California dreamers filling up North Idaho

Coeur d’Alene Realtor John Beutler doesn’t hear the grumblings.

He doesn’t hear the grousing, or the irritated accusations by North Idahoans who blame the high housing prices, the traffic congestion and influx of newcomers to the Panhandle on one thing: Californians.

Maybe, he muses, it’s because he’s in the real estate business.

Beutler, owner of Century 21 Beutler and Associates, realizes growth is the foundation of his industry — he has sold real estate in North Idaho for 40 years — and he knows too, that growth is contagious, spreads wealth around and it can’t be attributed to one group of newcomers.

“It isn’t just Californians,” Beutler said. “People from all over move here.”

But he knows too that Californians make up a large percentage of the influx to North Idaho and it’s been that way for as long as he can remember.

“It hasn’t changed a lot,” Beutler said.

Although the rate in which families move across the U.S. is at its lowest point in 70 years — it dropped by 10 percent last year — that doesn’t mean Idaho is no longer a premier destination. And it hasn’t kept the migration of Californians to the Gem State at bay.

Of the nearly 80,000 people who moved to Idaho last year, approximately 21,000 were former Californians and almost 3,000 of the newcomers chose North Idaho as their final destination, according to a survey done by United Van Lines and Storage Cafe, a national mobile storage company.

Of the 219 people who daily moved to Idaho last year, about a quarter of them, or 54, were from California, according to the statistics.

The majority of newcomers to North Idaho came from Orange, San Bernardino and San Diego counties.

The top three jumping-off points accounted for 1,302 new residents in Idaho’s 10 most northern counties, with most of them landing in Kootenai County.

About 737 newcomers to North Idaho came from Kern, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, and 212 came from Sacramento, Stanislaus and Sonoma counties.

In all, 36 California counties were origins.

Luke Wild, a Coeur d’Alene native who also sells homes under the Century 21 banner, remembers a slower-moving North Idaho when growth wasn’t measured by subdivisions sprouting on the Rathdrum Prairie. Farming was its mainstay.

If growth was less in your face then, it existed nonetheless.

“It’s inevitable,” Wild said. “We’re going to grow. There’s not much we can do.”

Unlike Beutler, Wild hears the sourness of his Panhandle compatriots who blame Californians for the woes that come with progress.

Like Beutler, he knows North Idaho is not only a destination for Golden Staters.

“I just sold a house to a couple from Montana,” he said. “They love it here.”!

Although the primary origin of newcomers to Idaho last year was California, which accounted for 26 percent out of the total number of new residents, Idaho is 10th on the list of destinations for outgoing Californians. More Californians choose Texas and Arizona than other states, and Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Colorado are chosen over Idaho, Aura Mogosanu of Storage Cafe said.

On the other hand, almost 55,000 people moved out of Idaho last year. Idahoans’ favorite moving destination is Utah, Mogosanu said, with 8,574 people moving there, compared to 6,626 moving into Idaho from Utah.

According to the survey, 35 percent of newcomers to Idaho are retired, 26 percent say they wanted a lifestyle change and 23 percent of newcomers say their move to Idaho was job related.

Contrarily, the reason people leave Idaho is also job-related. Sixty-two percent leave the Gem State for a job elsewhere.

The bulk of newcomers, 66 percent, are 55 or older. Approximately 85 percent of newcomers earn $50,000 or more, and 49 percent earn $100,000 or more. The median household income in Idaho is around $52,225, according to Data USA.

Whereas former Californians may get a ribbing from Wild’s pals, he enjoys listening to the banter of Golden Staters who have called Idaho home for decades.

“They are happy to be here,” he said.

Growth especially over the past couple decades has brought amenities, Beutler said.

McEuen Park, a new city library, the Kroc Center, bicycle and walking trails and an expanded waterfront park system can be attributed to economic prosperity and new growth.

Wild agreed.

“There’s opportunity,” Wild said. “It generates jobs and (bolsters) the economy.”