Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Lewiston is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B− overall, 32nd among Idaho's 58 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its public schools beat 67% of Idaho towns on state tests and graduation. Expect to pay for it: the typical home is worth about $388K, 5.4 years of the Lewiston metro’s $72K median household income. 56% of working residents work locally in Lewiston, where Idaho’s towns sit at 20% and U.S. towns at 8%. Its National Register listings include St. Stanislaus Catholic Church and Nave Apartments. No town among the 59 in Idaho we compare has a higher January low than Lewiston.
Where Lewiston beats most towns.
Lewiston Depot| College | Students |
|---|---|
| Lewis-Clark State College | 2,936 |
Its founding year, 1861, is the earliest of any Idaho town we grade. Its 23 National Register listings are more than in 92% of Idaho towns with a listing.
Census counts: 739 in 1880, 34,203 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 1878 and 2 maps from 1945 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Idaho), ordered by how far Lewiston is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lewiston, 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 Lewiston.
Lewiston carries less natural-hazard risk than most of Idaho (mostly inland flooding) and has milder winter nights than almost anywhere else in Idaho, but it reports property crime at about twice the Idaho rate.
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 83% of Idaho towns, with expected losses of about $130 per resident a year; that rating is what its A− for hazard risk is built on.
The FEMA risk score in Lewiston is 10 of 100. Since 1984, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Lewiston.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by the Lewiston Independent District. Three of its 20 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jenifer Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 561 | C+ |
| Lewiston High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,288 | B |
| McSorley Elementary SchoolTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 242 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within ID on state tests and graduation
12 miles of trail in 17 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Lewiston Community Park, at 194 acres.
| Lewiston | Idaho towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.8% | 2.1% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lewiston Community Park | 0.4 mi | 194 |
| 2. Lewiston Levee Park | 0.3 mi | 48 |
| 3. Kiwanis Park | 0.2 mi | 49 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
January nights average 29.5°, the highest of 234 Idaho places with climate records; July afternoons average 91.5°. The Lewiston Nez Perce Co Ap weather station records that the frost-free season runs about 200 days, the highest of 232 Idaho places with climate records.
Lewiston has mild winters and warm summers, with very little rain. Lewiston’s July high is 92°F. About 13 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The typical Lewiston home is worth about $388,000, up 2.4% in a year, 19% below the Idaho typical home.
| Lewiston | Idaho towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 68% | 70% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,027 a month | $1,125 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The average commute for its 15,621 working residents takes 15.3 minutes, against 21.6 across Idaho.
The top destinations are Clarkston (7%), Moscow (3%) and Boise City (2%).
| Lewiston | Idaho towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 15 minutes | 20 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $72,000 | $67,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Lewiston beats the Idaho average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 76% of Lewiston adults had a checkup this year.
| Lewiston | Idaho towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 76% | 73% | 79% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 32% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 15% | 16% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 30% | 33% |
| What stands out | Lewiston | ID |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 74.1% | 70.5% |
| More adults with COPD | 7.7% | 6.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Idaho average. 21% of residents are 65 or older in Lewiston. 27% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 32% across Idaho.
| Lewiston | Idaho towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 16% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 21% | 25% | 22% |
| Median age | 39.8 years | 35.1 years | 40.5 years |
51.1% women, 48.9% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across Idaho, 49.7% of residents are women. Median age: women 40.8, men 38.7.
| Lewiston | ID | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.8% | 12.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.5% | 11.6% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.7% | 9.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 12.4% | 13% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.4% | 13.1% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.3% | 11.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.4% | 11.7% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.4% | 10.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9.2% | 6.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6.2% | 8.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.5% | 26.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.8% | 24.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 13% | 9.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18.6% | 21.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 8.8% | 10.5% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Property crime runs at 13.3 per 1,000 residents, about twice the Idaho rate, most of it theft.
Only 2 of the 43 Idaho towns we compare have a higher property crime rate than Lewiston.
| Lewiston | Idaho towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 13.3 per 1,000 residents | 6.3 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.6 per 1,000 residents | 2.2 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
1 within 15 miles of the center of Lewiston
About 7 of every 100 Lewiston residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Idaho.
23 places in Lewiston on the National Register of Historic Places.
22 notable people were born in Lewiston.
City in Idaho, United States
Lewiston is a city in and the county seat of Nez Perce County, Idaho, United States, in the state's north central region. It is the third-largest city in the northern Idaho region, behind Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene, and the twelfth-largest in the state. Lewiston is the principal city of the Lewiston, ID-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Nez Perce County and Asotin County, Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population of Lewiston was 34,203, up from 31,894 in 2010. Lewiston is located at the confluence of the Snake River and Clearwater River, thirty miles (50 km) upstream and southeast of the Lower Granite Dam. Dams and locks on the Snake and Columbia Rivers make …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Lewiston.
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Lewiston grades B− overall, better than 51% of U.S. towns and #32 of 58 in Idaho. It grades B for health, B− for safety and B+ for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
22 notable people were born here, including Bryan Fuller and Julie Gibson.
