Despite continuing hardships from 2020, local finance and economy experts are optimistic about some aspects going into 2021. Moreover, at the state level, Idaho is making a promising comeback, though not without a warning about current and rising housing prices potentially pricing out low-income groups.

Idaho became the first state in the country to regain net positive job growth, said Robert Spendlove, economic and public policy officer with Zions Bank, and Idaho is back to where it was in terms of labor force participation rate. While the nation continues to be down about 6% in net job gains, Idaho is up 0.5%.