Challis, Idaho.
Typical home $337,353 (+10.6% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,132 (+177%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $32,325 +11%
- $305,028$337,353 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $83,480 +33%
- $253,874$337,353 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Challis$1,771
- Idaho$2,502
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Challis, ID rose 10.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Challis, Custer County, Idaho
Challis is a city of 902 people in Custer County. Unemployment in Custer County was 3.3% in August 2026, and the county had 4.0% more jobs in 2025 than the year before.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Challis is a small city in Custer County, Idaho, and it is the kind of place where people tend to know one another. Winters are cold, with the deepest chill in December, and summers turn properly warm by July. The year is dry overall, with little rain and melted snow compared with much of the country.
Work. Work in the area leans on public employers. Across Custer County, the largest workplaces include the Forest Service and the Challis Joint District, the local school district. Unemployment in the county is a little lower than it was a year ago, and the county had more jobs last year than the year before.
Things to do. Land of the Yankee Fork State Park is a protected area in or beside town, and it is the nearest of the outdoor places to know. A longer drive away are the Pahsimeroi River and the East Fork Salmon River, both rivers worth a day trip. Sullivan Lake is also a longer drive, for anyone who wants time beside a lake.
Report a mistake
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 29° and lows near 11°; warmest in July, with highs near 87° and lows near 52°. About 7 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Challis Airport weather station, a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Custer County
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture60
- Challis Joint DistrictSchool district52FTE
- Mackay Joint DistrictSchool district26FTE
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture24
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture23
Federal offices come from OPM's federal workforce data (2026) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- LandslidesVery high
- Inland floodingVery high
- LightningVery high
- Winter weatherVery high
- WildfireRelatively high
- AvalanchesRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Challis’ census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Custer County.
Challis home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Challis$337,353
- Idaho$476,754
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Challis10
Zip codes with a Challis address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Challis — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.