Idaho is gaining high-earning millennials at the ninth-highest rate in the country, according to a new study.

Financial insights website SmartAsset used nationwide IRS tax data to study where millennials with an annual household income above $200,000 are moving, and Idaho was one of the top 10 choices.

While 1,067 high-earning millennial households settled in Idaho between 2021 and 2022, only 461 left. Its overall gain of 606 such millennials was the ninth-highest of any state.

STATES WHERE HIGH-EARNING MILLENNIALS ARE MOVING

According to the study, the states seeing the highest influx of high-earning millennials were: (net gain):

• 1. Florida (6,188)

• 2. Texas (5,151)

• 3. North Carolina (1,970)

• 4. Colorado (1,227)

• 5. Tennessee (1,197)

• 6. South Carolina (1,068)

• 7. Georgia (895)

• 8. Arizona (668)

• 9. Idaho (606)

• 10. Nevada (510)

Florida’s net gain of high-earning millennial households was over 10 times more than the Gem State. Those households earn $551,114 per year on average in Florida, and $450,278 in Idaho.

The Gem State also retained approximately 11,997 millennial households making over $200,000 a year. The percentage of high-earning households that are millennials in Idaho is 19.5%.

To determine these rankings, SmartAsset examined the factors leading to millennials’ moving patterns. This includes IRS data for 2021 and 2022 (the most recently available) for households between ages 26 and 45 making $200,000 or more. The net migration of these “high-earning households” was determined by comparing the inflow of qualifying households in each state to the outflow. The average adjusted gross income for each state’s households within these criteria was also considered.

STATES WHERE HIGH-EARNING MILLENNIALS ARE LEAVING

California took first place for the state that high-earning millennials are leaving, with a net loss of 9,181 households, followed by New York and Illinois. Washington’s overall loss of 222 high-earning millennials was the eighth-highest of any state.

Here’s the entire bottom 10 (net loss):

Despite the loss, the Golden State remains one of the top states for high-earning millennials. California retained 589,524 millennial households making over $200,000 a year.

The following is a statement from Idaho Power in response to an comments made by Frank VanderSloot during an interview with EastIdahoNews.com:

Idaho Power participated with other water users over a period of 11 months in developing an Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer Ground Water Management Plan which was submitted to the state last week, at the request of the Governor. Groundwater users also submitted a plan. Water users reached alignment on many details during weeks of discussion, although a handful of fundamental differences remain. Idaho Power’s goal has always been to work with other stakeholders to identify long-term solutions that work for all water users. We all need water, and nobody wants to see farmers’ pumps shut off.

Idaho Power was not involved in the Idaho Department of Water Resources Director’s decision to issue curtailment orders earlier this year, nor was Idaho Power involved in the negotiated settlement between irrigators and the state to avoid water shutoffs. Contrary to what some others have said, Idaho Power does not benefit when irrigators can’t pump water. Many of these farmers are also our customers. Irrigation pumps account for a significant amount of electricity use, in addition to being vital to the state’s overall economy.

Idaho Power does have a strong interest in this issue. Hydropower is the backbone of our system. It’s Idaho Power’s lowest-cost energy source, crucial to keeping rates 20–30% below the national average for our more than 640,000 customers. The water that fuels our 17 hydroelectric power plants comes from melting snow, upstream reservoir releases, irrigation return flows, and springs fed by the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer (ESPA). During the summer, when our customers use the most energy, that aquifer provides approximately 40% of the water to our crucial dams in Hells Canyon. Water is a limited resource — one that is under growing pressure as more people and businesses flock to our state. We expect electricity demand to grow 5.5% per year over the next five years. That’s one reason Idaho Power is among the many partners working with the state and other water users to monitor and improve the health of the ESPA.

It is vital that all stakeholders develop a viable long-term water management plan that respects our State Constitution and the prior appropriation doctrine.

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — A 33-year-old prisoner at the Idaho prison complex south of Boise was indicted on a murder charge by an Ada County grand jury after he was accused of a fatal beating on his cellmate.

James M. Johnson, already serving time at the Idaho State Correctional Center on several prior felony convictions, was indicted last week with a first-degree murder charge in the death of fellow prisoner Milo Warnock, the Ada County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.

Grand jury indictments are sealed until the suspect is served with a warrant and makes their first court appearance.

Warnock, 45, died less than an hour after an in-custody assault in December, the Idaho Department of Correction previously announced. Warnock’s family is pursuing a lawsuit related to his death from multiple blunt-force injuries and has awaited charges against the alleged perpetrator for nearly nine months.

The Idaho State Police investigated the attack on Warnock. After Warnock’s death, Johnson was transferred to the complex’s maximum security prison, where he remains today, according to prison system records. His prison sentence for his prior convictions, which included possession of a controlled substance, grand theft and fraud out of Bannock County, were set to be satisfied in February 2025.

Warnock was serving up to 10 years in prison following his second DUI conviction since 2013, according to prior Idaho Statesman reporting. He could have been released after two years in prison but was moved to a more secure area of the prison after breaking rules related to receiving his prescribed medication, his mother, Kathy Warnock, previously told the Statesman.

Before his death, Milo Warnock told his family he was having trouble with his new cellmate, having stated that the man was “mentally disturbed” with “a pattern of escalating behavior,” the Statesman previously reported. The Warnock family is seeking almost $500,000 from the prison system, several of its employees and the prison’s health care contractor.

If convicted of Warnock’s murder, Johnson could be sentenced to the death penalty or life in prison. He faces no less than a decade in prison. Johnson’s next appearance in court is scheduled for Sept. 18, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.