Living in Star Idaho

Thinking about moving to the Boise area and Star, Idaho is on your list? This blog is everything you need to know about living in Star, Idaho. We're going to be covering the types of homes here, what it's like to live here and what there is to do.

Overview of Star Idaho

Star, Idaho is located just north of the Boise river and in between the foothills. It's kind of sandwiched between the Boise river and the foothills. It's awesome because you have direct access to the river through the parks or some of the homes, depending on where you end up living or the foothills as well.

And it's a really small town. Either way, you're really close to the river or to the foothills and you get around very quickly. It's located right in the middle of Eagle and Middleton. Kind of right smack dab in the middle there and just northwest of Meridian.

As far as if you're going to be doing shopping here, there's not a whole lot of shopping here in actual Star. There certainly are some local convenience stores. There's some professional stores, financial services, dental services, local mercantile, Star Merc as a popular one of course, there is a new Albertsons that just went in.

You have some great grocery shopping options there, but if you're looking for something larger like Costco or Trader Joe's, you're going to have to drop down into Meridian for that or something like The Village at the Meridian, where all your more boutique shopping is. You're certainly going to want to be going into those areas for those kinds of things.

If you're far as shopping, you're kind of limited to more kind of grocery shopping, that kind of thing in Star, Idaho. But you're not that far away at all from the larger shopping centers, you're only about 10-15 minutes away from Costco, depending on where you are in Star.

The population as of 2020 is about 10,000 people and it's growing about 10-15% per year and is having a hard time keeping up with the growth. It certainly was not prepared for that kind of influx of people. In fact, there's models, predictions that are showing probably around 35,000 people by 2040. Not too far out, and it's going to over triple in size.

Right now it probably has about 11,000-12,000 people that kind of a range. And because of that, it is growing rapidly and the infrastructure is not there. And there tends to be a bit of traffic on Highway 44 in particular, getting out of there and that Highway 44 runs into Eagle and down into Boise.

If you're commuting into Boise, there's definitely going to be some traffic there for you. They are working on expanding Highway 16. That'll help alleviate some of the traffic as well. That's just the nature of Star, unfortunately right now. But Star is just absolutely beautiful with all the farmland around it.

New homes and new subdivisions are being dropped into there. Some of that farmland is going to be going away, but right now it's absolutely incredible as far as just you're out in the country. In fact, you might even be in the foothills living there and on some larger acreage spreads as well, depending on what you're looking for.

Something really interesting about Star; because of all the farmland and all the new subdivisions going in, builders have to wait for farmers to sell off their land to them. What happens is you tend to kind of have this interesting hodgepodge of homes that get built in Star.

You might have some homes were built in the 1990s or early 2000s and then you have brand new subdivisions that are just going in. And that's just because this part got sold off in the 1990s. This one got sold off in the 2020s. You're going to see a little bit mixture of homes as far as when they were built.

You're not going to have massive, massive master plan communities that are all built in the same era. I mean, you're not going to have homes that were built in the 1960s and 1970s necessarily right next to brand new subdivisions.

Sometimes it can be that, but generally speaking,  homes that are built in the last 30 years might be right next to a home that was just recently built. Part of the charm of Star is that there is so much farmland, it's out in the country.

Hopefully not whom any more homes get built, but they certainly have to plan for growth. There is a master plan and you can see right on Star City website, just go search that and you'll find that really quickly right there.

And you can see what all the plan development is. What's going to remain is agriculture. What's going to be the homes. There is such a strong sense of community in Star as well. 4th of July is a huge, huge event.

You've got the all American pie contexts. It's so cool. You actually have pie contest. It definitely has that small town feel to it. There's only 10,000 people here right now so it's very, very small town community.

Everyone waves to you, everyone says, hi, you got to wave back. You just get used to. If you're from California, like myself, you're not used to it at all, but you get used to it once you move here. That's what's so cool about Star and really the Treasure Valley is that people are so friendly.

Star is starting to kind of merge with Eagle. It's not merged yet, but at some point Star, Eagle and Meridian will all kind of merge together. That's certainly most likely going to happen. You're going to have to plan for it already. You've got the legacy development from Eagle. That's starting to almost connect with Star, but it's not quite connected yet.

Types of Home in Star, Idaho

Let's take a look at some of the homes you can get here.

Heron River

It is located right by Star River Park. I'm going to dive into that a little bit and right along the Boise River, these are absolutely gorgeous homes. Some of them are built right along this large fishing pond, kind of like a little lake and there's walking paths through here, absolutely beautiful homes that you can purchase.

And these are going to range in price from about $800,000 to around a little $1 million depending on what type of amenities that you're looking for in the specific home. There's also a community pool, a clubhouse, and you have direct access to the river as well.

The Lakes at Pristine Springs

These homes range in size from about 2,600 to 3,000 square feet. I's known for its RV bays and its flagpoles. This is what I really love about Star in particular, a lot of the subdivisions here have these giant RV bays.

Search all homes for sale in The Lakes at Pristine Springs Star

I'm actually going to show you one coming up that has something even more unique, stay tuned for that. But these are absolutely gorgeous homes and there are lakes right here in the community. I believe there are 2-5 acre lakes here.

Definitely worth checking out. These homes are going to range right around the $1 million range. And these are just beautiful, beautiful homes. And again, they got the RV base. If you're looking for that for your RV or your boat, definitely a great option.

Collina Vista

Then as we head north into Star, we have Collina Vista. This is a Toll Brothers project, absolutely incredible homes, very well built. They're built by a number of different custom builders as well. Very, very high quality construction here.

And it's built into the foothills of Star. Some of the homes are slightly elevated and they kind of have some views of Treasure Valley as well.

Search all homes for sale in Collina Vista     

Starcreek

This is actually not too far from Heron River as well. And this is what's really cool about this is as you are going to find a lot of double RV garages. Not just 1 but 2 RV garages.

You have an RV and a boat, or you've got an RV and you want to have a workshop. You can have both and not have to settle for 1 or the other. I absolutely love this about

Starcreek. It's definitely worth checking out. Most of the lot sizes of here are going to be around 10,000 square feet. The homes are about 3-4 bedrooms, a range in size from about 2,500 to 3000 square feet.

And you're going to have really, really beautiful green spaces here as well with ponds. Definitely worth checking out if you're looking for a double RV garage.

Now, most of the homes in Star, as far as down in the actual valley, these are generally going to be a kind of Tract home type home. Whether they're tract home, custom, semi-custom, and they're going to have lots ranging from 7,000 to 10,000 square feet.

But if you're looking for more acreage lots, then that's where you're really going to want to get up into the foothills. And you're going to potentially have some really amazing views of Treasure Valley or just the rolling foothills.

And now you can get into your half acre, 1-3 acre lodge, or potentially even more. Of course, it's going to cost you more. You're going to be paying certainly into the $1-$5 million range, depending on what you're looking for.

But if you're looking to be in the country and have acreage lots, whether that's kind of the more, the luxury acreage where you're not really looking to have animals, you're just wanting to have lots of room plus the space. And you've got all your toys, your ATVs, your side-by-sides, your RVs, all that kind of thing right there,, then this is for you.

Or if you are looking to have some farm animals, then as you get deeper into Star, then certainly some of your acreage, lots are going to be a good option for you.

Search all homes for sale in Star Creek Star

Parks, Golfing, and Schools in Star, Idaho

There are a number of parks here in Star as well. A couple of the really solid ones are Blake Haven Park. They have fireworks in the summer for 4th of July. There's a playground, a huge open field for sports as well. A really fun park and really beautiful homes that are right around the park as well.

Next up is Star Riverwalk ParkLike I mentioned, it's right next to the Heron River sub-development. And so there's lots of hiking, nature trails here, there unpaved nature trails, which is really nice. A little bit easier on your knees.

And it feels like you're really actually in nature, not just running on concrete, like if you're from California, tend to run on concrete all the time. And that's how it's going to be. If you're in Meridian, you're going to be on sidewalks for the most part.

But in Star you have this option where you can get out into the nature trails and you can hike, run, there's fishing, there's swimming, there's, movie nights in the park as well, concerts that sort of thing during the summer. An absolutely wonderful park and a huge part of the community here in Star. 

And for golfing, you have the River Birch Golf Course, and there is a free community driving range here as well, which is super, super cool. And if you're into racing, into car racing, you've got the Firebird Raceway just about 15-20 minutes away from here.

And as far as schools in Star, Idaho, there was only 1 elementary and 1 junior high school, but there are plans to build more and there is plans to build a high school, but right now high school students in Star would be going to Eagle. Of course there are some private school options as well. Homeschooling options also. Those are the school options, a little bit limited in Star, cause it is a very small town.

For private and charter schools, you have the Idaho Fine Arts Academy, North Star Charter School and the Galileo Magnet School.

That's a complete overview of living in Star, Idaho. It's all about the lifestyle when it comes to living in Treasure Valley. If you're thinking about Eagle, Star might be a great option, too, it's slightly more affordable. It's going to become the next Eagle.

Curtis Chism, Realtor
208-510-0427 | Mobile
boise@chismteam.com 
Chism Team | NRDS# SP56593
brokered by eXp Realty