Idahoans Were Paying HOW MUCH for Rent Back in 1940??!

It's always fun to look back at history to see how much things have changed. Boise has gone through so much change especially in its recent history. Perhaps one of the most dramatic changes in Boise's recent history has been the price of rent and mortgage payments. We don't have to go back too far in history to remember the days when you could rent a downtown apartment for under $1,000. Long gone are those days even though they were only a decade ago!

Since the mid-20th century, The US Census Bureau has been tracking median monthly gross rent in each state including Idaho. Gross rent combines rent, fuels used in the home, and utilities. Median monthly gross rents are determined by looking at the middle of a data set. Going back to when this data was first documented, takes us back to the 1940s. If we could travel back in time with the same amount of hange we have in our pockets now, we'd be living like royalty, to say the least. Of course, inflation is a thing though which is also reflected in the data.

The median rent in Idaho in the year 1940 was $21. Yes, TWENTY-ONE DOLLARS! That's a week of me going to Starbucks right there! When we adjust that number for inflation, it still seems like a dream rental rate which is $389.74.

In 1980, the median gross rent in the Gem State was $432. Twenty years after that in 2000, the median gross rent was $515. That was just 20 years ago. It's crazy to imagine what rent might look like twenty years from today!