Idaho
We moved from California to Idaho with small-town retirement dreams but moved back after 4 years.
- Jodi Wright, 56, moved from California to Idaho in 2020 in search of a quiet place to retire.
- Wright and her family built a custom home outside Boise.
- But the family moved back to California earlier this year because of rising prices.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jodi Wright, a 56-year-old stay-at-home mother whose family moved from Sacramento, California, to Caldwell, Idaho, a small town about 30 minutes west of Boise, in 2020.
Idaho’s housing market has exploded in the last half-decade, with the median home price jumping from $360,700 in September 2020 to $481,100 in September 2024, according to data from Redfin. Meanwhile, median home prices in Boise specifically jumped from $389,500 in September 2020 to $525,000 in September 2024, according to Redfin data.
The following has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
I was born in Washington State. When I graduated high school, I wanted a change of scenery, so I packed up my car and moved to California.
I met my husband here, and he’s a police officer. We were blessed with triplets, but one of our sons passed away soon after being born. It was terrible, but it definitely clarified life.
We’ve always been outdoorsy people. Any vacations we take are usually geared around the beach or Disney. You can pretty much do that year-round here in California, which we love.
But the cost of living is so high, and our political affiliation is Republican. That became a problem when COVID hit, and they shut down the schools. Our kids were in second grade and struggling.
We had already purchased land in Idaho back in 2018. We were planning to move once my husband retired, but COVID sped up our plans.
We moved to Idaho in December 2020
We listed our house in California, and it sold in one day. We sold it for $699,000. On Zillow, it’s now worth over $900,000.
My husband wasn’t old enough to retire yet, so he stayed in California to keep working. We figured we would just make do for a few years until my husband could join us full-time.
We were a little nervous about how that would work. But he traveled back and forth to Idaho two or three times a month. Plus, we would FaceTime.
We started building our Idaho house in a town called Caldwell, which is part of the Treasure Valley on the outskirts of the Boise area. It was still affordable at that time. If we were to move there now, we could not afford the house we built, which cost us about $750,000.
It would probably cost twice as much to build it there today.
Courtesy of Jodi Wright/Getty Images
It was a big house, almost 4,000 square feet, with four bedrooms and five bathrooms. We had a fabulous view of the river and the mountains on two and a half acres out in the country in a small subdivision.
We wanted to live in the country, have a little more space between neighbors, and less of the hustle and bustle we were used to here in California. Our favorite part of Idaho was how quiet it was where we lived.
One of the major differences we noticed between California and Idaho is how clean Idaho is. You don’t see a bunch of graffiti or trash everywhere.
But we only stayed in Idaho for four years
We definitely thought our money was going to go farther in Idaho. Certain things are cheaper, like power and gas. So, we thought the overall cost of living would be less.
But it felt like prices really started to increase in 2021. Part of that was life in general becoming more expensive with inflation. But a lot of things in Idaho felt comparable to California.
When we first got to Idaho, my husband used to fly back and forth for less than $150. But over time, round trips got up to $300 or more.
Our auto insurance and homeowner’s insurance were cheaper than they had been in California at first. But in our last two years living there, both almost doubled.
The weather in Idaho turned out to be not conducive to our lifestyle either. You can’t really know a place until you live here. The wind blows really badly there for six or seven months a year. Plus, Idaho gets a lot of the fire smoke from California and Oregon. The first two summers we were there, we barely went outside because the air quality was so bad. The wind there just made it so much worse.
Getty Images
By the end of 2022, we started thinking Idaho was maybe not the place for us.
We talked a lot about maybe moving somewhere else. But the more we talked, the more we realized that California is home. Despite the politics and cost of living, it’s home.
We moved back to California in June.
I’m glad we went to Idaho. We don’t regret it at all. My kids got a great education there. We made the best of it and enjoyed it.
It took us a year to sell our house in Idaho because the housing market is flooded at the higher end. We still managed to make a couple hundred thousand.
Now that we’re back in California, we’re also paying less for car insurance than we were in Idaho.
We recently bought a house in Dixon, California, for $760,000, which we’ll be moving into in the next few months.
We’re just going to carve our little piece of happiness here in California.
(KRON) — An Idaho man is recovering after a life-threatening rattlesnake bite during a family visit to Oroville, Northern California. Chris Howarth spent nearly two weeks in intensive care following the incident in his mother’s garden.
During his 12-day stay in intensive care, Howarth received 54 vials of anti-venom and multiple blood transfusions, split between six days at Oroville Hospital and six days after being flown to Stanford.
Six weeks after the incident, he is approximately 80% recovered.
Howarth initially believed the bites were a prick from a thorn or a “star thistle or one of those goat heads.” He described the sensation as feeling “like getting your blood drawn.”
“I think I got bit twice. I said ‘ow’ again and ‘ow’ again. It almost felt like getting your blood drawn,” said Howarth. Howarth also noted he “didn’t hear it at all” when his father went to inspect the area and observed the snake shaking its tail without making noise.
As his wife drove him to the hospital, his condition worsened.
“On the way there, he was started kind of feeling some numbness and tingling in his mouth and his tongue so I knew we needed to get to the closest hospital,” said Jenny Howarth.
Howarth is still experiencing lingering effects from the bite, including swelling, soreness and fatigue.
“My leg is still kind of sore and tender, my ankle still swells, I barely got able to tie a shoe just a few days ago and also still having lingering effects of fatigue,” Howarth said.
California’s Poison Control system has received 77 rattlesnake-related calls this year, with experts reporting encounters are occurring earlier and more frequently. Dr. Rafa Lima, an emergency physician at Kaiser Permanente in San Leandro, explained that rattlesnake venom “destroys local tissue and causes a lot of pain and swelling.”
Dr. Lima advised immediate medical attention for suspected venomous snake bites. “If you are bitten by a snake with a rattle or you suspect is venomous, you should really get care immediately,” Dr. Lima said.
He also dispelled common myths, stating, “There’s a common myth that you should just tourniquet up the wound and bind it and mobilize it, or even try to suck the venom out but all that does is delays the time to get treatment and the longer the venom is in the tissue, the worst prognosis.”
Howarth mentioned that the weather conditions were unexpected for a rattlesnake encounter.
“That day and even the day before, it kind of been cooler and it had been raining so we weren’t expecting to see a rattlesnake,” she said.
Howarth hopes his experience highlights that rattlesnakes pose a risk in garden areas, not just hiking trails, even during cooler weather. Howarth hopes to return to work next week.
Those who want to donate to a GoFundMe set up for Howarth can do so here.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published.
NAMPA, Idaho — Nearly 20 years after Idaho soldier John Borbonus was killed in Iraq, his legacy is continuing to serve fellow veterans.
The Borbonus Family Foundation, created in his honor, announced a $500,000 grant Tuesday to the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa.
WATCH: One Idaho soldier’s legacy continues to serve fellow veterans
Warhawk Air Museum receives $500K grant honoring Idaho soldier John Borbonus
The museum says the unrestricted gift is its largest ever and will help cover operating costs as it continues to grow.
Executive Director Carson Spear says grants of this size often come with requirements to fund a specific project, but the Borbonus Family Foundation instead asked to use the funds where they are most needed.
Warhawk leaders say the funding will help preserve veterans’ stories and continue programs like the Kilroy Coffee Klatch, which brings together veterans from different generations each month.
RELATED | Kilroy Coffee Klatch brings veterans together at the Warhawk Air Museum
Vietnam veteran Emil Berry says the museum is more than a place to display history.
“It brings back memories, and also it helps the veteran, helps the military personnel. It’s just a special, very special establishment,” Berry said.
Borbonus’ sister, Alexa Borbonus, says Warhawk already preserves part of her brother’s story through a display dedicated to his service.
“The Warhawk Museum, they have a special place in our hearts,” Alexa Borbonus said. “They have John’s case on display now, and they provide a safe space for all our veterans in Idaho.”
RELATED | Skydivers honor fallen Boise soldier John Borbonus at annual memorial golf tournament
Sen. Jim Risch, who attended Tuesday’s announcement, said museums like Warhawk remind people that “freedom isn’t free” and help future generations appreciate the sacrifices made by those who served.
Following the announcement, the Borbonus family also donated John Borbonus’ challenge coin and the KIA bracelet worn by his family to Warhawk’s bar display, adding another piece of his legacy to the museum.
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UPDATE – 8:30 p.m. 7/7/26- IDL has mapped the fire at 4 acres. It has been ruled human-caused.
ORIGINAL STORY
The Idaho Department of Transportation says all lanes are blocked on I-84 south of New Plymouth due to multiple nearby brush fires.
ITD says all lanes of travel have been blocked from US-30 to Black Canyon Road. The brush fires are located between milepost 9 and milepost 12, officials say.
Drivers are being advised of travel danger and asked to consider an alternate route.
Idaho Department of Lands has mapped the fire at 0.10 acres. The cause is undetermined.
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