The local economy of Idaho and its counties, metro areas and cities, from official US government data.
Unemployment rate
3.6%
August 2026, 3.6% a year ago
Average weekly pay
$1,254
Q1 2026, 867,879 jobs
New homes permitted
18,471
Last 12 months to August 2026
Net people moving in
+12,734
2022 to 2023
Newest data: -. Not seasonally adjusted: compare with the same month a year earlier. Click a row for its history.
The newest unemployment rate, pay, new home permits, moves and gas price for Idaho, updated as new official numbers come out.
Unemployment for Idaho is seasonally adjusted; for its counties, metro areas and cities it is not, so compare a month with the same month a year earlier. Pay covers all jobs that pay into unemployment insurance. Building permits count homes approved to be built, not homes sold. Moves count households by where they filed their tax returns in two years in a row.
The unemployment rate in Idaho was 3.6% in August 2026 (seasonally adjusted, preliminary), compared with 3.6% a year earlier. 962,214 people were employed out of a labor force of 998,378. Among its counties, Teton County had the lowest rate (1.9%) and Clearwater County the highest (5.6%, not seasonally adjusted).
Average weekly pay in Idaho was $1,254 in Q1 2026, up 6.2% from a year earlier, across 867,879 jobs at 100,763 business locations.
Building permits were issued for 1,887 new homes in Idaho in August 2026 (1,301 single-family and 507 in buildings with 5 or more units). From January to August the total was 13,094, up 6.5% from the same months last year, and 18,471 in the last 12 months. The most homes were permitted in Ada County (5,791), Canyon County (3,651), Kootenai County (2,030) over the last 12 months.
Yes. From 2022 to 2023, 66,881 people moved to Idaho and 54,147 moved away, a net gain of 12,734 (+8.1 per 1,000 residents). Most newcomers came from California, Washington, Oregon, and most people who left went to Washington, Utah, California.
The weekly survey does not publish a separate price for Idaho. In its region, Rocky Mountain, regular gasoline averaged $4.49 per gallon in the week of September 28, 2026.