Boise is a city located in Ada County Idaho. Boise has a 2023 population of 240,713. It is also the county seat of Ada County.Boise is currently growing at a rate of 0.69% annually and its population has increased by 2.07% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 235,829 in 2020.
The average household income in Boise is $93,693 with a poverty rate of 11.58%. The median rental costs in recent years comes to - per month, and the median house value is -. The median age in Boise is 37.7 years, 37.1 years for males, and 38.4 years for females.
The larger Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area, which includes five counties, has a population of 620,000 and it is the largest metro area in the state, containing the three largest cities in Idaho: Boise, Nampa, and Meridian. Boise is also the 3rd most populous metro area in the Pacific Northwest after Seattle and Portland.
Boise has a large ethnic Basque community of about 15,000 people, which is the largest in the United States and the 5th largest outside of Mexico, Chile, Argentina and the Basque Country in France and Spain. There is also a sizeable Basque festival in the city every five years.
The city is home to many religions with the Boise Hare Krishna Temple, an LDS Church temple and the Jewish Ahavath Beth Israel Temple, which is the oldest continually used temple west of the Mississippi.
Boise is currently the 15th fastest growing city in the United States, according to Forbes. The Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area is growing at a rate of 1.7% per year with a job growth rate that is keeping up. The largest cities in Idaho, including Boise, are rising about three times faster than smaller towns in the state.
Idaho has been a refugee resettlement arena since 1975, when it was established as the Indochinese Refugee Assistance Program to help resettle refugees fleeing the overthrow of US-supported governments in South Asia. Initially, the program focused on refugees from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, but it expanded to include Eastern European refugees fleeing Soviet-era regimes.
During the 1980s, most refugees settled in Idaho and Boise, in particular, were Southeast Asian and Eastern European, with many refugees from the Soviet Union arriving at the end of the 1980s particularly evangelical Christians oppressed for their religious beliefs and political dissidents. During the 1990s, more than 5,000 refugees were resettled in Idaho, with more than 50% coming from Herzegovina and Bosnia to escape ethnic cleansing. The other half during this time came from Africa, East Asia, the Near East, Central Asia, the Caribbean, and Europe.
In the 2000s, more than 5,000 refugees have been settled around Boise, mainly refugees from Europe and Central Asia, especially from Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Russia (67%); Africa, especially Liberia, Sudan and Somalia (24%); East Asia, Latin America and the Near East (9%).
According to the most recent ACS, the racial composition of Boise was:
2.97
Average Family Size
2.37
Average Household Size
62.4%
Rate of Home Ownership
Married
Male
Female
NonFamily
owner
renter
Only English
Spanish
Other Indo-European Languages
Asian and Pacific Island Languages
Other Languages
89.91% of Boise residents speak only English, while 10.09% speak other languages. The non-English language spoken by the largest group is Spanish, which is spoken by 4.62% of the population.
11.58%
Overall Poverty Rate
10.63%
Male Poverty Rate
12.54%
Female Poverty Rate
The race most likely to be in poverty in Boise is Native, with 59.4% below the poverty level.
The race least likely to be in poverty in Boise is Other, with 11.58% below the poverty level.
The poverty rate among those that worked full-time for the past 12 months was 1.78%. Among those working part-time, it was 18.15%, and for those that did not work, the poverty rate was 19.37%.
Married
Widowed
Divorced
Separated
NeverMarried
47.0%
Overall Marriage Rate
47.5%
Male Marriage Rate
46.4%
Female Marriage Rate
male
female
The age group where males are most likely to be married is Over 65, while the female age group most likely to be married is 35-44.
Married
Widowed
Divorced
Separated
NeverMarried
Less Than 9th Grade
High School Graduate
Some College
Bachelors or Greater
6.25%
Veteran Poverty Rate
25.49%
Veteran Disability Rate
LaborForceParticipation
68.9%
Labor Force Participation
65.8%
Employment Rate
4.2%
Unemployment Rate
LaborForceParticipation
LaborForceParticipation
Europe
Asia
Africa
Oceania
Latin America
North America
Non citizens include legal permanent residents (green card holders), international students, temporary workers, humanitarian migrants, and illegal immigrants.
Europe
Asia
Africa
Oceania
Latin America
North America
41.3%
Born in Boise
91.18%
Native Born
6.33%
Foreign Born
2.85%
Non Citizen
3.48%
Naturalized
91.18% of Boise residents were born in the United States, with 41.3% having been born in Idaho. 2.85% of residents are not US citizens. Of those not born in the United States, the largest percentage are from Asia.