Kacey Gavin was “dead set” on staying in the Seattle area, where she grew up before enrolling at Washington State University. Then a series of internships took her across the country.
Her first move was to North Dakota. Her second was to Boise, Idaho, where she interned at semiconductor company Micron in 2023. The city was “fun” and “bustling,” and people were friendly, Gavin says. Plus, housing was cheap—she says she moved into a subsidized, furnished apartment for around just $250 a month. But mostly, Gavin loved the work. “I thought Boise was too far away,” she says, but after a positive experience, “I’m way more open to it than I was before.”
Gavin isn’t alone. Young people are increasingly exploring roles inland in the US, leaving behind bigger coastal cities while shifting the types of jobs they seek, according to a new report from Handshake, a career site geared toward students and recent grads in the US. Applications on Handshake are up 116 percent year-over-year for roles in Boise, the company’s data shows. That increase is second only to Columbia, Maryland, which sits between Baltimore and Washington, DC. Handshake’s report also found that students are moving away from traditionally popular roles like internet and software companies, and increasingly applying to roles in government, hardware, semiconductor companies, and manufacturing.
Boise, among the most isolated cities in the US, is nearly five hours from Salt Lake City and seven from Portland, Oregon. But it has become home to a growing tech boom over the past decade. Micron is building a $15 billion manufacturing facility expected to open in 2025 there, and two homegrown companies have been acquired by big names: Kount by Equifax in 2021, and TSheets by Intuit in 2017. Boise’s population has grown to 235,000 people, up 30,000 since 2010. A 2022 report found that Idaho had the second largest increase in tech jobs of any US state. With more affordable living costs, Boise is drawing tech workers who want a blend of nature, city life, and work-life balance alongside stability and opportunity.
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