Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
American Falls gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $272K, 4.4 years of the county’s $61K median household income. It grades B− overall, 31st of 58 graded towns in Idaho. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $58K, and 11% of residents live below the poverty line, and its schools rank behind 78% of the state's. On the plus side, natural-hazard risk is low. American Falls is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 86% of U.S. towns. No town among the 56 in Idaho we compare has a lower typical home value than American Falls. American Falls has 9 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Power County Courthouse and Bethany Deaconess Hospital.
Where American Falls beats most towns.
Census counts: 953 in 1910, 4,568 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 2 maps from 1934 on.
9 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Idaho), ordered by how far American Falls is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in American Falls, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in American Falls.
American Falls carries less natural-hazard risk than most of Idaho (mostly cold waves), is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has a shorter frost-free season than most of the country, though not than most of Idaho.
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 76% of Idaho towns; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
American Falls’ FEMA risk score is 12 of 100, where Idaho’s towns sit at 50 of 100 and U.S. towns at 44 of 100.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by the American Falls Joint District. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hillcrest Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–2 | Grades PK–2 | 357 | – |
| American Falls AcademyLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 38 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ID on state tests and graduation
American Falls’ median rent is $737 a month, below both the Idaho town median ($1,125 a month) and the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). The typical American Falls home is worth about $272,000, up 3.5% in a year, 43% below the Idaho typical home.
| American Falls | Idaho towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $737 a month | $1,125 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 74% | 69% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The average commute for its 1,835 working residents takes 13.9 minutes, against 21.6 across Idaho.
About one in 4 of American Falls’s working residents works in town. American Falls’ average trip to work is 14 minutes. Jobs based in American Falls grew to 1,244 in 2023, 114 more than in 2013.
| American Falls | Idaho towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 14 minutes | 20 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 24% | 20% | 8% |
| Median household income | $58,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The American Falls 6 Ne weather station, 5 miles away, records that the frost-free season runs about 138 days: shorter than most of the country, but longer than 75% of Idaho places with climate records.
American Falls has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers, with very little rain. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 16° and about 35 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
1.0 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Lee Street Park, at 20 acres.
| American Falls | Idaho towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 5.4% | 2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lee Street Park | — | 20 |
| 2. Stebbins Park | — | 8 |
| 3. City park | — | 8 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Only 1 of the 43 Idaho towns we compare have a lower property crime rate than American Falls. The violent crime rate in American Falls is 2.8 per 1,000 residents. American Falls reports less crime per resident than 64% of the U.S. towns and cities we grade.
| American Falls | Idaho towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.4 per 1,000 residents | 6.7 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.8 per 1,000 residents | 2 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Against the 8,251 U.S. towns with household incomes like American Falls’s, it is healthier than 62%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
American Falls beats the Idaho average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 12. 20% of American Falls adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance. Among 59 Idaho towns, just 3 have a higher share of adults who have obesity than American Falls.
| American Falls | Idaho towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 11% | 8.1% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 72% | 73% | 79% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 13% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 18% | 19% |
| What stands out | American Falls | ID |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7.3% | 8.3% |
| More uninsured adults | 19.6% | 10.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around American Falls. Close and well known come first.
12 mi National PreserveCraters of the Moon National Preserve251K visitors a year
20 mi Ancient siteFort Hall
6 mi State parkMassacre Rocks State Park36 mi Ski areaPebble Creek58 runs · 2,133 ft vertical
38 mi MuseumIdaho Potato Museum
22 mi MuseumIdaho Museum of Natural HistoryCraters of the Moon National Preserve: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Hall: National Park Service photographer, Public domain · Massacre Rocks State Park: Matthew Trump, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Idaho Potato Museum: KRRK at English Wikipedia, CC0 · Idaho Museum of Natural History: Abbaby, CC BY-SA 3.0
None within 15 miles of American Falls; the nearest are
About 6 of every 100 American Falls residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Idaho.
9 places in American Falls on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in American Falls.
City in Idaho, United States
American Falls is a city in and the county seat of Power County, Idaho, United States. The population was 4,568 at the time of the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
American Falls grades B− overall, better than 53% of U.S. towns and #31 of 58 in Idaho. It grades C+ for health, B for safety and C− for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a C−.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
3 notable people were born here, including Steve Hayes and Annalee Skarin.
