About Idaho
Idaho is a state of superlatives hiding in plain sight. It has more miles of river than any other state in the contiguous United States. It contains the largest wilderness area in the lower 48. It grows more potatoes than any other state in the country. It hosts one of the only American manufacturers of semiconductor memory chips in the world. And it has been one of the fastest-growing states in the nation for over a decade.
Idaho's geography is defined by the Snake River, which enters from Wyoming, carves a broad arc across the southern part of the state, plunges through Hells Canyon , the deepest river gorge in North America, and exits into Washington. The river irrigates the volcanic plain that grows Idaho's famous potatoes and hosts most of the state's population. North of the plain, the Sawtooth, Bitterroot, and Clearwater mountain ranges rise into some of the most remote wilderness in the country.
Idaho is politically among the most conservative states in the nation, reliably Republican in statewide and federal elections for decades. But the rapid influx of residents from more liberal West Coast states has introduced new political and cultural tensions into communities that had changed relatively little for generations.
Geography, Four Distinct Regions
Idaho's unusual shape, wide in the south, narrowing to the thin panhandle in the north, contains some of the most varied terrain in the American West.
Economy
Idaho's economy blends deep agricultural roots with a fast-growing technology sector, world-class outdoor recreation, critical nuclear research, and rare-gem mining, a diversity unusual for a state of its size.
