Downey, Idaho.
Typical home $328,305 (+3.9% in a year). Pocatello, ID metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,033 (+150%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $12,456 +4%
- $315,849$328,305 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $55,271 +20%
- $273,035$328,305 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.
- Downey$1,723
- Idaho$2,502
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 19 years.
Typical home values in Downey, ID rose 3.9% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Downey, Bannock County, Idaho
Downey is a city of 571 people in Bannock County. 85% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 15% are rented. Unemployment in Bannock County was 4.1% in August 2026, and the county had 1.8% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Bannock County work in schools and health care, then shops.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Downey is a very small city, and most of the homes here are lived in by their owners, a far higher share than is usual across the country. Typical home values sit well above what the county's household incomes might suggest, and a good number of residents live below the poverty line. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month, and summers turn properly hot in July. Precipitation is on the light side, falling as rain and melted snow through the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, then restaurants, hotels and entertainment, with banks, insurance and property close behind. Across Bannock County, the biggest employers include Idaho State University, Portneuf Medical Center and the Pocatello school district. Fewer adults here hold a four-year degree than in many places, and only a small number work from home. Unemployment across the county is about where it was a year ago, and the county has added a few more jobs.
Things to do. Marsh Creek, a river just a short drive away, is the nearest place to get outdoors. Farther afield, Pebble Creek is a ski area, and the Oxford Slough Waterfowl Production Area is a protected area for birdwatchers, both a longer drive away. The Bear River Massacre Site, an archaeological site also a longer drive away, marks an important and sobering chapter of the region's history.
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- 302households
- 23%of adults have a degree
- 16%below the poverty line
- 7%work from home
What people in Bannock County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Bannock County had 38,273 jobs in 2025, 1.8% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 32° and lows near 14°; warmest in July, with highs near 89° and lows near 51°. About 16 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Downey weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Bannock County
- Idaho State UniversityUniversity or college1,983
- Portneuf Medical Center1,554
- Pocatello DistrictSchool district1,143FTE
- Portneuf Medical CenterGeneral hospital1,089FTE
- Virgina Transformers821
- Amy's KitchenChop suey, frozen, manufacturing798
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters402
- LA SemiconductorSemiconductor devices manufacturing358
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 61 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 7,744 people in all across the county; Downey has none of its own. Colleges come from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24), school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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
- Winter weatherVery high
- WildfireVery high
- LightningVery high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- EarthquakesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Downey’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively 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 Bannock County and the Pocatello, ID metro.
Downey home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Downey$328,305
- 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.
- Downey17
Zip codes with a Downey address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Downey — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.