Ah, Idaho—The Gem State! This place is an outdoorsman’s dream come true! It’s beautiful! It’s home to hot springs! It’s… it’s… well, aside from that, some of it’s kind of boring.
Don’t get us wrong, Idaho is dotted with several
exciting places, but as with all things in life, the opposite is also true—some of its places are just plain dull.
But hey! At the
Movoto Real Estate blog, we’re not just here to call you out; well, not unless you really deserve it (cough cough, Ammon). So let’s all point our fingers at these 10 dull Idaho cities for being so boring.
1.
City of Ammon
2. City of Post Falls
3.
City of Caldwell
4.
City of Burley (tie)
4.
City of Twin Falls (tie)
6.
City of Blackfoot
7. City of Chubbuck
8.
City of Kuna
9.
City of Rexburg (tie)
9.
City of Nampa (tie)
We should probably say that just because irrefutable facts, figures, and careful analysis found these places to be the most boring, that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with them! Matter of fact, if you’re hankering for the quiet life… and a sheer lack of things to do, they might just be perfect for ya.
Before we take a closer look at these places, though, we’ll explain the said facts, figures, and careful analysis that went into this list.
How We Created This Ranking
Here at Movoto, we create
Big Deal Lists, which as you’ve probably surmised, are kind of a big deal—even if they deal with more boring subjects, like boring places.
For this BDL, we started out at one of the least exciting places on the Internet, the U.S. Census. There, we used the
2010 U.S. Census to gather up all of the places in Idaho with populations of 10,000 people or more.
Then, we used the Census and various business listings to research each of these 22 places in each of the following categories:
- Nightlife per capita (bars, clubs, comedy, etc.)
- Live music venues per capita
- Active life options per capita (parks, outdoor activities, etc.)
- Arts and Entertainment per capita (movie theaters, festivals, galleries, theaters, etc.)
- Fast Food restaurants per capita (the more the more boring)
- Percentage of restaurants that are not fast food (the lower the more boring)
- Percentage of young residents ages 18 to 34 (the lower the more boring)
- Population density (the lower the better)
We then gave each a score from 1 to 22 in each of the above categories, where the lower scores were the more boring places.
Next, we averaged these rankings into one overall Big Deal Score, where the lowest score went to our winner and most boring place. Yay Ammon!
So now you know the method behind this madness. Let’s take a look at the top 10 most boring places in Idaho. Try to stay awake.
1. Ammon
Let’s start with the good news, shall we? Ammon has tons of parks, playgrounds, nearby camping, and natural beauty out the wazoo.
But when it comes to nightlife, arts, restaurants, or, pretty much anything that doesn’t involve being outside, Ammon is less than lacking. Per capita, it has the fewest restaurants, the third fewest nightlife venues, and despite all of the surrounding nature, the third fewest active life options.
Plus, it has the fifth fewest young folks, with just 22.35 percent of residents between the ages of 18 and 34.
2. Post Falls
Post Falls—land of live music, fine dining, and tons of young people… Oh wait, sorry. That’s Boise. Post Falls, on the other hand, has… well, a lot of fast food.
Other than that, Post Falls has a serious lack of music venues per person (as in, practically none), it has the seventh fewest young people, and it has the eighth fewest restaurants per capita (as in, non-fast food. Like actual restaurants.)
But hey, at least there’s Famous Willies Barbecue.
3. Caldwell
Okay, here’s the good news: Caldwell has one of the higher percentages of young people in the state, with nearly 28 percent of residents between the ages of 18 and 34. The bad news is these young people are probably bored to tears.
What with the lack of restaurants, nightlife, arts, and even active life options, what exactly is there to do in Caldwell? I mean, how many times a week can you really go to the Hamburger Connection? (Answer: 27.)
4. Burley
Sure, Burley (as well as our next city) might be located in Magic Valley, but there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of magic going on here. Well, unless you consider Micky D’s to be magical since Burley has the second most fast food joints per capita.
But wait, there’s more! Burley also has the seventh fewest active life options per capita (because who needs to work off all that fast food?) and is the fifth least densely-populated place in the state (because, really, who needs to meet their neighbors?)
4. Twin Falls
Okay, remember how we said Burley had a ton of fast food restaurants per capita? Well, that was before we got to Twin Falls. This place is like the Mecca of greasy fries and no waiting, with the most fast food joints per capita in the state.
To make matters worse, it also has the third fewest non-fast food (non-boring) restaurants per capita, you know, in case you ever got tired of picking up dinner through a window.
On the plus side, though, Twin Falls has more young people than most of the other places we looked at, with 27.22 percent of residents between 18 and 34. And nowhere to eat. What a shame.
6. Blackfoot
Who needs live music, restaurants, art, or an active lifestyle when you’ve got booze?! Not the residents in Blackfoot!
In fact, maybe it’s because of the lack of all these other things that there are so many nightlife venues per capita—the most in the state, as a matter of fact. So thanks, businesses like the Hitching Post and Tumbleweed Saloon. Thanks for helping the residents of Blackfoot to forget that there is nothing else to do here.
7. Chubbuck
Chubbuck may be just north of Pocatello, but when it comes to things to do, these communities are worlds apart (seriously, just look at the table below).
Where Pocatello has more nightlife, more music venues, and more young people than nearly anywhere else in the state, Chubbuck has… well, the fewest nightlife, arts, active life options, and music venues out of anywhere else in the state.
So… why don’t you guys want to consolidate with Pocatello, again?
8. Kuna
All right, Kuna, we’ll give you this: you guys have a ton of restaurants per capita—the second most in the state, matter of fact. But when it comes to live music, active life, and arts listings, you guys have the first (tied), fourth, and second fewest per person in the state, respectively.
And if you were thinking, “Oh, that’s okay, I can just wander around until I stumble upon something fun going on!” Well, think again. This city may have over 15,000 residents, but they’re more spread out than in 20 other places in our analysis.
9. Rexburg
This city is known as “America’s Family Community,” and it is precisely that. It’s a wonderful place to raise children, to learn (it’s home to BYU-Idaho), to go to church…
But it’s just not the best place to, say, go out at night or have the most active lifestyle. That’s because Rexburg had the second fewest nightlife, sixth fewest active life, and tied for the fewest live music listings per capita.
But hey, at least like 65 percent of residents are between 18 and 34. You guys can just have fun… studying.
9. Nampa
This city may be home to the Idaho Center Arena (which is, admittedly, quite awesome), but unfortunately, that wasn’t quite enough to get it off this list.
The reasons it ranked among our top 10 were its fourth fewest arts, fifth fewest nightlife, and seventh fewest restaurant listings per capita.
And as awesome as Brick 29 may be, it does not a restaurant scene make.
...Though the German chocolate cake might count for something.
Just A Little Polish
Idaho ain’t called the Gem State for nothing. It’s filled with more natural beauty than most states would know what to do with, it’s packed with natural resources, and yes, some of its cities are quite
exciting.
So perhaps these 10 boring places just need a little polishing up—a few more restaurants and activities and they’d simply sparkle. Or, they’d just become congested and loud. Either way, whether you want to find a home in or away from these quiet places, we’ll
help ya out.
