Priest River, Idaho.
Typical home $558,662 (+3.7% in a year). Sandpoint, ID metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,811 (+162%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $19,890 +4%
- $538,772$558,662 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $77,357 +16%
- $481,304$558,662 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.
- Priest River$2,932
- Idaho$2,502
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 23 years.
Typical home values in Priest River, ID rose 3.7% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Priest River, Bonner County, Idaho
Priest River is a city of 1,696 people in Bonner County. Half its households earn more than $58,782 a year and half less, against $66,979 across Bonner County; 5% of its people live below the poverty line. 74% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 26% are rented. Unemployment in Bonner County was 4.3% in August 2026, and the county had 1.3% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then construction.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Priest River is a small city in Bonner County, Idaho, with an older population than the typical American town. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and incomes run below the county's, though fewer households fall below the poverty line than you might expect. Winters are cold, with December the coldest month and a good deal of snow, and summers are warm and mild enough for the long days outdoors.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, the building trades, shops and manufacturing. Among the largest workplaces in town are the West Bonner County District, Stimson Lumber Company's Priest River Operations and Aerocet. Few adults hold a four-year degree, and the typical commute is a fairly long one, with some people working from home.
Things to do. The Priest River runs in or beside town, so water is close at hand. A longer drive brings you to Priest Lake and Lake Pend Oreille, both lakes well known in the area. Schweitzer Mountain, a ski area, is also a longer drive away and suits the snowy winters.
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- 722households
- 12%of adults have a degree
- 5%below the poverty line
- 28 mintypical commute
- 10%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Bonner County had 16,176 jobs in 2025, 1.3% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 32° and lows near 23°; warmest in July, with highs near 84° and lows near 50°. About 27 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Newport weather station, 6 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Priest River
- West Bonner County DistrictSchool district122FTE
- Stimson Lumber Company, Priest River OperationsSawmills95
- AerocetAircraft assemblies, subassemblies, and parts manufacturing38
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 2 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 133 people in all. School districts come 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
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- AvalanchesRelatively moderate
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Priest River’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 Bonner County and the Sandpoint, ID metro.
Priest River home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Priest River$558,662
- Idaho$476,754
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Priest River listings — the market is heating up.
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
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Priest River21.94%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Priest River76
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Priest River16
Zip codes with a Priest River address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Priest River — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.