Economics

	Nampa	Idaho	USA
Median Family Income (2011 dollars)	$42,625	$48,160	$52,954
Per capita income (2011 dollars)	$18,026	$22,938	$27,067
Median single family home cost	$132,800	$157,900	$175,100

Unemployment

	Nampa	Idaho	USA
2011	11.80%	10.40%	9.10%

Taxes: http://tax.idaho.gov/answers_Sales_tax.htm
State sales tax rate: 6.0%
State income tax rate: progressive tax range from 1.6% to 7.8% based on taxable income
Canyon County property tax rate: http://www.canyonco.org/index.aspx

Property tax rates for Nampa real estate vary please contact the Canyon County assessor’s office for any questions at 208-454-7431. City property taxes are assessed through the county tax system.

Cost of Living Index 2011

	Nampa	Boise
Overall	95	104
Food	106	106
Utilities	100	100
Miscellaneous	101	97
	US Average = 100 for all indicators

Summary: The greatest index difference is found in housing costs. Nampa has a high percentage per capita of blue collar labor force that represents stability but also lower average wages. This is reflected in smaller and more modest homes on average and lower land values consistent with the homes. This is also reflected in a younger average age of the population and more small children. Food prices are lower but this is reflective more of the income level than any actual difference in cost, i.e. food selection based more on cost and cultural differences due to income restraints.

Data source: http://www.bestplaces.net/col/

Demographics

County: Canyon

Location: Nampa is located 19 miles west of Boise, the capital of the state of Idaho and the economic hub for the region. Nampa has a view of the Boise Mountain Range on the northeast and the Owyhee Mountain Range on the southwest. The community is linked into the I-84 Freeway system which runs through the city that connects it to the Boise Metro area.

Elevation: 2,516 ft. (767 m.), on average, above sea level

Time Zone: Mountain Standard Time, MST, (observes Daylight Savings Time)

Phone Area Code: 208

Zip Code: 83651, 83652, 83653, 83686, 83687

Local Map: Click Here

Population of Nampa: 79,249 as of 2007 within city limits, a 35% increase since 2000.

Year 2011 Facts:

	Nampa	Idaho	USA
Population	75,557	1,571,616	307,829,557
Male/female:	49.60%/50.40%	50.31%/49.69%	49.31%/50.69%
Median age:	30.9	34.7	36.6
Avg family	2.8	2.65	2.58
Own homes	63.66%	62.64%	59.90%
Rent homes	29.39%	25.47%	29.73%
Vacant homes	6.94%	11.89%	10.37%
%White	79.82%	88.38%	75.10%
%Black	1.18%	0.81%	12.3%
%Native	1.03%	1.46%	0.9%
%Asian	1.16%	1.11%	3.6%
%Islander			0.2%
%Other	16.79%	8.25%	5.5%
%Hispanic	20.65%	10.49%	12.5%

Schools & Higher Education

Nampa Schools: http://www1.nsd131.org/mainsite/default.aspx

1. Nampa School District: 208-468-4600
2. Columbia High School: 208-498-0571
3. Nampa High School: 208-498-0551
4. Ridgeline High School:208-498-0559
5. Skyview High School: 208-455-3309
6. East Valley Middle School: 208-468-4760
7. Lone Star Middle School: 208-468-4745
8. West  Middle School: 208-468-4750
9. South  Middle School: 208-468-4740
10. Centennial Elementary: 208-468-4627
11. Central Elementary: 208-468-4611
12. Franklin D. Roosevelt Elementary: 208-468-4620
13. Greenhurst Elementary: 208-468-4612
14. Endeavor Elementary: 208-468-4629
15. Iowa Elementary: 208-468-4621
16. Lake Ridge Elementary: 208-468-4626
17. New Horizons Dual Language Magnet School: 208-498-0570
18. Owyhee Elementary School: 208-468-4616
19. Park Ridge Elementary School: 208-468-4622
20. Parkview Elementary School: 208-498-0560
21. Reagan Elementary School: 208-468-4619
22. Sherman Elementary School: 208-468-4628
23. Snake River Elementary: 208-468-4614
24. Sunny Ridge Elementary: 208-468-4613
25. Willow Creek Elementary:  208-468-4617
26. Calvary Chapel School (Private): 208-467-7116
27. Nampa Christian Schools (Private): 208-466-8451
28. Zion Lutheran School (Private): 208-466-9141
29. Saint Paul’s School (Private): 208-467-3601
30. Calvary  Christian School (Private): 208-467-9114
31. Nampa Montessori Preshool and Kindergarten: 208-465-6179
32. Centennial Job Corp: 208-442-4500
33. Liberty Charter School: 208-466-7952
34. Victory Charter School: 208-442-9400
35. Idaho Arts Charter School: 208-463-4324
36. Nampa Classical Academy: 208-466-6221

Links

Compare ISAT scores for all Idaho Schools: http://www.greatschools.net/test/landing.page?state=ID&tid=76

Compare NAEP scores for Idaho Schools versus national: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states/

Education Nation Scorecard for Schools: http://nbcscorecard.greatschools.org/?s_cid=20100928weeklysend

Compare State and Community Report Card: http://www.sde.idaho.gov/ipd/reportcard/SchoolReportCard.asp

Cost per student, grades 1-12, and teacher/student ratio comparison to US average.

	Nampa	USA
$per student	$3,692	$5,678
teacher ratio	1 to 24	1 to 14.9
%High school grad.	84.72%	84.72%
%4 year college grad.	13.23%	17.42%

Higher Education

1. Northwest Nazarene University (4 year liberal arts college): 208-467-8011
2. College of Western Idaho 208-562-3000

Also in the greater Boise Area are these Colleges and Universities:

1. Boise State University: 208-426-1000
2. College of Western Idaho–Nampa: 208-562-3000
3. Apollo College: 877-205-1458
4. ITT Technical Institute-Boise: 208-322-8844
5. Milan Institute-Boise: 208-672-9500
6. Scot Lewis Schools-Boise: 208-375-0190
7. Brown Mackie College-Boise: 208-321-8800
8. Stevens-Henager College-Boise: 208-345-0700
9. BoiseBibleCollege: 208-376-7731

Local History

Nampa is located on the Snake River basin plain that crosses, from east to west, the south end of the State of Idaho. This is considered a high desert area with most of the moisture occurring and collecting in the surrounding mountains and then being transferred into the valley by creeks, streams and rivers. These waterways provide the irrigation water used by farmers across the entire south end of the state. A large, manmade, irrigation water reservoir is located a few miles west of Nampa. It was first called Deer Flat reservoir but is currently called Lake Lowell. It was constructed between 1906 and 1911 by the Federal reclamation service. The lake is surrounded by the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge established in 1909 by President Theodore Roosevelt. It is still administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service today. This lake is feed by the New York Canal that diverts water from the Boise River east of Boise, the capital of Idaho and eventually returns any unused water to the Snake River. The lake is used for irrigation, recreation, wildlife conservation and is a favored view for upscale homes built on the hillsides overlooking it. This system of irrigation canals and holding reservoirs, that divert river water, have been and are still the key to the large agricultural industrial sector of Canyon County and the State of Idaho at large.

Prior to being a city, Nampa was located along the Oregon Trail that pointed west toward the convergence of the Snake and Boise Rivers to the North West and the Oregon Territory that was just across the Snake River in this location. When the Oregon Short Line Railroad, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad, was constructed from Granger, Wyoming to the east to Huntington, Oregon to the North West, following generally the Oregon Trail in about 1883 and came through what is now Nampa, the location sprang to life. Small communities sprang up all along the railroad from east to west across the southern end of the state and Nampa was one of these communities. The Oregon Short Line Railroad by passed Boise but in 1887, the Idaho Central Railway was built connecting these two lines which occurred at Nampa’s current location. Later other lines were connected at Nampa to bring in silver from what is now Owyhee County to the west and to connect agricultural projects throughout the area. This made the Nampa location a railroad hub even before Idaho was made a state in 1890. Nampa was incorporated, as a city in 1890 just after Idaho became a state. That same year several diversion canals were completed that brought almost 300,000 acres of prime farmland on line. This small community started with a bang and has never looked back since. It has had positive average growth since then and is now one of the jewels of the “Treasure Valley”.

Nampa is part of the greater Boise economic region of Southwest Idaho, referred to as the “Treasure Valley” due to its agriculturally based wealth made possible by irrigation and mild climate. Boise is the economic and political hub of this region being the capital of the state, the largest city in the state and the primary source of non agriculturally based jobs for the region. Nampa is part of the Boise Metro area that now has the greatest concentration of people between Salt Lake City Utah and Portland Oregon at about 588,000. Nampa is located about 19 miles west of Boise and though having its own economic and industrial base, primarily in agriculture, has become a major satellite or bedroom community location for the Boise market. This change came primarily through the introduction of clean industries, such as Hewlett Packard and Micron Technologies, in the last 20 years. Boise and the surrounding area’s have also become a hub for transportation and storage, higher education, communication call centers, medical services and most other major demographic factors that allow clean and sustained growth.

Nampa is located in Canyon County. It is the largest city in the county and the second largest in the state at about 80,000 in population as of 2008. Nampa’s adjacent neighbor, Caldwell, the county seat of the county, is the second largest city in the County at about 40,000. These two cities are referred to as the “twin cities”, as they are adjacent to one another. The City governments are separate, but there is good cooperation between the twin communities in every aspect of physical and political infrastructure.

Nampa is home to what is now called Northwest Nazarene University that had its earlier roots with some of the founding fathers of the community. Because of the religious views of many of Nampa’s founding fathers and their attempt to keep out “drinking parlors” and other similar types of activities within the community it was referred to as the “New Jerusalem” for some time by both sides of these issues. Nampa has had some very colorful citizens right from the beginning. A good example would be the once mayor of Nampa, Colonel William H. Dewey. Colonel Dewey made a fortune mining silver in Silver City Idaho to the east and seeing the advantage of four railroad lines intersecting in this location, built the elegant Dewey Palace Hotel in 1902 in downtown Nampa. This was called the best Hotel in the intermountain west for some time. Eventually it became dated and without renovation and investors, it became unusable. In 1963, it was razed to make way for a bank and a tire store. It was a terrible historic loss with only a few relics being saved from the structure for posterity to view along with some photographs. Nampa has a diverse history and rich heritage that has always played large in Southwest Idaho’s story.

Nampa’s population has almost tripled since 1990 when there were only 28,365 people in Nampa. The quality of its people, its natural resources and cheap available hydroelectric power from several dams in the region has made this, and continues to make this area, attractive to clean industry and to families wanting clean air and water in a low crime environment suited for healthy family lifestyles.

Nampa is currently revitalizing the old down town area, which is a common theme among southern Idaho communities, as the community transitions into the realities of the 21st century. The grand train station has been converted into a museum and the old commercial district has been targeted in ways to attract small businesses and pedestrian traffic with many fine restaurants and professional office space. The main shopping areas have been moved to malls and shopping centers near the freeway on the edges of town. Nampa is also home to the Idaho Center and Snake River Stampede fair grounds that can host events from rodeo to professional sports teams and everything in between. Nampa has been one of the most progressive communities in Idaho in long-range planning and infrastructure development for future generations.

Whatever your reasons for coming to Nampa, it can be considered a good choice and one of the positive puzzle pieces that make up the “Treasure Valley” whose real treasure has always been its people. This site is your one source for finding homes for sale in Nampa Idaho.

Still unsure about where you want to move? Keep reading about Nampa Idaho or check out other city pages to find the area of the Treasure Valley that best fits your needs. This site also has up to date information from the Boise MLS on available homes in the area so you can find the perfect home.

Climate

Nampa is part of a river valley that runs across southern Idaho at a relatively low elevation. This is a high desert area of low precipitation in the valleys and high rates of sunshine. Most snow fall occurs in the surrounding mountain ranges from November to February which fills the rivers, creeks and streams that run to the valley in the spring time as it melts. The valley does get some snow but on average it is light and infrequent.
Nampa’s climate is warm during summer when day time temperatures tend to be in the 80’s and 90’s and cold during winter when temperatures tend to be in the 30's. The cold months are November through February and the warmest months July and August. Temperature shifts from day to night can be extreme primarily during the hottest summer days that cool off after sunset. This is a full four season location with a comparatively mild climate proven ideal for farming, recreation and just living. The annual average precipitation at Caldwell is 15.2 inches. Rainfall is distributed evenly throughout the year but on average is wetter during the spring and fall seasons. May is usually the wettest month on average at 1.67 inches.

Local Media

There over twenty AM and FM radio stations located in the Boise Valley that reaches Melba that includes multiple NPR stations.
This area has full access to traditional, cable, dish and online TV stations with Boise being regional communication hub for most TV and radio outlets. Fiber optic lines are being extended to residential areas to provide the highest speed data transfers available.

Airports

The largest airport, the Boise Regional airport, is about 25 miles east and is the regional hub for air travel. There is a smaller airport, for small charter and private planes, located in Nampa on the east of town.

• Boise: Boise Airport – Website »
• Nampa Airport: - Website »