City · Kootenai County, Idaho

Post Falls, Idaho

Post Falls is a city in Kootenai County, Idaho, part of the Coeur d'Alene, ID metro area. It has 43,391 residents. Post Falls, Idaho has a quality-of-life score of 67 out of 100 (high), ranking #5,146 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Idaho it ranks #39 of 101 cities and towns. It ranks best on loneliness (low), preventable hospital stays (low) and new homes permitted (high). It ranks worst on drought exposure (high), fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (high) and suicide rate (high).

67High

Quality-of-life score: #5,146 of 15,651 cities and towns
Idaho: #39 of 101 in ID
Population: 43,391 (2020-2024)
Land area: 19 mi²
Density: 2,264.8 /mi²
FIPS code: 1664810

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety68#4,979/15,637
Economy77#3,667/15,631
Housing60#6,023/14,977
Health54#7,256/15,609
Healthcare36#10,035/15,650
Environment29#10,894/15,453
Education65#5,430/15,649
Infrastructure62#6,025/15,650
Community72#4,388/15,651
Leisure & amenities82#2,853/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Post Falls, Idaho ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Kootenai County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Loneliness · low30.9%
98/100Idaho 29.7%United States 33.2%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Preventable hospital stays · low1,450 /100k
97/100Idaho 1,575 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKootenai County value
New homes permitted · high21.0 /1k
96/100Idaho 9.2 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
New business applications · high23.1 /1k
94/100Idaho 16.4 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauKootenai County value
Median Air Quality Index · low31
92/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyKootenai County value
Arts, entertainment and recreation · high7.7 /10k
92/100Idaho 7.2 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsKootenai County value

Weaknesses

Drought exposure · high99%
2/100Idaho 73%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAKootenai County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · high10.0 µg/m³
3/100Idaho 8.2 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyKootenai County value
Suicide rate · high24.9 /100k
9/100Idaho 20.4 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataKootenai County value
Mental health care shortage · high18.0
11/100Idaho 16.9United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationKootenai County value
Home price to income ratio · high5.8×
12/100Idaho 5.4×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Students per teacher · high17.9×
15/100Idaho 17.8×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsKootenai County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
33,225 (2015-2019) → 43,391 (2020-2024)
+31%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateImproving
22.7% (2015-2019) → 12.0% (2020-2024)
−11 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Median household incomeImproving
$54,021 (2015-2019) → $82,183 (2020-2024)
+52%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Home price to income ratioWorsening
4.0× (2015-2019) → 5.8× (2020-2024)
+44%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
84.4% (2015-2019) → 91.7% (2020-2024)
+7.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
19.8% (2015-2019) → 25.3% (2020-2024)
+5.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Post Falls, Idaho improved on 4 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 8 moved within the margin of error and 1 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved4

Household income+52%$54,021 → $82,183
Child poverty−11 points22.7% → 12.0%
Bachelor's++5.6 points19.8% → 25.3%
Broadband+7.3 points84.4% → 91.7%

Declined1

Price / income+1.8×4.0× → 5.8×

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Post Falls, Idaho between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	21.2 min2015-2019	24.1 min2020-2024	+2.9 min	Within the margin of error	20%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.8%2015-2019	25.3%2020-2024	+5.6 points	Improved	72%
Broadband subscriptions	84.4%2015-2019	91.7%2020-2024	+7.3 points	Improved	45%
Child poverty rate	22.7%2015-2019	12.0%2020-2024	−11 points	Improved	83%
Effective property tax rate	0.77%2015-2019	0.47%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Little change	74%
High school diploma or higher	92.3%2015-2019	93.7%2020-2024	+1.4 points	Within the margin of error	52%
Home price to income ratio	4.0×2015-2019	5.8×2020-2024	+1.8×	Declined	6%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3812015-2019	0.3922020-2024	+0.010	Within the margin of error	41%
Median household income	$54,0212015-2019	$82,1832020-2024	+52%	Improved	86%
Poverty rate	14.7%2015-2019	11.1%2020-2024	−3.7 points	Within the margin of error	73%
Rent as share of income	31.2%2015-2019	30.5%2020-2024	−0.7 points	Within the margin of error	61%
Rent-burdened households	51.5%2015-2019	51.1%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	58%
Unemployment rate	2.9%2015-2019	3.3%2020-2024	+0.4 points	Within the margin of error	40%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	11.2%2015-2019	11.1%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	49%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Post Falls, Idaho five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Post Falls, Idaho in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Post Falls, Idaho itself moved +1.8 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

43,391 residents (±35)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

16,009 households (±589)

Post Falls, Idaho
Idaho share

Under $25k13%2,090
$25k–50k14%2,313
$50k–75k19%2,990

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

16,009 households (±589)

Post Falls, Idaho
Idaho share

Own64%10,261
Rent36%5,748

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (−8.3 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

20,178 workers (±1,038)

Post Falls, Idaho
Idaho share

Drive alone75%15,211
Carpool9.0%†1,815
Public transit1.0%†195

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Coeur d'Alene, ID

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Kootenai County, the county holding most of Post Falls's residents.

Kootenai County has 6,221 employer establishments, 336 for every 10,000 residents (1.35× the US rate of 248; 1.14× Idaho's), with 64,571 paid employees at an average annual pay of $53,411. The Census Bureau also counts 17,594 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 6,221; 17,594 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 336; US 248 · Idaho 295
Paid employees: 64,571
Average annual pay: $53,411; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Kootenai County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	779	42.1	2.72×More than typical	5,452	$62,765	1,541
Ambulatory health care services	511	27.6	1.32×More than typical	5,934	$70,907	789
Lessors of real estate	457	24.7	2.00×More than typical	1,008	$51,041	2,385
Restaurants and other eating places	375	20.2	1.10×About typical	6,602	$23,439	46
Construction of buildings	341	18.4	2.43×More than typical	1,510	$63,703	762
Real estate agents and brokers	247	13.3	2.74×More than typical	315	$62,994	777
Services to buildings and dwellings	220	11.9	1.76×More than typical	1,492	$44,394	911
Offices of other health practitioners	214	11.6	1.90×More than typical	982	$47,062	484
Building equipment contractors	213	11.5	1.91×More than typical	2,017	$65,618	207
Building finishing contractors	199	10.7	2.83×More than typical	1,168	$58,391	465
Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors	193	10.4	3.31×More than typical	961	$55,809	228
Other specialty trade contractors	174	9.4	3.74×More than typical	1,306	$67,391	641

Rank places for an industry Open Kootenai County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 185,218 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $657.9K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Post Falls, Idaho: $15.16 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $657.9K; −64% vs FY2025
Per resident: $15.16; US $1,994
Sole-source: 7.5%; US 30%
Single offer: 20%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Federal Aviation Administration$280.5K43%
Defense Logistics Agency$189.5K29%
Department of the Air Force$120.5K18%
Department of Veterans Affairs$35.2K5.4%
National Aeronautics and Space Administration$20.7K3.2%
Bureau of Land Management$6,7511.0%
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources$4,6940.7%

Top recipients

RAYCAP, INC$280.5K43%
SYSCO SPOKANE INC$168K26%
ADVANCED THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITES LLC$136.3K21%
K.P.O.S., INC.$31.7K4.8%
U.S. TACTICAL SUPPLY, INC.$23.8K3.6%

Spending by fiscal year

377.5KFY2017
316.9KFY2018
246.6KFY2019
412.9KFY2020
260.3KFY2021
393.4KFY2022
497.2KFY2023
619.1K

Top industries (NAICS)

Other electrical equipment and component manufacturing · 3359$280.5K43%
Other food manufacturing · 3119$168K26%
Scientific research and development services · 5417$115.6K18%
Medical equipment and supplies manufacturing · 3391$35.2K5.4%
Plastics product manufacturing · 3261$14K2.1%
Other fabricated metal product manufacturing · 3329$11.9K

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Post Falls, Idaho, so they do not add up across cities.

Post Falls, Idaho's figures are part of those of Kootenai County, ID ($29.1M in FY2026), never added to them: 2.3% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Post Falls is mostly in Kootenai County.

See federal money in Kootenai County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Post Falls, Idaho is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Russ FulcherR-ID-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 1.6%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Kootenai County79100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Coeur d'Alene, ID76

Other cities and towns in Kootenai County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/1664810

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends