How Boise Ranks

More and more, business leaders throughout the nation rediscovering what locals have known for years: Boise is a great place to live and work. Here is a sampling of the observations from around the nation. For a more extensive listing of “what they’re saying about Boise” click here.

• Brookings, June 2009  --  Bootstrapping High Tech: Evidence from three Emerging High Technology Metropolitan Areas:  “Idaho may be an unlikely state for high-technology development but it largest metropolitan area, Boise, has developed an entrepreneurial and innovative technology community.” Boise is remarkable. Christopher Leinberger
• Landscape & Hardscape Construction, February 2009  --  Redevelopment and Renewal, firm transforms cities by design: “ Private development doesn’t do this on its own” (public infrastructure) “to remake a city.”
• Smithsonian.com, March 2009  --   Boise, Idaho: Big Skies and Colorful Characters, “Boise is still so young and new- changing almost every day- and I don’t think it’s an overstatement to suggest that our town represents everything that remains great about America: potential youth natural beauty, quality of life.”
• Kiplinger.com, July 2008  --  Rocky Mountain High Tech, Employers know they’ll find a high proportion of college graduates here (37%) compared with the national average of 37%) and new hires will find affordable housing…  (t)he area also cradles smaller technology and e-commerce forms, which come to make the most of low business costs – about a third less than in California or Washington.
• Forbes, March 2008  --  Boise is No. 9 for business careers. Of cities in the top 10, only Boise and Raleigh N.C. have been the most consistent top performers in recent years.
• CNN Money.com, 2008  --  Top 100 best places to live and launch, Boise #19
• American Planning Association, 2008  --   Boise’s North End: “Top 10 Great Neighborhoods for 2008”
• Business Week Magazine, November 2008 --  “Best Places to Raise Your Kids 2009”
• Boston Globe, June 2008  --  “Best Urban Parks,” Boise River Greenbelt: “Once the dumping ground for trash, industrial waste, and raw sewage, this riverfront park was reclaimed in the 1960s and transformed into a haven for outdoor lovers, with 25 miles of pathways geared to walkers, runners, skaters, bikers.”
• Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine, July 2008 -- Your Adventure in Boise,”  “Congress thought ‘Idaho’ meant ‘gem of the mountains’ in Shoshone and named the territory accordingly in 1863. But lobbyist George Willing had dreamed up the name as a hoax; the state doesn’t even have many gems. But Idaho’s capital alone offers many jewels for adventurous travelers.”>
• U.S. Department of Transportation, 2008  --  Boise State University: “Best Workplace for Commuters”
• Rock & Ice Magazine, September 2008  --  Ranked No. 2, “Best Places to Go Bouldering”
• Food and Wine Magazine (November 2008)  --  “Food Across America,” “Across the U.S., restaurateurs are opening ever-more-casual places. I’ve seen it in New York, Chicago, San Francisco…and now Boise, Idaho.”