Mackay, Idaho.
Typical home $324,507 (+4.0% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$966 (+131%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $12,448 +4%
- $312,059$324,507 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $17,991 +6%
- $306,515$324,507 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.
- Mackay$1,703
- Idaho$2,502
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 61 years.
Typical home values in Mackay, ID rose 4.0% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Mackay, Custer County, Idaho
Mackay is a city of 439 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Mackay is a very small city, home to far fewer people than most towns in the country, and its residents are considerably older than the national average. Winters are cold, with December the coldest month, and summers are warm in July without turning extreme. Precipitation is light overall, with rain and melted snow adding up to a dry year by most standards.
Work. Work here leans on public employers. Across Custer County, the Forest Service and the school districts, including Mackay Joint District, are among the biggest places to work. Unemployment in the county has stayed low and slipped a little over the past year, and the county has added jobs. Few people in town work from home.
Things to do. Mackay Reservoir is a short drive away and suits time on the water. Merriam Lake is a longer drive away, and Blizzard Mountain Ski Area, also a longer drive, is the nearest place for skiing in the cold months.
Report a mistake
- 5%work from home
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 29° and lows near 10°; warmest in July, with highs near 83° and lows near 50°. About 10 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Mackay Lost River Rs weather station, under 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 Mackay’s 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.
Mackay home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Mackay$324,507
- 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.
- Mackay15
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Mackay address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Mackay — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.