NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Sept. 22, 2023
Media Contact: Jan.Roeser@labor.idaho.gov
The number of Idahoans with health care insurance in 2022 increased from 89.2% to 91.8% compared to pre-pandemic data for 2019, according to the recently released American Community Survey (ACS).
Nearly all of Idaho’s larger counties reported a greater share of the population covered by health care insurance, except for Bonneville County.
Health Care Insurance (2019 to 2022)
- Ada (91.3% ↑ 94%)
- Bannock (90.3% ↑ 94.3%)
- Bonneville (91.8% ↓ 91.7%)
- Canyon (87% ↑ 89.2%)
- Kootenai (88.9% ↑ 92.7%)
- Twin Falls (88.9% ↑ 91.7%)
In addition to health care coverage, the American Community Survey (ACS) provides a wide-range of statistics on 40-plus topics including estimates on poverty rates and the share of population working from home.
Poverty Rates (2019 to 2022)
- Statewide, Idaho’s poverty rate decreased in 2022 compared to the 2019 estimates, moving from 7.4% to 6.8%, a decline of 8%.
- Ada and Kootenai counties experienced similar improvements with Ada County’s poverty rate declining from 6.6% to 4.5% or a decline of 5%. Kootenai County’s poverty rate dropped from 8.1% to 6.4%, declining 21%.
- The exceptions include Bannock, Bonneville, Canyon and Twin Falls counties which experienced upticks in poverty rates for all families over this same timeframe:
- Bannock (7.9% ↑ 8.8%)
- Bonneville (4.9% ↑ 6.3%)
- Canyon (5.9% ↑ 7.3%)
- Twin Falls (5.8% ↑ 9%)
Work from Home (2019 to 2022)
- Statewide, the population share of Idahoans working from home peaked during 2021, with the number of remote working almost doubling since before the pandemic. The population share rose from a 7.4% estimated share in 2019 to 13.1% in 2022. Slight declines have been noted in the latest round of 2022 data compared to 2021.
- Among the larger counties, Ada and Kootenai outpaced Idaho and touted the largest share of remote workers at 19.1% and 16.7%. Twin Falls had the smallest share of teleworkers at 8.2%, while Kootenai county almost tripled from its 6.3% share in 2019.
- Half of the six larger counties experienced a year-over-year decline in its share of remote workers — Ada, Bannock and Bonneville — while the other three counties climbed precipitously.
- Canyon saw a 28% uptick over the year (from 10% to 12.8%).
- Kootenai grew by 23% (from 13.6% to 16.7%).
- Twin Falls experienced 12.3% growth (from 7.3% to 8.2%).
The ACS replaced the long-form decennial census to provide more timely statistics rather than waiting every 10 years.
The survey contacts 3.5 million addresses annually covering 40+ topics, producing 1,140 detailed tables, 83 subject tables, five comparison profiles, narrative profiles, and multiple online Census tools. The ACS informs over $675 billion in federal funding.
The U.S. Census Bureau expects to release its 2018-2022 ACS five-year estimates later this year covering smaller geographies, as well as larger populations.
The data is available at data.census.gov.
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IdahoWorks and Idaho’s employment services programs are 100% funded by the U.S. Department of Labor as part of grants awarded under the Wagner-Peyser Act.