Is your town a job importer or a job exporter? The state Division of Financial Management, in its monthly “Idaho Outlook” publication, analyzed some Census figures that show the difference between various Idaho cities’ resident populations and daytime populations. If there are fewer residents than the total daytime population, that means folks are coming into town to work. If there are more residents than daytime population, more folks are leaving town to work than are coming in.

It turns out that by those figures, Coeur d’Alene, Sandpoint and Moscow are job importers, and Hayden and Post Falls are job exporters. By the numbers, CdA had a net of 7,018 local employees who live out of town, Sandpoint had 3,589 and Moscow had 1,961. Hayden, on the other hand, had 1,260 fewer people each day than its total residential population, and Post Falls had 1,299 fewer.

The biggest job importer in the state was Boise, with 30,874. The biggest exporter was next-door Meridian, which sends out 3,991 workers – the only surprise there being that it’s not more. Long considered a bedroom community to Boise, Meridian has grown by leaps and bounds, including its commercial sector.

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