Boise, Idaho

Where Boise is

Boise is the seat of Ada County in southwestern Idaho, at 43.62°N, 116.20°W and about 2,700 ft above sea level. The Boise River flows northwest through the city on its way to the Snake River, and the foothills of the Boise Mountains rise directly north of downtown. The city began in 1863 as a supply point for gold camps in the mountains, beside a US Army fort on the Oregon Trail. Oregon is about 40 miles west; Nevada is 100 miles south across the Snake River Plain.

Idaho spans two time zones. Boise and all of southern Idaho use Mountain Time; the Panhandle north of the Salmon River, including Lewiston and Coeur d'Alene, uses Pacific Time.

How it became the capital

Idaho Territory was formed in 1863 with its capital at Lewiston, at the meeting of the Clearwater and Snake rivers in the north. Within two years the population had shifted to the Boise Basin gold fields, and the legislature voted in December 1864 to move the capital to Boise. Lewiston contested the move in court, but the territorial seal and records went south in 1865 and the capital stayed there through statehood in 1890.

Population

Boise had 235,684 residents in 2020, the largest city in Idaho and the largest between Salt Lake City and Portland. Meridian, its neighbor to the west, was second at about 117,000 and is among the fastest-growing cities in the country. The Boise metropolitan area, covering Ada, Canyon, Boise, Gem and Owyhee counties, has about 765,000 people, more than 40 percent of Idaho's 1,839,106.

The capitol

The Idaho State Capitol on West Jefferson Street was designed by John E. Tourtellotte and Charles Hummel of Boise. The central section and dome were completed in 1912 and the wings in 1920. The exterior is Boise sandstone quarried at Table Rock, east of the city, and the interior uses marble from Alaska, Georgia, Vermont and Italy. The building is heated by geothermal water pumped from wells about 3,000 ft below, the only state capitol heated this way.

Distances to other cities

Related maps

• Idaho map — the whole state with borders, cities and counties.
• Boise city map — the city page with nearby cities and distances.
• Idaho county map · blank Idaho map · printable Idaho map.
• All 50 state capitals on one map, and the state capitals quiz.
• West region · Mountain division · Mountain Time Zone.