Is it cheaper to rent or buy in Boise? Treasure Valley bucks national trend
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- ATTOM finds buying costs exceed renting in Boise metro, bucking national pattern.
- Median ownership costs consume roughly 46% of wages in Ada and 48% in Canyon County.
- Home prices rise faster than rents, but wages rise faster than both.
It’s cheaper to buy a home than to rent one in most American markets — but not in the Boise metro, a new report has found.
That doesn’t mean Ada and Canyon counties are affordable for renters earning an average paycheck, according to ATTOM, a national real estate data and analytics firm.
ATTOM compared the monthly cost of a median three-bedroom rental in 2025 with the price of median single-family home, assuming a mortgage, taxes, and insurance with a 20% down payment. In 57.7% of counties with more than 100,000 people, it was less expensive to own a home than to rent one — if you can manage the up-front costs.
Both Ada and Canyon counties in the Boise Metropolitan Statistical Area “diverged from national patterns” highlighted in the ATTOM’s 2026 Rental Affordability Report, ATTOM CEO Rob Barber told the Idaho Statesman in an email.
The median three-bedroom rental cost 38.5% of the typical take-home wage in Ada County ($1,309 per week, according to federal statistics) and 44.5% in Canyon County ($1,022 per week). Home ownership costs ate up 46.3% in Ada County and 48% in Canyon County. Plus, you’d need to cover a 20% down payment: roughly $100,000 in Ada County and $80,000 in Canyon.
The trend is unlikely to flip anytime soon, as home prices are rising faster than rents, Barber said.
It’s worth noting that neither option is affordable for an average single-earner household. Federal standards consider anyone spending more than 30% of their gross income on housing (including utilities) “cost-burdened.” Nearly all Western markets ATTOM studied blew past that threshold. Homeownership costs commanded more than a third of a typical resident’s wages in more than 96% of large Western counties. Rental costs took a third or more in 95%.
So, while buying was more affordable in much of the country, Boise matches up with most Western counties. Here, it was cheaper to buy than rent in just 16.9% of markets.
“Renters looking to put down roots, young families who need more space, professionals relocating for work, and many others are facing a very tough choice,” Barber said in a statement accompanying the report. “The data shows that buying is typically the most affordable long-term option, but as the housing market sets new record-high prices quarter after quarter, affording the initial investment becomes increasingly challenging.”
Report: Climbing wages, sliding rents ease housing burden
ATTOM based its wages on the most recent available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Locally, those figures rose from 2024 to 2025 faster than housing costs, whether you rent or buy, Barber said.
Still, while Ada County made the top half of the table in weekly wages, Canyon County sat near the bottom. The median weekly paycheck in Canyon County ranked 327 of the 364 large counties ATTOM studied, putting it in near the bottom 10% in wages nationally.
For renters, there’s some hope. Rents in Boise fell 2.3% in December, the largest drop across America’s 100 largest cities. The dip capped another year in decline, with prices falling in three of the past four years, according to data by Apartment List, an online rental clearinghouse.
“Consistent with national trends,“ Barber said, “Boise mirrored the broader pattern of home prices rising faster than rents and wages outpacing both housing costs.”