Pacific Fur Company was bought out by the North West Company in 1813, after which the post was abandoned. The first organized non-indigenous communities within the present borders of Idaho were established by

Mormon pioneers The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter-day Saints, who Human migration, migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the ...

in 1860. The first permanent, substantial incorporated community was Lewiston, in 1861. Early in its history, Idaho saw a large influx of Chinese immigrants, who by 1870 made up about 28.5% of the territory's population. Idaho achieved statehood in 1890, following a difficult start as a territory, including the chaotic transfer of the territorial capital from Lewiston to

disenfranchisement Disfranchisement, also disenfranchisement (which has become more common since 1982) or voter disqualification, is the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing someo ...

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

polygamist Polygamy (from Late Greek , "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, it is called polygyny. When a woman is married to more tha ...

s upheld by the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

in 1890, and a federal attempt to split the territory between Washington Territory, which gained statehood in 1889, a year before Idaho, and the state of

which had been a state since 1864. Idaho was one of the hardest hit of the

states during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. Prices plummeted for Idaho's major crops: in 1932 a bushel of potatoes brought only ten cents compared to 1919 for $1.51, while Idaho farmers saw their annual income of $686 in 1929 drop to $250 by 1932. Between 1991 and 2002, Idaho expanded its commercial base to include the science and technology sector which accounted for over 25% of its

Gross state product Gross regional domestic product (GRDP), gross domestic product of region (GDPR), or gross state product (GSP) is a statistic that measures the size of a region's economy. It is the aggregate of gross value added (GVA) of all resident producer unit ...

in 2001. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Idaho enacted statewide crisis standards of care as COVID-19 patients overwhelmed hospitals. The state had one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country as of mid-October 2021.

Geography

Idaho shares a border with six U.S. states and one Canadian province. The states of

and

are to the west,

and

are to the south, and Montana and Wyoming are to the east. Idaho also shares a short border with the Canadian province of

to the north. The landscape is rugged, with some of the largest unspoiled natural areas in the United States. For example, at , the

Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area Frank, FRANK, or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a Germanic people in late Roman times * Franks, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crus ...

is the largest contiguous area of protected wilderness in the continental United States. Idaho is a

Rocky Mountain The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

state with abundant natural resources and scenic areas. The state has snow-capped mountain ranges, rapids, vast lakes and steep canyons. The waters of the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river in the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States. About long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Begin ...

run through Hells Canyon, the deepest gorge in the United States.

Shoshone Falls Shoshone Falls ( ) is a waterfall in the Western United States, western United States, on the Snake River in Magic Valley, south-central Idaho, approximately northeast of the city of Twin Falls, Idaho, Twin Falls. Sometimes called the "Niagara o ...

falls down cliffs from a height greater than

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

. By far, the most important river in Idaho is the Snake River, a major tributary of the Columbia River. The Snake River flows from

Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...

in northwestern

through the

in southern Idaho before turning north, leaving the state at Lewiston before joining the Columbia in

Kennewick Kennewick () is a city in Benton County, Washington, Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is located along the southwest bank of the Columbia River, just southeast of the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima ...

. Other major rivers are the Clark Fork/

Pend Oreille River The Pend Oreille River ( ) is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and northeastern Washington in the United States, as well as southeastern British Columbia in Canada. In its passage through British Columbia ...

, the

Spokane River The Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the Spokane Valley and the city o ...

, and, many major tributaries of the Snake River, including the Clearwater River, the Salmon River, the

Boise River The Boise River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. , accessed May 3, 2011 tributary of the Snake River in the Northwestern United States. It drains a rugged portion of the Sawtooth Range in so ...

, and the

Payette River The Payette River () is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 3, 2011 river in southwestern Idaho and a major tributary of the Snake River. Its headwaters originate in ...

. The Salmon River empties into the Snake in Hells Canyon and forms the southern boundary of Nez Perce County on its north shore, of which Lewiston is the county seat. The Port of Lewiston, at the confluence of the Clearwater and the Snake Rivers is the farthest inland

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

on the West Coast at 465

river mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its river mouth, mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometre, kilometers is the river kilometer. They are an ...

s from the Pacific at

Astoria, Oregon Astoria is a Port, port city in and the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the ...

. The vast majority of Idaho's population lives in the Snake River Plain, a valley running from across the entirety of southern Idaho from east to west. The valley contains the major cities of

, Meridian, Nampa, Caldwell, Twin Falls,

Idaho Falls Idaho Falls is the List of cities in Idaho, fourth most populous city in Idaho and the county seat of Bonneville County, Idaho, Bonneville County. It is the state's most populous city outside the Boise metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United St ...

, and

Pocatello Pocatello () is the county seat of and the largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, containing the city's airport. It is the principal city of the Pocatello metro ...

. The plain served as an easy pass through the Rocky Mountains for westward-bound settlers on the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

, and many settlers chose to settle the area rather than risking the treacherous route through the Blue Mountains and the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...

to the west. The western region of the plain is known as the

Treasure Valley The Treasure Valley is a valley in the western United States, primarily in southwestern Idaho, where the Payette, Boise, Weiser, Malheur, and Owyhee rivers drain into the Snake River. It includes all the lowland areas from Vale in rural east ...

, bound between the

Owyhee Mountains The Owyhee Mountains are a mountain range in Owyhee County, Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon. Mahogany Mountain and the associated volcanic craters of the Lake Owyhee volcanic field are in the Owyhee Mountains of Oregon just east of the Owyhe ...

to the southwest and the Boise Mountains to the northeast. The central region of the Snake River Plain is known as the

Magic Valley The Magic Valley, also known as South Central Idaho, is a region in south-central Idaho constituting Blaine, Camas, Cassia, Gooding, Jerome, Lincoln, Minidoka, and Twin Falls counties. It is particularly associated with the agricultural reg ...

Idaho's highest point is

Borah Peak Borah Peak, also known as Mount Borah or Beauty Peak, is a mountain in the western United States and the highest summit in Idaho. One of the most prominent peaks in the contiguous United States, it is located in the central section of the Lost ...

, , in the

Lost River Range The Lost River Range is a high mountain range of the Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle di ...

north of Mackay. Idaho's lowest point, , is in Lewiston, where the Clearwater River joins the

and continues into Washington. The Sawtooth Range is often considered Idaho's most famous mountain range. Other mountain ranges in Idaho include the

Bitterroot Range The Bitterroot Range is a mountain range and a subrange of the Rocky Mountains that runs along the border of Montana and Idaho in the northwestern United States. The range spans an area of and is named after the bitterroot (''Lewisia rediviva ...

, the

White Cloud Mountains The White Cloud Mountains are part of the Rocky Mountains of the Western United States, western United States, located in central Idaho, southeast of Stanley, Idaho, Stanley in Custer County, Idaho, Custer County. The range is located within the ...

, the

Clearwater Mountains The Clearwater Mountains are part of the Rocky Mountains, located in the panhandle of Idaho in the Western United States. The mountains lie between the Salmon River and the Bitterroot Range and encompass an area of . __NOTOC__ Subranges Nor ...

, and the

Salmon River Mountains The Salmon River Mountains are a major mountain range in the Western United States, western United States, covering most of the central part of Idaho. The range exceeds in length and its boundaries are usually defined by the Salmon River (Idaho), ...

. Salmon-Challis National Forest is located in the east central sections of the state, with Salmon National Forest to the north and Challis National Forest to the south. The forest is in an area known as the Idaho Cobalt Belt, which consists of a long

geological formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics (lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock expo ...

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

that contains some of the largest

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...

deposits in the U.S. Idaho has two

time zones Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to compa ...

, with the dividing line approximately midway between Canada and

. Southern Idaho, including the

Boise metropolitan area The Boise, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) (commonly known as the Boise Metropolitan Area or the Treasure Valley) is an area that encompasses Ada County, Idaho, Ada, Boise County, Idaho, Boise, Canyon County, Idaho, Canyon, Gem County, ...

, and Twin Falls, are in the

. A legislative error ( §264) theoretically placed this region in the

Central Time Zone The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It ...

, but this was corrected with a 2007 amendment. Areas north of the Salmon River, including Coeur d'Alene,

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Lewiston, and Sandpoint, are in the

, which contains less than a quarter of the state's population and land area.

Climate

Idaho's

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

varies widely. Although the state's western border is about from the Pacific Ocean, the maritime influence is still felt in Idaho; especially, in the winter when cloud cover,

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...

, and

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

are at their maximum extent. This influence has a moderating effect in the winter where temperatures are not as low as would otherwise be expected for a northern state with predominantly high elevations. In the panhandle, moist air masses from the coast are released as precipitation over the North Central Rockies forests, creating the

North American inland temperate rainforest The North American inland temperate rainforest is a 7 million hectare disjunct temperate rainforest spreading over parts of British Columbia in Canada as well as Washington (U.S. state), Washington, Idaho and Montana on the US side. Its patches ar ...

. The maritime influence is least prominent in the state's eastern part where the precipitation patterns are often reversed, with wetter summers and drier winters, and seasonal temperature differences are more extreme, showing a more semi-arid

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...

. Idaho can be hot, although extended periods over are rare, except for the lowest point in elevation, Lewiston, which correspondingly sees little snow. Hot summer days are tempered by the low relative humidity and cooler evenings during summer months since, for most of the state, the highest diurnal difference in temperature is often in the summer. Winters can be cold, although extended periods of bitter cold weather below zero are unusual. Idaho's all-time highest temperature of was recorded at Orofino on July 28, 1934; the all-time lowest temperature of was recorded at Island Park Dam on January 18, 1943.

Lakes and rivers

Protected areas

As of 2018:

National parks, reserves, monuments and historic sites

* Salmon-Challis National Forest *

California National Historic Trail The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail f ...

City of Rocks National Reserve The City of Rocks National Reserve, also known as the Silent City of Rocks, is a List of areas in the United States National Park System#National reserves, United States National Reserve and state park in south-central Idaho, approximately nor ...

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a National monument (United States), U.S. national monument and national preserve in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho. It is along U.S. Route 20#Idaho, US 20 (Concurrency (road), concur ...

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument is a Pliocene-age site near Hagerman, Idaho, Hagerman, Idaho. The Monument is internationally significant because it protects one of the richest known fossil deposits from the Blancan North American Land Ma ...

Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail is a route across the United States commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to 1806. It is part of the National Trails System of the United States. It extends for some from Pittsburgh, ...

Minidoka National Historic Site Minidoka National Historic Site is a National Historic Site in the western United States. It commemorates the more than 13,000 Japanese Americans who were imprisoned at the Minidoka War Relocation Center during the Second World War.

Nez Perce National Historical Park The Nez Perce National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park comprising 38 sites located across the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington (state), Washington, which include traditional aboriginal lands of the Nez ...

Oregon National Historic Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...

* Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail

National recreation areas

National wildlife refuges and Wilderness Areas

National conservation areas

* Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area DSCN6179 bearlake e

State parks

Demographics

Population

The

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

determined Idaho's population was 1,900,923 on July 1, 2021, a 21% increase since the 2010 U.S. census. Idaho had an estimated population of 1,754,208 in 2018, which was an increase of 37,265, from the prior year and an increase of 186,626, or 11.91%, since 2010. This included a natural increase since the last census of 58,884 (111,131 births minus 52,247 deaths) and an increase due to net

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

of 75,795 people into the state. There are large numbers of Americans of English and German ancestry in Idaho.

Immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 14,522 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 61,273 people. According to the American Immigration Council, in 2018, the top countries of origin for Idaho's immigrants were Mexico, Canada, the Philippines, China and Germany. Idaho's population increased by 17.3% from 2010 to 2020, the second fastest rate of growth of any state that decade. Nampa, about west of downtown Boise, became the state's second largest city in the late 1990s, passing Pocatello and Idaho Falls. Nampa's population was under 29,000 in 1990 and grew to over 81,000 by 2010. Located between Nampa and Boise, Meridian also experienced high growth, from fewer than 10,000 residents in 1990 to more than 75,000 in 2010 and is now Idaho's third largest city. Growth of 5% or more over the same period has also been observed in Caldwell, Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls, and Twin Falls. From 1990 to 2010, Idaho's population increased by over 560,000 (55%). The

(officially known as the Boise City-Nampa, ID Metropolitan Statistical Area) is Idaho's largest. Other metropolitan areas, in order of size, are Coeur d'Alene,

and Lewiston. According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 1,998

homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

people in Idaho. Ethnic Origins in Idaho

According to the 2017

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

, 12.2% of Idaho's population was of Hispanic or Latino origin, of any race: Mexican (10.6%), Puerto Rican (0.2%), Cuban (0.1%), and other Hispanic or Latino origin (1.3%). The five largest ancestry groups were:

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(17.5%), English (16.4%), Irish (9.3%), American (8.1%), and

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

(3.2%). The majority of Idaho's population is of European descent. Most of Idaho's white residents trace their ancestry to the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, France, Italy, or Poland. There are also small numbers of Native Americans, Asians, and African Americans in the state. In 2018, the top countries of origin for Idaho's immigrants were

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Native American tribes

There are five federally recognized Native American tribes in the state. These tribes include the Shoshone-Bannock, the Shoshone-Paiute, the Coeur d’Alene, the Kootenai and the Nez Perce.

Birth data

''Note: Births in table don't add up, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number.'' * Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one ''Hispanic'' group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

Religion

According to the

Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center (also simply known as Pew) is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world. It ...

on Religion & Public Life, the self-identified religious affiliations of Idahoans over the age of 18 in 2008 and 2014 were: According to the

Association of Religion Data Archives The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. One of the primary goals of the archive is to democratize access to academic information on religion by making t ...

, the largest denominations by number of members in 2010 were

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

with 409,265; the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

with 123,400; the non-denominational Protestants with 62,637; and the

Assemblies of God The World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF), commonly known as the Assemblies of God (AG), is a global cooperative body or communion of over 170 Pentecostal denominations that was established on August 15, 1989. The WAGF was created to provi ...

with 22,183. In 2020, the Association of Religion Data Archives revealed Mormons remained the largest with 462,069, followed by Catholics (203,790), and non-denominational Protestantism (98,996). In 2022, the Public Religion Research Institute's ''American Values Survey'' estimated altogether, 72% of the population was Christian, 26% were religiously unaffiliated, and 3% were New Agers. Of its Christian population, 37% were Protestant, 24% Mormon, 9% Catholic, and 2%

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

Language

English is the state's predominant language. Minority languages include

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and various

Native American languages The Indigenous languages of the Americas are the languages that were used by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas Pre-Columbian era, before the arrival of non-Indigenous peoples. Over a thousand of these languages are still used today, while m ...

Economy

The

gross state product Gross regional domestic product (GRDP), gross domestic product of region (GDPR), or gross state product (GSP) is a statistic that measures the size of a region's economy. It is the aggregate of gross value added (GVA) of all resident producer unit ...

(state

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

) for Idaho was $128.1 billion in 2024, and the state's

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

that year was $61,836. Idaho has the 46th highest

GDP per capita This is a list of countries by nominal GDP per capita. GDP per capita is the total value of a country's finished goods and services (gross domestic product) divided by its total population (per capita). Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is ...

in the United States of America. As of 2016, Idaho's total employment was 562,282, and the total employer establishments were 45,826. Idaho is the top potato producing state in the United States and almost one-third of the nation’s potatoes are grown in the

, a belt of low-lying land that extends across southern Idaho. Important industries in Idaho are food processing, lumber and wood products, machinery, chemical products, paper products, electronics manufacturing, silver and other mining, and tourism. The world's largest factory for barrel cheese, the raw product for

processed cheese Processed cheese (also known as process cheese; related terms include cheese food, prepared cheese, cheese product, and/or government cheese) is a product made from cheese mixed with an emulsifying agent (actually a calcium chelator). Additiona ...

, is in

Gooding, Idaho Gooding is the county seat of and the largest city in Gooding County, Idaho, United States. The population was 3,716 at the 2020 census. The city is named for Frank R. Gooding, a local sheep rancher who became a prominent political figure i ...

. It has a capacity of 120,000 metric tons per year of barrel cheese and belongs to the

Glanbia Glanbia plc ( ) is an Irish multinational nutrition company that owns several consumer brands that produce products such as food supplements and ingredients businesses. Glanbia is headquartered in Kilkenny, Ireland with over 5,500 employees in ov ...

group. As Idaho neared statehood, mining and other extractive industries played a significant role in its economy. Although the state's reliance on mining has diminished over time, Idaho remains renowned as "The Gem State" due to its production of seventy-two varieties of precious and semi-precious stones. Idaho is a leading national producer of potatoes, trout, Austrian winter peas, and lentils. The state's primary industries include manufacturing, agriculture, food processing, timber, and mining. Tourism is another way that Idaho capitalizes on its natural resources. The same tracts of wilderness that attracted

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

to the region in the early 1960s, continue to attract outdoor enthusiasts with camping, hunting, fishing, as well as whitewater kayaking and rafting, and skiing. Idaho has a state gambling lottery, which contributed $333.5 million in payments to all Idaho public schools and Idaho higher education from 1990 to 2006. US ID AmericanFalls.jpg,

American Falls Dam The American Falls Dam is a concrete gravity-type dam in the western United States, located near American Falls, Idaho, on river mile 714.7 of the Snake River. The dam and reservoir are a part of the Minidoka Project on the Snake River Plain and ...

Wheat harvest.jpg, Wheat harvest on the

Palouse The Palouse ( ) is a geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of North Central Idaho, north central Idaho, southeastern Washington (part of eastern Washington), and by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. ...

Taxation

Tax is collected by the

Idaho State Tax Commission Idaho ( ) is a landlocked state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington and Oregon to the west; the state s ...

. The state personal

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

is a flat 5.8%. Idahoans may apply for state

tax credit A tax credit is a tax incentive which allows certain taxpayers to subtract the amount of the credit they have accrued from the total they owe the state. It may also be a credit granted in recognition of taxes already paid or a form of state "dis ...

s for taxes paid to other states, as well as for donations to Idaho state educational entities and some nonprofit youth and rehabilitation facilities. The state

sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...

is 6% with a very limited, selective local option up to 6.5%. Sales tax applies to the sale, rental or lease of tangible personal property and some services. Food is taxed, but

prescription drug A prescription drug (also prescription medication, prescription medicine or prescription-only medication) is a pharmaceutical drug that is permitted to be dispensed only to those with a medical prescription. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs c ...

s are not. Hotel,

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the Parking lot, parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central Lobby (room), lo ...

, and

campground Campsite, campground, and camping pitch are all related terms regarding a place used for camping (an overnight stay in an outdoor area). The usage differs between British English and American English. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an ...

accommodations are taxed at a higher rate (7% to 11%). Some jurisdictions impose local option sales tax. The sales tax was introduced at 3% in 1965, easily approved by voters, where it remained at 3% until 1983.

Energy

Idaho has a regulated electricity market, with the

Idaho Public Utilities Commission The Idaho Public Utilities Commission is a public utilities commission, a quasi-judicial tribunal, which regulates investor-owned or privately owned utilities that provide gas, water, electricity, or telephone service for profit in the U.S. state ...

regulating the three major utilities of Avista Utilities,

Idaho Power Idaho Power Company (IPC) is a regulated electrical power utility. Its business involves the purchase, sale, generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in eastern Oregon and southern Idaho. It is a subsidiary of IDACORP, Inc. The ...

, and Rocky Mountain Power. Idaho consumes almost four times more energy than it produces. In 2022, renewable energy sources accounted for 75% of the total electricity generated in the state, the fourth-highest share of renewable electricity for any state. In 2022, half of Idaho's utility-scale (1 megawatt or larger) electricity generating capacity is at hydroelectric power plants, 25% from natural gas, 17% of the state's total in-state electricity net generation came from wind facilities, 4% from solar and 1% from geothermal. Washington State provides most of the natural gas used in Idaho through one of the two major pipeline systems supplying the state. Idaho has an upper-boundary estimate of development potential to generate 44,320 GWh/year from 18,076 MW of wind power, and 7,467,000 GWh/year from

solar power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

using 2,061,000 MW of photovoltaics (PV), including 3,224 MW of rooftop photovoltaics, and 1,267,000 MW of

concentrated solar power Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal) systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight into a receiver. Electricity is generated whe ...

. Idaho had 973 MW of installed wind power as of 2020.

Transportation

The

Idaho Transportation Department The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) is the state of Idaho Government agency, governmental organization responsible for state transportation infrastructure. This includes ongoing Maintenance, repair and operations, operations and maintenanc ...

is the

government agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...

responsible for Idaho's transportation infrastructure, including

operations and maintenance The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installat ...

, as well as planning for future needs. The agency is also responsible for overseeing the disbursement of federal, state, and grant

funding Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm use ...

for the transportation programs of the state.

Highways

Major federal aid highways in Idaho:

Airports

Major airports include the

Boise Airport Boise Airport (Boise Air Terminal or Gowen Field) is a joint civil-military airport in the western United States in Idaho, south of downtown Boise in Ada County. The airport is operated by the city of Boise Department of Aviation, overseen ...

which serves the southwest region of Idaho and the

Spokane International Airport Spokane International Airport is a commercial airport in Spokane, Washington, United States, located approximately west-southwest of Downtown Spokane. It is the primary airport serving the Inland Northwest (United States), Inland Northwest, w ...

(in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

) which serves northern Idaho. Other airports with scheduled service are the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport serving the

; the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Airport, serving the Lewis-Clark Valley and north central and west central Idaho; The Magic Valley Regional Airport in Twin Falls; Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey; the

Idaho Falls Regional Airport Idaho Falls Regional Airport is two miles north-northwest of downtown Idaho Falls, Idaho, United States. It is locally known as Fanning Field. It is the second-busiest airport in Idaho after Boise Airport. The National Plan of Integrated ...

; and the

Pocatello Regional Airport Pocatello Regional Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport in the western United States, located in Power County, Idaho, seven nautical miles (13 km) northwest of central Pocatello. The airport is built on the site of the Pocat ...

Railroads

Idaho is served by three transcontinental railroads. The

Burlington Northern Santa Fe BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

(BNSF) connects the

with

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, and

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

to the west, and

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

and Chicago to the east. The

BNSF BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide ...

travels through Kootenai, Bonner, and Boundary counties. The

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

crosses North Idaho, entering from Canada through Boundary and Bonner, and proceeding to Spokane.

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

uses

tracks in North Idaho, carrying products from

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

and

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

's Empire Builder crosses northern Idaho, with its only stop being in Sandpoint.

Montana Rail Link Montana Rail Link (now operated by BNSF as the MRL Subdivision) was a privately held Class II railroad in the United States. It operated on trackage originally built by the Northern Pacific Railway and leased from its successor BNSF Railway. ...

also operates between

Billings, Montana Billings is the most populous Lists of populated places in the United States, city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, i ...

, and

Sandpoint, Idaho Sandpoint is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Bonner County, Idaho, Bonner County, Idaho, United States. Its population was 9,777 as of the 2022 United States census, census. Sandpoint's major economic contributors include forest pr ...

. The

also crosses southern Idaho traveling between Portland, Oregon, Green River,

, and

Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...

, and serves

, Nampa, Twin Falls, and Pocatello.

Ports

The Port of Lewiston is the farthest inland Pacific port on the west coast. A series of dams and locks on the Snake River and Columbia River facilitate barge travel from Lewiston to Portland, where goods are loaded on ocean-going vessels.

Law and government

State constitution

The constitution of Idaho is roughly modeled on the national constitution, with several additions. The constitution defines the form and functions of the state government, and may be amended through

plebiscite A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or adv ...

. The state constitution presently requires the state government to maintain a

balanced budget A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budge ...

Idaho Code and Statutes

All of Idaho's state laws are contained in the Idaho Code and Statutes. The code is amended through the legislature with the approval of the governor. Idaho still operates under its original (1889) state constitution. Idaho has one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation. In April 2023, Idaho became the first state to restrict interstate travel for abortion services. Nearly all abortions are banned and private citizens can sue abortion providers. The Idaho Supreme Court has ruled there is no constitutional right to abortion. A federal judge ruled in 2022 that doctors cannot be punished for performing an abortion to protect a patient's health. The state abortion laws have led to an outmigration of physicians who specialize in maternal/fetal care.

State government

The constitution of Idaho provides for three branches of government: the executive, legislative and judicial branches. Idaho has a

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

legislature, elected from 35 legislative districts, each represented by one senator and two representatives. Since 1946, statewide elected constitutional officers have been elected to four-year terms. They include:

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

, Secretary of State,

Idaho state controller The state controller of Idaho is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Idaho. Twenty-one individuals have held the office of state controller or its predecessor office of state auditor since statehood ...

(Auditor before 1994), Treasurer,

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

, and Superintendent of Public Instruction. Last contested in 1966, Inspector of Mines was an originally elected constitutional office. Afterward it was an appointed position and ultimately done away with entirely in 1974. Idaho's government has an

alcohol monopoly An alcohol monopoly is a government monopoly on manufacturing and/or retailing of some or all alcoholic beverages, such as beer, wine and spirits. It can be used as an alternative for total prohibition of alcohol. They exist in all Nordic co ...

; the

Idaho State Liquor Division The Idaho State Liquor Division is an agency of the government of the state of Idaho (hence an alcoholic beverage control state) which maintains a monopoly on the sale of all alcoholic beverages which exceed 16% alcohol by volume. Jeff Anderson ...

Executive branch

The governor of Idaho serves a four-year term and is elected during what is nationally referred to as midterm elections. As such, the governor is not elected in the same election year as the president of the United States. The current governor is Republican

Brad Little Bradley Jay Little (born February 15, 1954) is an American politician serving as the 33rd governor of Idaho since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 42nd Lieutenant Governor of Idaho ...

, who was first elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. Idaho is 1 of 13 states with no term limits for Governor.

Legislative branch

Idaho's

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

is part-time. Because of this, Idaho's legislators are considered "citizen legislators", meaning their position as a legislator is not their main occupation. However, the session may be extended if necessary, and often is. Terms for both the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

are two years. Legislative elections occur every even numbered year. Both of Idaho's state legislative chambers have been continuously controlled by Republicans since 1960, although Democratic legislators are routinely elected from Boise, Pocatello, Blaine County and the northern Panhandle.

Judicial branch

The highest court in Idaho is the

Idaho Supreme Court The Idaho Supreme Court is the state supreme court of Idaho and is composed of the chief justice and four associate judge, justices. The decisions of the Idaho Supreme Court are binding on all other Idaho State court (United States), state court ...

. There is also an intermediate

appellate court An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appel ...

, the

Idaho Court of Appeals The Idaho Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court for the state of Idaho; created by statute by the state legislature, operations began in 1982. The court is housed in the Idaho Supreme Court building in Boise. Jurisdiction Th ...

, which hears cases assigned to it from the Supreme Court. The state's District Courts serve seven judicial districts.

Politics

After the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, many Midwestern and Southern Democrats moved to the

. As a result, the early territorial legislatures were solidly Democrat-controlled. In contrast, most of the territorial governors were appointed by Republican presidents and were Republicans. This led to sometimes-bitter clashes between the two parties, including a range war with the Democrats backing the sheepherders and the Republicans the cattlemen, which ended in the "Diamondfield" Jack Davis murder trial. In the 1880s, Republicans became more prominent in local politics. In 1864, Clinton DeWitt Smith removed the territorial seal and the state constitution from a locked safe, and took them to Boise. This effectively moved the capital from where they were stored (

Lewiston, Idaho Lewiston is a city and the county seat of Nez Perce County, Idaho, United States, in the state's North Central Idaho, north central region. It is the third-largest city in the Idaho Panhandle, northern Idaho region, behind Post Falls, Idaho, Pos ...

) to the current capital, Boise. Since statehood, the Republican Party has usually been the dominant party in Idaho. At one time, Idaho had two Democratic parties, one being the mainstream and the other called the Anti-Mormon Democrats, lasting into the early 20th century. In the 1890s and early 1900s, the Populist Party enjoyed prominence, while the Democratic Party maintained a brief dominance in the 1930s during the

. Since World WarII, most statewide-elected officials have been Republicans, though the Democrats did hold the majority in the House (by one seat) in 1958 and the governorship from 1971 to 1995. Idaho Congressional delegations have also been generally Republican since statehood. Several Idaho Democrats have had electoral success in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

over the years, but the

delegation has been a Republican stronghold for decades. Several Idaho Republicans, including current Senators

Mike Crapo Michael Dean Crapo ( ; born May 20, 1951) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Idaho, a seat he has held since 1999. A member of the Rep ...

and

Jim Risch James Elroy Risch ( ; born May 3, 1943) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Idaho since 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he served as lieutenant governor of Idaho under governors ...

, have won reelection to the Senate, but only Frank Church has won reelection as a Democrat. Church's

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

victory was the last win for his party for either Senate seat, and Walt Minnick's 2008 victory in the 1st congressional district was the last Democratic win in any congressional race. In modern times, Idaho has been a reliably Republican state in presidential politics. It has not supported a Democrat for

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

since

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

. Even in that election,

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

defeated

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...

in the state by fewer than two percentage points, compared to a landslide nationally. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, Republican

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

carried Idaho by a margin of 38 percentage points and with 68.4% of the vote, winning in 43 of 44 counties. Only Blaine County, which contains the Sun Valley ski resort, supported

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

, who owns a home in the area. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's 36.1 percent showing was the best for a Democratic presidential candidate in Idaho since

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

. However, Republican margins were narrower in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

. In the 2006 elections, Republicans, led by gubernatorial candidate

Butch Otter Clement Leroy "Butch" Otter (born May 3, 1942) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 32nd List of Governors of Idaho, governor of Idaho from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, h ...

, won all the state's constitutional offices and retained both of the state's seats in the House. However, Democrats picked up several seats in the Idaho Legislature, notably in the Boise area. Idaho retains the

. Pending the outcome of a legal challenge on a bill passed on 20 March 2023, authorized methods of execution include the

Abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

care is severely restricted in Idaho.

Education

K–12

As of January 2020, the State of Idaho contains 105

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...

s and 62

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

s. The school districts range in enrollment from two to 39,507 students. Idaho school districts are governed by elected school boards, which are elected in November of odd-numbered years, except for the Boise School District, whose elections are held in September.

Colleges and universities

The Idaho State Board of Education oversees three comprehensive universities. The

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...

was the first university in the state (founded in 1889). It opened its doors in 1892 and is the land-grant institution and primary research university of the state.

Idaho State University Idaho State University (ISU) is a Public university, public research university in Pocatello, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1901 as the Academy of Idaho, Idaho State offers more than 250 programs at its main campus in Pocatello and locations ...

in Pocatello opened in 1901 as the Academy of Idaho, attained four-year status in 1947 and university status in 1963.

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has b ...

is the most recent school to attain university status in Idaho. The school opened in 1932 as Boise Junior College and became Boise State University in 1974. Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston is the only public, non-university four-year college in Idaho. It opened as a normal school in 1893. Idaho has four regional community colleges:

North Idaho College North Idaho College (NIC) is a public community college in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. It has an enrollment of approximately 3,900 undergraduate students. Its main campus is situated at the north end of Lake Coeur d'Alene near downtown Coeur d'Alene, ...

in Coeur d'Alene;

College of Southern Idaho College of Southern Idaho (CSI) is a public community college in Twin Falls, Idaho. It also has off-campus programs in Jerome, Hailey, Burley and Gooding. Together with the College of Eastern Idaho, College of Western Idaho and North Ida ...

in Twin Falls;

College of Western Idaho College of Western Idaho (CWI) is a public community college in Southwest Idaho with its primary campus locations in Boise and Nampa. CWI also offers classes at several community locations throughout the Treasure Valley. It is one of four c ...

in Nampa, which opened in 2009,

College of Eastern Idaho College of Eastern Idaho (CEI) is a public community college in Idaho Falls, Idaho. It was founded in 1969 as Eastern Idaho Vocational Technical School and later became a technical college called Eastern Idaho Technical College. In May 2017, B ...

, which transitioned from a

technical college An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

in 2017. Private institutions in Idaho are

Boise Bible College Boise Bible College (BBC) is a Private college, private Christian Bible college near Boise, Idaho, United States. History BBC was founded in 1945 as a ministry of First Church of Christ in Boise, and housed in the basement of the church building ...

, affiliated with congregations of the

Christian churches and churches of Christ The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone–Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no form ...

;

Brigham Young University-Idaho Brigham may refer to: Places * Brigham, Cumbria, England * Brigham, East Riding of Yorkshire, England * Brigham City, Utah, USA * Brigham, Wisconsin, USA * Brigham, Quebec, Canada People * Brigham (surname), including a list of people with ...

in Rexburg, which is affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a

sister college A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

; The

College of Idaho The College of Idaho (C of I) is a private liberal arts college in Caldwell, Idaho. Founded in 1891 by Rev. William Judson Boone as a Presbyterian college, it is the state's oldest private liberal arts college and has an enrollment of over ...

in Caldwell, which still maintains a loose affiliation with the Presbyterian Church;

Northwest Nazarene University Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) is a private Nazarene university in Nampa, Idaho. History Eugene Emerson organized a combination grade school and Bible school in 1913 as Idaho Holiness School. It was renamed twice in 1916, first to Nor ...

in Nampa; and New Saint Andrews College in

, of reformed Christian theological background.

McCall College McCall College (McCC) is an American private college located in McCall, Idaho. It primarily serves Valley County, Adams County and Idaho County. McCall also serves as a destination college for students from the Pacific Northwest. Mission Pr ...

is a non-affiliated two-year private college in McCall, which was founded in 2011 and later opened in 2013.

Health

Ban on COVID-19 vaccines

In October 2024, a health department in Idaho voted 4-3 to stop providing

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and fun ...

s to residents in six counties. Opposite doctors' pleas against the decision were more than 290 public comments, many of which called for an end to vaccine mandates or taxpayer funding of the vaccines, neither of which are happening in the district.

Sports

Central Idaho is home to one of North America's oldest

ski resorts A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area–a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

, Sun Valley, where the world's first

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers. They are the primary on-hill tran ...

was installed in 1936. Other noted outdoor sites include Hells Canyon, the Salmon River, and its embarkation point of Riggins. The

Boise Open The Albertsons Boise Open is a professional golf tournament in Idaho on the Korn Ferry Tour, played annually at Hillcrest Country Club (Boise, Idaho), Hillcrest Country Club in Boise, Idaho, Boise. Held in mid-September for its first 23 years, the ...

professional golf tournament has been played at Hillcrest Country Club since

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

as part of the

Korn Ferry Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. ...

. The Open has been part of the

Korn Ferry Tour Finals The Korn Ferry Tour Finals is a series of four golf tournaments that conclude the season on the Korn Ferry Tour. The finals are contested in a playoff format, similar to the FedEx Cup playoffs on the PGA Tour, with players eliminated after each o ...

since

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. High school sports are overseen by the

Idaho High School Activities Association The Idaho High School Activities Association (IHSAA) oversees high school athletics and activities in the state of Idaho. Idaho high schools are classified in six categories, based on enrollment, for league competition and state playoffs and champi ...

(IHSAA). In 2016, Meridian's Michael Slagowski ran

800 meters The 800 metres, or 800 meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event sin ...

in 1:48.70, one of the 35 fastest times ever run by a high school boy in the United States.

In popular culture

The 1980 movie ''

Bronco Billy ''Bronco Billy'' is a 1980 American Western comedy-drama film starring Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke. It was directed by Eastwood and written by Dennis Hackin. The film focuses on the financially struggling owner of a traditional Wild West s ...

'' was filmed in

for two months. ''

Pale Rider ''Pale Rider'' is a 1985 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, who also stars in the lead role. The title is a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as the pale horse's ghost rider (Eastwood) represents D ...

'' (1985) was primarily filmed in the Boulder Mountains and the

Sawtooth National Recreation Area The Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) is a national recreation area in central Idaho, United States that is managed as part of Sawtooth National Forest. The recreation area, established on August 22, 1972, is managed by the U.S. Forest S ...

in central Idaho, just north of Sun Valley. River Phoenix and

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor and musician. The recipient of numerous accolades in a career on screen spanning four decades, he is known for his leading roles in action films, his amiable public imag ...

starred in the 1991 movie ''

My Own Private Idaho ''My Own Private Idaho'' is a 1991 American independent adventure drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant, loosely based on Shakespeare's '' Henry IV, Part 1'', '' Henry IV, Part 2'', and '' Henry V''. The story follows two friends, ...

'', portions of which take place in Idaho. The 1997 film ''

Dante's Peak ''Dante's Peak'' is a 1997 American disaster film directed by Roger Donaldson, written by Leslie Bohem, and starring Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, and Charles Hallahan. The film is set in the fictional town of Dante's Peak where the inhabitant ...

'' was shot on location in Wallace. The 2004

cult film A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in repeated ...

Napoleon Dynamite ''Napoleon Dynamite'' is a 2004 American Independent film, independent Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age comedy film produced by Jeremy Coon, Chris Wyatt (producer), Chris Wyatt and Sean C. Covel (producer), Sean Covel, written by Jared and J ...

'' takes place in Preston; the film's director,

Jared Hess Jared is a given name of Biblical derivation. Origin In the Book of Genesis, the biblical patriarch Jared () was the sixth in the ten pre-flood generations between Adam and Noah; he was the son of Mahalaleel and the father of Enoch, and lived ...

, attended Preston High School.

Explanatory notes

References

External links

State of Idaho government

* .
Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation
* . * —Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Idaho state agencies.
Idaho State Facts
��USDA * . * . * . * . * . * . * {{Coord, 45, -115, dim:500000_region:US-ID_type:adm1st, name=State of Idaho, display=title 1890 establishments in the United States Contiguous United States States and territories established in 1890 States of the United States Western United States

Etymology

History

Geography

Climate

Lakes and rivers

Protected areas

National parks, reserves, monuments and historic sites

National recreation areas

National wildlife refuges and Wilderness Areas

National conservation areas

State parks

Demographics

Population

Native American tribes

Birth data

Religion

Language

Economy

Taxation

Energy

Transportation

Highways

Airports

Railroads

Ports

Law and government

State constitution

Idaho Code and Statutes

State government

Executive branch

Legislative branch

Judicial branch

Politics

Education

K–12

Colleges and universities

Health

Ban on COVID-19 vaccines

Sports

In popular culture

See also

Explanatory notes

References

Further reading

External links