City · Bingham County, Idaho

Shelley, Idaho

Shelley is a city in Bingham County, Idaho, part of the Blackfoot, ID metro area. It has 5,092 residents. Shelley, Idaho has a quality-of-life score of 41 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #9,167 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Idaho it ranks #71 of 101 cities and towns. It ranks best on loneliness (low), child care cost burden (low) and preventable hospital stays (low). It ranks worst on social associations (low), drought exposure (high) and distance to an Amtrak station (high).

41Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #9,167 of 15,651 cities and towns
Idaho: #71 of 101 in ID
Population: 5,092 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 2,227.9 /mi²
FIPS code: 1673450

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 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.

Safety52#7,513/15,637
Economy44#8,695/15,631
Housing78#3,352/14,977
Health40#9,317/15,609
Healthcare7#14,541/15,650
Environment68#4,913/15,453
Education38#9,726/15,649
Infrastructure68#4,935/15,650
Community33#10,494/15,651
Leisure & amenities18#12,834/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Shelley, Idaho ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Bingham 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 · low30.7%
98/100Idaho 29.7%United States 33.2%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Child care cost burden · low18.2%
98/100Idaho 20.9%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBingham County value
Preventable hospital stays · low1,612 /100k
95/100Idaho 1,575 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBingham County value
New homes permitted · high14.3 /1k
93/100Idaho 9.2 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Property crime rate · low450 /100k
92/100Idaho 605 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationBingham County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · low5.8 µg/m³
91/100Idaho 8.2 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyBingham County value

Weaknesses

Social associations · low1.0 /10k
1/100Idaho 7.2 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBingham County value
Drought exposure · high99%
2/100Idaho 73%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAABingham County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high172 mi
3/100Idaho 155 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauBingham County value
Restaurants and bars · low4.7 /10k
7/100Idaho 9.1 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsBingham County value
Flu vaccinations · low30.0%
8/100Idaho 36.0%United States 44.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBingham County value
Average weekly wage · low$936
9/100Idaho $1,200United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsBingham County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
4,372 (2015-2019) → 5,092 (2020-2024)
+16%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
New homes permittedImproving
4.4 /1k (2021) → 14.3 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+227%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Median household incomeImproving
$52,500 (2015-2019) → $77,563 (2020-2024)
+48%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Child poverty rateWorsening
8.6% (2015-2019) → 16.2% (2020-2024)
+7.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
38.8% (2015-2019) → 45.3% (2020-2024)
+6.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.0× (2015-2019) → 3.8× (2020-2024)
+29%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×

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, Shelley, Idaho improved on 1 of 11 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 10 moved within the margin of error and 0 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.

Improved1

Household income+48%$52,500 → $77,563

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 11 measures

Change of every measure of Shelley, Idaho between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	22.7 min2015-2019	20.4 min2020-2024	−2.4 min	Within the margin of error	74%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.4%2015-2019	21.5%2020-2024	+2.2 points	Within the margin of error	44%
Broadband subscriptions	92.4%2015-2019	92.3%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	8%
Effective property tax rate	0.80%2015-2019	0.56%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	65%
High school diploma or higher	91.8%2015-2019	89.8%2020-2024	−2 points	Within the margin of error	15%
Home price to income ratio	3.0×2015-2019	3.8×2020-2024	+0.8×	Within the margin of error	29%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4142015-2019	0.4102020-2024	−0.005	Within the margin of error	55%
Median household income	$52,5002015-2019	$77,5632020-2024	+48%	Improved	83%
Rent as share of income	28.2%2015-2019	28.1%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	56%
Rent-burdened households	38.8%2015-2019	45.3%2020-2024	+6.5 points	Within the margin of error	33%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	16.1%2015-2019	14.0%2020-2024	−2.1 points	Within the margin of error	70%

“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 Shelley, Idaho five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Shelley, 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, Shelley, Idaho itself moved −2.7 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

5,092 residents (±22)

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

1,668 households (±145)

Shelley, Idaho
Idaho share

Under $25k12%†195
$25k–50k21%†343
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

1,668 households (±145)

Shelley, Idaho
Idaho share

Own75%1,246
Rent25%†422

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

2,252 workers (±242)

Shelley, Idaho
Idaho share

Drive alone79%1,784
Carpool6.5%†146
Public transit1.5%†33

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 Blackfoot, 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 Bingham County, the county holding most of Shelley's residents.

Bingham County has 1,020 employer establishments, 202 for every 10,000 residents (0.82× the US rate of 248; 0.69× Idaho's), with 11,325 paid employees at an average annual pay of $48,009. The Census Bureau also counts 3,745 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,020; 3,745 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 202; US 248 · Idaho 295
Paid employees: 11,325
Average annual pay: $48,009; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	142	28.2	1.82×More than typical	735	$62,290	308
Ambulatory health care services	90	17.9	0.86×About typical	584	$45,274	159
Truck transportation	64	12.7	2.51×More than typical	285	$64,993	117
Construction of buildings	54	10.7	1.42×More than typical	182	$41,571	136
Restaurants and other eating places	47	9.3	0.51×Fewer than typical	842	$14,884	13
Building equipment contractors	45	8.9	1.48×More than typical	349	$72,347	46
Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors	37	7.3	2.33×More than typical	197	$54,614	53
Automotive repair and maintenance	35	6.9	1.38×More than typical	171	$41,702	81
Building finishing contractors	33	6.5	1.72×More than typical	106	$38,594	99
Lessors of real estate	33	6.5	0.53×Fewer than typical	53	$31,906	363
Offices of other health practitioners	33	6.5	1.08×About typical	187	$32,722	68
Other specialty trade contractors	27	5.4	2.13×More than typical	83	$68,482	110

Rank places for an industry Open Bingham County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 50,386 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 $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Shelley, Idaho: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; 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

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

-46.3FY2017
118.1FY2018
947.8FY2020
103.5FY2021
14.6KFY2022
3.4KFY2023
2.2KFY2024
-69.9FY2025

What was bought

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 Shelley, Idaho, so they do not add up across cities.

Shelley, Idaho's figures are part of those of Bingham County, ID ($30.7M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

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

See federal money in Bingham 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.

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

House

Michael K. SimpsonR-ID-2 · 100% of residentsWith party 95%Missed 2.1%

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.

Bingham County50100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Blackfoot, ID48

Other cities and towns in Bingham 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/1673450

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends