Blackfoot Named Worst City to Live in Idaho, But Is It?

Every once in a while, I run across one of those national rankings that makes me stop and say: Wait…WHAT?

This was one of them. A national financial website actually named Blackfoot the worst city to live in Idaho. Ummm, according to whom?

So I went digging and while there were real statistics behind the ranking, they're not even remotely current anymore and when you replace them with newer numbers, Blackfoot starts looking quite a bit different.

Why Blackfoot Was Named Idaho’s “Worst”

The ranking came from 24/7 Wall St. from way back in October 2023. The website created an index using 22 different measures involving the economy, quality of life and community. Blackfoot came out at the bottom among the Idaho communities that qualified.

At the time, the numbers cited included a 13.9% poverty rate, median household income of $51,971 and median home value of $171,700.

The problem is, much of the Census data behind that 2023 story actually came from 2017 through 2021, the crime data was from 2020 and the drug mortality data covered 2019 through 2021.

So we’re talking about a ranking published three years ago that relied heavily on information that’s now even older and places are still writing about that ranking as if it were today.

Here’s What Blackfoot Looks Like Today

The latest available Census numbers tell a different story.

Blackfoot’s median household income is now estimated at $64,032 and the poverty rate is down to 10.6%, which is a pretty dramatic improvement from the 13.9% cited in the original ranking.

The city’s population is growing, too. The Census Bureau estimates 13,361 people lived in Blackfoot in 2025, up 7.7% from the 2020 population estimate base.

And remember that $171,700 median home value that helped make Blackfoot look bad? Well, the latest Census data puts the median value of an owner occupied home at $262,500.

Some Of The Methodology For The Idaho Ranking Is Interesting

Among the things used to measure “community” were the number of restaurants, bars, movie theaters, museums, zoos, botanical gardens, golf courses and even marinas.

We’re talking about Blackfoot, Idaho, with a population of about 13,000. Of course Blackfoot isn’t going to have the entertainment and dining options of Boise.

Even more interesting, several measurements used in the study weren’t actually specific to Blackfoot. Drug mortality, access to exercise opportunities, some health statistics and the numbers of restaurants and entertainment establishments were measured at the county level.

That doesn’t make the study meaningless, but it certainly adds some context to that big, ugly “worst city to live in Idaho” label.

There’s More to Blackfoot Than a Spreadsheet

Blackfoot calls itself the Heart of Idaho Potato Country, and for good reason.

It’s home to the Idaho Potato Museum, the Eastern Idaho State Fair and Jensen Grove Park, with its lake, walking trails, playgrounds and picnic areas.

Man poses dramatically against a bridge at sunset — Photo by Abby Moulton on Unsplash

There are nearby lava fields to explore, local businesses to support and community events that bring people together.

And since the population is growing, people aren’t exactly fleeing this supposedly terrible place.

Is Blackfoot perfect? Of course not, but show me a town that is. I think the people who actually call Blackfoot home deserve a little more credit than that.