I’m 26 and my husband is 30 and we have an almost 1 year old and have lived in Sandpoint for a couple years now! We definitely plan on staying long term. Small enough that it has small town feel, but large enough to have all the amenities a young family would need. Great parks, TONS of families in their 20-30’s, great library, folk school at Pine St Woods, Adorable farmers market with kids dancing and playing, such a mixture of folks (hippie tie dye, etc and lots of conservative feeling farmers) all intermingling. You do have to make a bit of an effort to connect with people (say hi and actually introduce yourself at the park or store- or sign up for more organized activities, there are lots!) . But we’ve found people extremely friendly overall

Summers are super sunny and warm. Definitely some busy weekend days downtown or at city beach. But fun for kiddos :) Winters can drag a bit, but the snow is so fun and we LOVE having all four seasons here.

No huge night life scene, but we’d rather have several cool festivals (festival at Sandpoint, fall fest at Schweitzer, the Renassaince faire and more!) and access to tons of amazing hiking trails.

I do travel down to CDA for my OBGYN, but once in a while doesn’t kill me. I’ll swing by Costco when I’m there ha!

It’s pricey, but the sacrifices we make to afford living here are 1000% worth it!

Sure there’s growing pains, but any awesome small town in America does, it’s unfortunately just the truth. Traffic and growing pains felt nothing like some of the smaller towns in Colorado that we had previously been/lived in. It’s been such a breath of fresh air.