Idaho Falls apartment development is running at a steadier pace in 2026 than it did during the 2023-2024 permit surge, but the rules that govern what can be built have loosened. New state laws took effect July 1, 2026, the city overhauled its impact fees in June, and several income-restricted and townhome projects are in the pipeline. For owners of existing apartment buildings, that mix shapes rent competition, buyer interest and how a property should be positioned over the next few years.
This guide walks through the zoning districts that allow multifamily housing in Idaho Falls, the city’s comprehensive plan, recent code and fee changes, the Idaho laws passed in 2026, the projects that have been built or proposed, and the demand picture tied to population growth and Idaho National Laboratory. It closes with what all of this means for owners who already hold rental property in the city.
Idaho Falls growth by the numbers
Idaho Falls is the largest city in Bonneville County. According to U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts for Idaho Falls, the city had an estimated 71,785 residents on July 1, 2025, up 9.4% from the April 2020 estimates base of 65,605. The 2020 Census count itself was 64,818. Adding roughly 6,000 residents in about five years is significant for a city of this size, and every one of those households needs a place to live.
The broader county is growing at a similar rate. Census estimates put Bonneville County at 135,771 residents in July 2025, a 9.5% gain from its 2020 base, with 52,208 housing units. The county includes neighboring Ammon and Iona, so some regional apartment supply lands just outside Idaho Falls city limits but competes for the same renters.
A few household figures from the Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 American Community Survey help frame the rental market:
- Owner-occupied rate. 64.2% of occupied housing units in Idaho Falls are owner-occupied, which means roughly a third of households rent.
- Median gross rent. $1,075 per month in the city, compared with $1,133 across Bonneville County.
- Median household income. $73,110 in 2024 dollars.
- Household size. 2.68 persons per household.
These are five-year survey averages, so they trail current asking rents. They are still the most reliable baseline for comparing Idaho Falls with other Idaho markets.
Building permit trends in Bonneville County
Permit data shows how quickly new supply arrived. Census Bureau building permit figures for Bonneville County, published through the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED database, record the number of new private housing units authorized each year:
- 2018-2020. Between 825 and 880 units per year.
- 2021. 1,100 units.
- 2022. 1,141 units.
- 2023. 1,619 units.
- 2024. 2,254 units, the highest year in the series shown.
- 2025. 1,219 units, which matches the 2025 figure Census QuickFacts reports for the county.
The pattern matters more than any single year. Permitting roughly doubled from the 2018-2020 baseline to 2024, then fell back by close to half in 2025. Because apartment projects typically take 18 months to two years to build after permitting, units authorized in 2023 and 2024 are the ones delivering and leasing up in 2025 and 2026. The 2025 slowdown suggests fewer new deliveries in 2027 and beyond, assuming the trend holds.
These are county-level totals that include single-family homes, townhomes and multifamily units together, so they do not isolate apartment construction. Still, they are the clearest official indicator of how much new housing is competing for renters across the Idaho Falls area.
The comprehensive plan: Imagine IF
The city’s comprehensive plan is called Imagine IF, subtitled “A Plan to Move Idaho Falls Forward Together.” The current version is posted on the city’s planning page as Imagine IF 2026. Idaho’s Local Land Use Planning Act requires the plan to address 17 elements, and the zoning map and code are expected to be consistent with it.
When planning staff presented the final report to the City Council in a December 2021 work session, housing was one of five themes, alongside transportation and connectivity, community health, economic development and growth, and community design. The plan emphasizes infill development, uses urban transects to describe how land use should step down from the core to the edges, and aims for more housing diversity rather than a one-size-fits-all approach to neighborhoods. Each theme carries an action plan with objectives, timeframes and costs.
Two follow-up efforts are worth knowing about. The city’s Missing Middle Housing work includes a scan of barriers to duplexes, triplexes, townhomes and small apartment buildings, plus a testing-and-solutions report. A separate Walkable Centers study, prepared with Utah State University’s landscape architecture department, looks at concentrating housing and services in compact nodes. Neither rezones property on its own, but both inform how planning staff evaluate rezoning requests and code amendments.
In practice, the plan is the yardstick for any rezoning. In October 2025, for example, the Planning Commission validated that the Riverside Urban Renewal Project conformed to the plan because the area is designated mixed use and the landowner’s concept combined commercial, office, retail and residential uses.
Zoning districts that allow multifamily in Idaho Falls
Idaho Falls regulates land use through Title 11 of its city code. Chapter 3, Zoning Regulations, sets out the districts and their density limits. The residential zones that matter most for apartment development are:
- R2 Mixed Residential. Smaller lots and denser development with one to four dwelling units per lot, up to 17 gross units per acre.
- TN Traditional Neighborhood. Walkable, historic-style neighborhoods with small lots, mixed housing types, grid streets and rear alleys, up to 15 gross units per acre.
- R3 Multiple Dwelling Residential. The core multifamily zone, intended for denser and varied dwelling types, usually near collector and arterial streets, up to 35 gross units per acre.
- R3A Residential Mixed Use. Primarily residential at up to 35 gross units per acre, but also allows offices and some semi-commercial uses that fit a residential character.
- CC Central Commercial. The downtown zone, which mixes housing and commercial uses in the densely developed central city.
Lower-density zones such as RE Residential Estate, RP Residential Park and R1 Single Dwelling Residential are aimed at single-unit homes. Planning Commission minutes from October 2025 note R1 allows about 6 units per acre, which is why townhome projects in R1 often use a planned unit development (PUD) to adjust density and site layout in exchange for amenities.
Compatibility rules that shape site plans
Density is only part of the picture. Chapter 3 requires multi-unit or commercial buildings taller than 24 feet on a lot next to RE, RP, R1 or TN zoning to add 2 feet of setback for every additional foot of height, with a 30-foot minimum. That buffer can limit how tall a project can go on a site bordering single-family neighborhoods, even in R3.
Recent code amendments
The zoning chapter has been amended many times since 2018. A few changes stand out for housing:
- Accessory dwelling units. In 2022 the City Council voted 5-1 to permit ADUs in every residential zoning district, with a 12-foot rear setback. ADUs were already allowed in nearly all of them.
- Alley-related setback reductions. Ordinance 3623, dated July 31, 2025, reduced setbacks tied to alley access, which can help small-lot and townhome layouts where garages load from the rear.
- State-law updates. In June 2026 the Planning and Zoning Commission took up code updates on ADUs and short-term rentals to align with newly passed state legislation.
What’s being built: Idaho Falls apartment development projects
Recent projects show where new multifamily supply is going and who is building it. The examples below come from local news reports and state housing finance records, and they are not a complete inventory.
Market-rate apartments
Pioneer Crossing Apartments broke ground in October 2021 at 3040 South Fork Boulevard in the Jackson Hole Junction area, with 227 one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from about 600 to 1,100 square feet, according to East Idaho News.
The Ivory at Woodruff, a 99-unit project that is mostly one-bedroom units, broke ground in June 2022 with an expected construction timeline of 18 months to two years.
Income-restricted and senior housing
Black Feather started construction in October 2023 at 600 West Anderson Street, next to A.H. Bush Elementary. The Post Register reported 156 income-restricted units in three buildings on seven acres, with $4 million from Idaho’s Workforce Housing Trust Fund and an award from the 2023 Low-Income Housing Tax Credit round.
The pipeline continues. The Idaho Housing and Finance Association’s list of 2026 tax credit applications received includes four new-construction projects in Idaho Falls totaling 202 units:
- Ridgeview Senior. 55 units at 600 West Anderson Street.
- Orchard Senior II. 55 units near 2323 South Holmes Avenue.
- Hoopes Ave Apartments I. 46 units at 1560 South Hoopes Avenue.
- Hoopes Ave Apartments II. 46 units at the same address.
These are applications, not awards, and tax credit rounds are competitive. Still, they show that developers see sustained demand for affordable and senior rentals in the city.
Townhomes and for-sale density
Not all new density is rental. In October 2025 the Planning Commission recommended approval of Sage Lakes, a PUD with 246 for-sale townhome units in an R2 zone at about 12 units per acre, below the 17 allowed. Neighbors raised traffic, water pressure, school capacity and investor ownership concerns. Smaller projects, such as the 14-unit Willows Place Townhomes in R1, followed a similar path. For-sale townhomes still matter to apartment owners because they compete for the same first-time buyers who would otherwise keep renting.
Idaho laws reshaping housing development in 2026
The 2026 Idaho Legislature passed several bills that override parts of local zoning in cities with more than 10,000 residents, a threshold Idaho Falls clears easily. According to the Idaho Legislature’s 2026 session law list, these took effect July 1, 2026:
- SB 1352 (starter home subdivisions). Requires larger cities to allow starter home subdivisions of at least four acres with lots as small as 1,500 square feet, and bars them from charging higher permit, impact or utility connection fees than for other single-family subdivisions.
- SB 1354 (accessory dwelling units). Allows owners in larger cities to build an ADU in residential zones and requires local rules that make approval easier, with exceptions for historic districts.
- HB 800 (manufactured homes). Allows manufactured homes on residentially zoned lots statewide unless HOA restrictions apply.
- HB 583 (short-term rentals). Prevents cities and counties from effectively banning short-term rentals or imposing rules that do not also apply to similar single-family homes.
A fifth bill could matter most for mid-size apartment buildings. House Bill 706, signed April 10, 2026 and effective July 1, 2026, lets cities amend their building codes to allow single-stair buildings, which can reach up to six stories with added fire detection, sprinklers and fire separation. It is optional, so it changes nothing in Idaho Falls unless the city adopts it, but single-stair designs can make small infill lots work for apartments that would not pencil with two stairwells.
Two other proposals did not become law. SB 1353, which would have required larger cities to allow duplexes on any residential lot, failed 7-7 in the House Business Committee. HB 705, which would have allowed multifamily housing in commercially zoned areas, stayed in committee after its introduction in February.
Impact fees and the cost of new construction
Idaho Falls first adopted development impact fees in 2022 under the Idaho Development Impact Fee Act, Title 67, Chapter 82 of Idaho Code, which requires a capital improvements plan and limits fees to a development’s proportionate share of growth-related infrastructure. The original ordinance drew pushback from builders who argued the fees would raise housing costs.
The city updated the program in 2026. Per the City of Idaho Falls news release, the City Council approved the revised ordinance on April 23, 2026, and it took effect June 1, 2026. The biggest change for housing is that residential fees moved from a flat per-unit charge to a square footage-based assessment, meant to reflect a project’s size and expected demand on infrastructure. The fees fund growth-related portions of projects such as the Police Complex, a northside fire station, Heritage Park improvements, Utah Avenue and Holmes Avenue roadway work, and a pathway along the Idaho Canal.
For apartment developers, a square footage basis generally means smaller units carry a lighter fee than larger ones. That can nudge new projects toward studios and one-bedrooms. Owners of older buildings with larger two- and three-bedroom units may find less direct competition from new construction in those floor plans as a result.
INL and the demand behind new supply
Idaho National Laboratory is the main economic engine behind Idaho Falls rental demand. In September 2025, INL Director John Wagner told the Idaho Capital Sun that the lab had about 6,000 employees, up from roughly 4,000 about seven years earlier, after hiring 700 to 1,000 people a year in recent years. East Idaho News put the count at about 6,200 in December 2024.
Wagner also said the lab’s staffing is now “right-sized,” so he does not expect hiring to continue at that pace, though attrition and retirements will keep recruiting steady. In February 2026, INL’s operating contractor, Battelle Energy Alliance, confirmed an involuntary separation program; sources told local media it affected fewer than 1% of employees.
For the rental market, that adds up to a large, well-paid employment base that is no longer adding jobs as fast as it was in 2022-2024. New engineers, technicians and contractors still arrive every year and often rent first, but the explosive demand that coincided with the 2024 permit peak has cooled.
What new supply means for existing building owners
New construction does not hit every property the same way. Here is how the current Idaho Falls cycle tends to play out for owners of established buildings:
- Lease-up concessions spill over. When large projects like 200-plus-unit complexes lease up at once, they often offer free rent or reduced deposits. Class B and C buildings nearby can feel that pressure on renewals even though they compete on price rather than amenities.
- The supply wave is easing. With county permits down by nearly half in 2025, fewer deliveries are likely after the current lease-up period, which should give existing buildings more pricing room over time.
- Affordable projects serve a different renter. Income-restricted and senior communities, like Black Feather and the 2026 tax credit applicants, mostly draw households with income limits. They compete less directly with market-rate older buildings than new luxury product does.
- Small-scale infill is coming. State ADU rules and starter home subdivisions will add scattered rentals and entry-level homes. That is a slow-moving source of competition for small apartment buildings and duplexes.
- Replacement cost supports values. Higher construction costs and impact fees raise the price of building new units. When new apartments cost more to build, well-maintained existing buildings with lower basis can compete on rent while still holding value.
Owners weighing a hold-versus-sell decision can start by running current rents and expenses through an apartment building value calculator, then compare the result with nearby sales. If you are exploring the market more directly, our page on selling an apartment building in Idaho Falls covers local considerations, and the Idaho multifamily market overview puts Idaho Falls in a statewide context.
Key takeaways for Idaho Falls investors
Idaho Falls added people quickly during the first half of the decade, and builders responded with a permit spike that peaked in 2024. That supply is now being absorbed while permitting has slowed and INL hiring has leveled off. Meanwhile, Idaho’s 2026 laws and the city’s new square footage-based impact fees are changing the economics of small-lot housing, ADUs and compact apartment designs.
For passive investors and owners, the practical questions are where a building sits relative to new lease-ups, which renter segment it serves, and how its unit mix compares with what is being built. Watching Planning Commission agendas for R3, R3A and PUD requests, along with Idaho Housing and Finance Association award announcements, is one of the simplest ways to see the next round of competition before it breaks ground.
