Bear Lake County vs Lemhi County

A side-by-side comparison of Bear Lake County and Lemhi County: population, income, housing, and more.

Bear Lake County and Lemhi County are counties in Idaho. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Lemhi County has the higher population (8,166 vs 6,552 in Bear Lake County). Bear Lake County has the higher median household income ($67,304 vs $52,057 in Lemhi County). Lemhi County has the higher median home value ($282,100 vs $234,200 in Bear Lake County).

Population, income & housing

	Bear Lake County	Lemhi County
Population	6,552	8,166
Median age	40.2 yrs	53.1 yrs
Median household income	$67,304	$52,057
Median home value	$234,200	$282,100
Median gross rent	$687	$721
Housing units	3,943	4,636
Homeownership rate	85.0%	81.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.3%	22.9%
Unemployment rate	2.6%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bear Lake County	Lemhi County
Population	6,000 → 6,552 (+9.2%)	7,847 → 8,166 (+4.1%)
Median household income	$54,167 → $67,304 (+24.3%)	$39,324 → $52,057 (+32.4%)
Median home value	$149,800 → $234,200 (+56.3%)	$177,000 → $282,100 (+59.4%)
Median gross rent	$589 → $687 (+16.6%)	$657 → $721 (+9.7%)

Bear Lake County

Population

6,0006,552

Median household income

$54,167$67,304

Median home value

$149,800$234,200

Median gross rent

$589$687

Lemhi County

Population

7,8478,166

Median household income

$39,324$52,057

Median home value

$177,000$282,100

Median gross rent

$657$721

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bear Lake County	Lemhi County
Under 5	6.5%	4.7%
5 to 17	20.6%	13.6%
18 to 24	7.7%	7.8%
25 to 34	10.4%	5.4%
35 to 44	11.1%	11.9%
45 to 54	10.3%	9.9%
55 to 64	12.5%	16.3%
65 to 74	12.1%	17.9%
75 and over	8.8%	12.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bear Lake County	Lemhi County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.1%	91.7%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	0.8%
Asian	0.3%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.3%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	1.5%	4.7%
Hispanic or Latino	3.7%	1.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bear Lake County	Lemhi County
No high school diploma	7.0%	7.3%
High school graduate	36.4%	32.2%
Some college or associate's	36.3%	37.5%
Bachelor's degree	14.0%	14.2%
Graduate or professional degree	6.4%	8.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bear Lake County	Lemhi County
Drove alone	76.8%	68.7%
Carpooled	11.7%	13.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.7%	7.7%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.7%
Worked from home	8.8%	9.7%
Other means	0.7%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bear Lake County	Lemhi County
1-unit, detached	91.8%	74.5%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	1.2%	5.7%
5 to 19 units	0.8%	3.1%
20 or more units	1.0%	0.6%
Mobile home & other	4.6%	15.7%

Poverty & households

	Bear Lake County	Lemhi County
Poverty rate	10.2%	11.8%
Average household size	2.81	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	30	15
Median year structure built	1971	1979