⏱ 9 Minute Read
Last Updated: November 3, 2026
If you are deciding where to put your next Treasure Valley purchase, the short version is this: the strongest gross yields in September 2026 sit in Kuna and Nampa, the weakest sit in Boise proper and Eagle, and Meridian is the middle path most investor-owners should look at first. Boise still has the deepest tenant pool and the fastest resale, and you pay for both in yield. Below is the data behind that view, the inputs to every number we calculated, and the places where the published figures simply do not exist.
The city-by-city comparison
Every rent figure below comes from Zillow's Boise rental market page and its sister city pages, using the average asking rent across all bedrooms and all property types. Every price figure comes from Redfin's Boise housing market tracker and the equivalent city pages, using the median sale price. The price-to-rent ratio and gross yield columns are our calculations from those two published inputs — they are not published statistics. Gross yield is annual asking rent divided by median sale price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and capital expenditure.
| City | Avg asking rent (Zillow) | Median sale price (Redfin) | Price-to-rent (our calc) | Gross yield (our calc) | Vacancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kuna | $2,350 (Sep 21, 2026) | $478,683 (Aug 2026) | 17.0 | 5.9% | no city figure published |
| Nampa | $1,750 (Jul 17, 2026) | $417,724 (Aug 2026) | 19.9 | 5.0% | no city figure published |
| Meridian | $2,400 (Sep 21, 2026) | $567,474 (Aug 2026) | 19.7 | 5.1% | no city figure published |
| Boise | $1,995 (Sep 21, 2026) | $544,640 (Aug 2026) | 22.8 | 4.4% | 4.27% metro apartments (Aug 2026) |
| Eagle | $2,890 (Sep 21, 2026) | $799,000 (3 mo. to May 2026) | 23.0 | 4.3% | no city figure published |
| Caldwell | not sourced | $410,000 (3 mo. to Jun 2026) | not calculable | not calculable | no city figure published |
A word on that vacancy column, because it matters more than the blank cells suggest. The only vacancy figure we could verify is metro-wide and apartment-only: 4.27% in August 2026, per Apartment List data reported by BoiseDev in September 2026. There is no published city-level vacancy rate for Meridian, Nampa, Kuna, Eagle or Caldwell that we would stand behind, so we have left those cells empty rather than estimate them.
Zillow's all-property-types average is not apples-to-apples across these cities. Boise's number is dragged down by a large stock of studios and one-bedrooms; Kuna's is pulled up because almost everything listed there is a three- or four-bedroom new-build house. Compare like for like where you can: Zillow's three-bedroom averages were $2,395 in Boise (Sep 21, 2026), $2,350 in Meridian (Jul 17, 2026) and $1,977 in Nampa (Oct 30, 2025). Kuna does not publish a three-bedroom figure.
What the rent trend is actually doing
The story investors carried into 2024 and 2025 — that Boise's post-2021 multifamily construction wave had buried the rental market in supply — has worked through. Apartment vacancy in August 2026 was 4.27%, the lowest reading since January 2021, and that came after the new units delivered. Boise's apartment rent rose roughly 9% year over year in August 2026, faster than every large U.S. city except San Francisco and Oakland, and the August median of $1,425 across all bedroom sizes sat within $54 of the all-time high set in August 2021.
Two things follow. Rents are no longer being suppressed by supply, so underwriting flat rent for 2027 is now conservative rather than realistic. And the easy arbitrage is gone — you are buying into a market that has already re-priced, not one waiting to.
The demand side supports it. COMPASS 2026 population estimates put Ada and Canyon counties at a combined 876,760, up from 726,072 at the 2020 Census. Meridian added 4,730 residents in a single year to reach 152,070. Kuna gained 4,810 to reach 38,560 — a 14% jump in one year. Statewide, Idaho's unemployment rate held at 3.6% in August 2026 per the Idaho Department of Labor's August 2026 unemployment release. We could not source a dated, county-level job growth figure for Ada or Canyon specifically, so we are not quoting one.
What the numbers miss
Yield is a ranking tool, not a decision. Five things move the actual outcome and none appear in the table.
- Tenant pool depth. Boise's 4.4% gross yield buys you the largest, most diversified renter base in the state — hospital and university employees, state workers, downtown professionals. Kuna's 5.9% buys you a renter base that is overwhelmingly households priced out of Meridian, which is a real and growing pool but a narrower one. When a Kuna house sits, it sits longer.
- Commute. The outlying-city yield premium is largely a commute premium. Tenants accept Nampa or Kuna rents partly because of the drive. If gas prices spike or an employer forces a return to downtown Boise, that discount has to widen, and the widening comes out of your rent.
- School catchment. This is the single biggest rent differentiator inside Meridian and west Ada County, and it does not follow city lines. Two houses a mile apart in the same city can sit in different attendance zones and rent $250 apart. Verify the assignment with the district; do not trust the listing.
- HOA density. New Kuna, Star and southwest Meridian subdivisions are almost universally governed. Some cap the percentage of rentals, some impose minimum lease terms, some require board approval of tenants. An HOA rental cap that is already at its limit turns a cash-flowing analysis into an unusable property, and you will not find that out from the MLS listing.
- New-build competition. In the fastest-growing submarkets you are not only competing with other landlords. You are competing with the builder, who is still selling the next phase and will rent or discount to clear it. That is a structural drag on Kuna and northwest Nampa rents that the current yield figure does not capture.
There is a sixth item that is not a market factor but a tax one, and it is worth its own paragraph. Read the Idaho State Tax Commission's homeowner's exemption page before you underwrite anything: the exemption is tied to owner occupancy, and it does not survive the sale to you.
Idaho exempts 50% of a home's value and up to one acre, capped at $125,000, from property tax — but only for a home the deeded owner occupies as a primary residence. A non-owner-occupied rental does not qualify. The seller's current tax bill is therefore not your tax bill. On a $478,000 Kuna house, $125,000 of value that is exempt today goes back onto the taxable roll the day you close. Ask the county assessor for the non-exempt figure before you underwrite, not after.
That single adjustment is enough to move a marginal deal. It is also the most common underwriting error we see from out-of-state buyers, who reasonably assume the tax line on the listing is the tax line they will pay.
Where not to buy, and why
- Eagle, if yield matters to you at all. A price-to-rent ratio of 23.0 on a median $799,000 house is an appreciation bet with a rent subsidy attached, not a rental business. The tenant pool for a $2,900 house is thin, and a single 60-day vacancy costs more than a year of the yield advantage you gave up elsewhere. Buy in Eagle because you want to own in Eagle.
- The newest phase of any Kuna or Star subdivision. Buying the model home's neighbour means competing against thirty near-identical houses, several of which will list for rent the same month yours does, plus the builder's unsold inventory. Wait for a phase that closed out two or three years ago.
- Anything where the HOA documents have not been read. Not a location so much as a failure mode, and it is the one that produces the worst outcomes — a purchase that cannot legally be rented.
- Caldwell, provisionally. Not because it is bad. Because we could not source a current, defensible rent figure for it at all, and buying into a submarket you cannot benchmark is a different risk from buying into one you can. If you are looking at Caldwell, get leased comps from someone with MLS access before you go further.
How to pressure-test a specific address
The table gets you to a city. This gets you to a decision on one house.
- Pull leased comps, not asking rents. Three to five closed leases within a mile from the last 90 days, matched on bedroom and bathroom count. Asking rents include everything that has failed to rent.
- Re-run the taxes without the exemption. Call the county assessor with the parcel number and ask for the assessed value and the levy rate with no homeowner's exemption applied.
- Read the HOA CC&Rs before the inspection period ends. Specifically: rental caps, current rental percentage, minimum lease term, tenant approval requirements, and any pending amendment.
- Count the competition on the day you look. Search active rental listings within one mile in your bedroom count. More than eight or ten is a pricing problem, not a demand problem.
- Confirm the school assignment with the district, by address, in writing.
- Model a 45-day vacancy and a 5% annual capital reserve. If the deal only works at zero vacancy, it does not work.
- Drive the actual commute at 7:30am on a Tuesday. Your tenant will.
The 1% rule fails everywhere in the Treasure Valley in 2026 — the best gross yield on this page, Kuna at 5.9%, is roughly 0.49% monthly. Screening deals against 1% will cause you to reject every property in the market. Screen against local comparables instead.
Current as of September 2026
Every figure on this page carries the date it was published, and these numbers move quarterly. Rents in particular are seasonal in Boise — Apartment List notes that Treasure Valley rents typically peak in August or September and dip through winter, so a September reading is a high-water mark, not an annual average. Re-pull the inputs before you underwrite. If a figure here is more than a quarter old when you read it, treat it as directional.
None of that requires a property manager. It does require access to leased data, which is where what we do for investor-owners starts, and a realistic read of what is already competing for your tenant — which is what our current Boise rental listings show at any given moment.
We manage across Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Kuna, Eagle and Caldwell, which means we see what actually leases and at what number — not what gets listed. Send us the address you are considering and we will run real comps and a carrying-cost estimate before you write the offer, at no charge and with no expectation that you list the property with us. Get in touch to request your analysis.
Investors who already own here tend to arrive at the same conclusion: the yield spread between Boise and the outlying cities is real, but it is narrower after vacancy and turnover than the gross numbers suggest. Getting Boise property management right on a 4.4% gross asset often beats getting it wrong on a 5.9% one.
Sources and dates
- Boise, Meridian, Kuna, Eagle asking rents: Zillow Rentals, last updated September 21, 2026 (Meridian city page separately dated July 17, 2026). See Zillow's Boise rental market page.
- Nampa asking rent: Zillow Rentals, July 17, 2026.
- Median sale prices: Redfin, August 2026 for Boise, Meridian, Nampa and Kuna; three months to May 2026 for Eagle and June 2026 for Caldwell. See Redfin's Boise housing market tracker.
- Apartment rent, rent growth and vacancy: Apartment List, August 2026 data.
- Population: COMPASS 2026 population estimates, accepted April 27, 2026.
- Property tax treatment: Idaho State Tax Commission.
- Employment: Idaho Department of Labor, August 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best place to buy rental property in the Treasure Valley right now?
On the numbers available in September 2026, Kuna and Nampa produce the strongest gross yields and Boise proper the weakest. Using Zillow asking rents against Redfin median sale prices, we calculate roughly 5.9% gross yield in Kuna and 5.0% in Nampa versus about 4.4% in Boise. Those are our calculations from two published datasets, not a published statistic, and gross yield ignores taxes, insurance, vacancy and capital expenditure. Boise still wins on tenant depth and resale liquidity.
How much is rent in Boise in 2026?
Two credible sources give two different numbers because they measure different things. Zillow put the average asking rent across all bedrooms and property types in Boise at $1,995 as of September 21, 2026. Apartment List, which measures apartments only, put the Boise median at $1,425 across all bedroom sizes and $1,231 for a one-bedroom in August 2026. Single-family houses rent well above apartment medians, which is why the two figures diverge.
Did the Boise apartment supply wave push rents down?
It did for a while, and by 2026 it has worked through. Apartment List data reported by BoiseDev on September 18, 2026 shows Boise's apartment vacancy rate at 4.27% in August 2026, the lowest since January 2021, despite a significant influx of new units in recent years. Boise's median rent rose about 9% year over year in August 2026, faster than every large U.S. city except San Francisco and Oakland.
What is the vacancy rate in the Boise rental market?
The Boise apartment vacancy rate was 4.27% in August 2026 according to Apartment List. That is a metro apartment figure. We could not source a published city-level vacancy rate for Meridian, Nampa, Kuna, Eagle or Caldwell, and we would not estimate one.
Does Idaho's homeowner's exemption apply to a rental property?
No. The exemption removes 50% of the value of a home and up to one acre, capped at $125,000, from the property tax bill, and it only applies to a home the deeded owner occupies as a primary residence. A non-owner-occupied rental is taxed on its full assessed value. On a $478,000 Kuna house that is $125,000 of value that stays on the taxable roll, so your carrying cost is meaningfully higher than the current owner-occupant's bill suggests.
Is Meridian or Nampa the better buy for a rental?
They calculate to almost the same gross yield, around 5.1% in Meridian and 5.0% in Nampa on September 2026 inputs, so the decision is not a yield decision. Meridian buys you a deeper professional tenant pool, stronger schools and faster resale for about $150,000 more per door. Nampa buys you a lower entry price and a tenant pool that is more sensitive to rent increases and job loss.
Where should I not buy a Treasure Valley rental?
Be careful with Eagle, where the price-to-rent ratio calculates to roughly 23 and the tenant pool is thin, and with brand-new subdivision inventory in Kuna, Star and northwest Nampa where you will be competing for tenants against the builder's own unsold homes and against dozens of identical houses on the same three streets.
How do I pressure-test a specific address before I write an offer?
Pull three to five leased comps within a mile from the last 90 days rather than asking prices, run the taxes without the homeowner's exemption, check the HOA's rental cap and lease-minimum language in writing, count competing listings within a mile on the day you look, and confirm the school assignment with the district rather than the listing. The checklist later in this post walks through all seven steps.
