Idaho Tobacco Retailer — a licensed seller of tobacco and vape products who is legally responsible to prevent sales to minors and to comply with all tobacco control laws. To legally sell any substance containing, made of, or derived from tobacco or nicotine; or electronic smoking devices, the retailer must have an Idaho Tobacco Permit, issued by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Idaho Tobacco Project.

The Idaho Tobacco Retailer data was obtained by the Idaho Tobacco Project, 2024. Web search techniques were used to identify unlicensed tobacco retailers.

Idaho Schools — all public, private, and Tribal Schools in Idaho serving K-12th grade. Colleges, universities, and trade/vocational schools are not included in this report. Idaho has approximately 845 public, private and Tribal K-12th grade schools serving approximately 320,000 students. Names, addresses and enrollments of public and private schools (2023-2024) were obtained from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (specifically, public school data, private school data).

Tobacco Retailers by Type — the Idaho Tobacco Project lists tobacco retailers by the following types: Convenience Stores/Gas Stations, Tobacco/Vape Shops, Grocers, Bar/Lounges, Drug Store/Pharmacy, Department/Discount Store, Restaurant, and Other. The majority of Idaho tobacco retailers are Convenience Stores/Gas Stations (50.8%) with tobacco/vape shops the next highest, (15.2%).

There were approximately 1,660 tobacco retailers in Idaho according to the Idaho Tobacco Project (2024).

Tobacco Retail Density — describes the overall concentration of tobacco retailers across a defined area (e.g. school district, city, or county).

Describing tobacco retail density by a specific population size allows for comparisons across populations of different sizes. A common tobacco retail density measure is the number of tobacco retailers per 1,000 people (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2019). This analysis measures the density of Idaho tobacco retailers per 1,000 people at both the county and school district level.

Measuring tobacco retail density provides important information on tobacco accessibility, normalization of tobacco use, and exposure to tobacco sales and promotion. High tobacco retail density is associated with high tobacco sales and marketing (CDC, 2024) high tobacco use (Lee et al., 2022), lower tobacco cessation success (Chaitan et al., 2025), and increased youth vape use in areas of high walkability (Harlow et al., 2025). Higher tobacco retail density is often disproportionally greater in neighborhoods with lower incomes and high minority populations (Golden et al., 2025) and in rural areas where convenience stores often serve as a community hub (Webb et al., 2025, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2024).

There are 0.83 tobacco retailers per 1,000 people in Idaho.

Tobacco Retail Proximity — describes the number and/or percentage of tobacco retailers within a specific distance from a specific location.

Proximity to Schools - A commonly used measure is 1,000 feet between tobacco retail and schools and other youth-oriented locations (CDC 2019, Ribisl et al., 2017). 1,000 feet is about 2-3 city blocks and a 3-4-minute walk on level ground. This interactive report allows the user to identify:

• Schools within 1,000 feet of at least one tobacco retailer.
• The percentage and the number of students in a specific school district that are within 1,000 feet of at least one tobacco retailer.

Measuring proximity of tobacco retailers to youth-oriented locations provides important information on youth's frequent exposure to tobacco products, and highly-visible tobacco marketing and promotion (Ribisl et al., 2017). In Idaho, 19.6% of schools (approximately 58,600 students) are within 1,000 feet of at least one tobacco retailer.

Proximity Between Tobacco Retailers - The distance between tobacco retailers is a second common proximity measure. There is no legal or accepted standard for the distance between tobacco retailers in Idaho. A common measure of high tobacco retail proximity is less than 500 feet between retailers. This report provides the percentage of tobacco retailers within 500 feet of one another by county and by school district.

Research supports that clustering of tobacco retail is associated with higher tobacco craving and use (Muzekari et al., 2025, Wagoner et al., 2020), decreased tobacco quitting success (Santiago-Torres et al., 2025), and early tobacco initiation and youth use (Cantrell et al., 2016).

Household Tobacco Spending by County — The analysis of household tobacco spending is based on data derived from Esri's Tapestry Segmentation System. Esri uses a proprietary model that integrates data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CEX) with other demographic and socioeconomic data. Esri's household tobacco spending data refers to estimates of the total and average amount that households spend annually on tobacco products within a specific geographic area. Tapestry data is representative of general community-level trends and is not intended to describe behaviors at an individual level. Household Tobacco Spending by County is not based on actual sales data, public health surveys, or tobacco expenditures among people who use tobacco.

Generally, household tobacco spending by county is a helpful indication of tobacco use in a population. The actual annual cost of tobacco use is much higher than the House Tobacco Spending by County measure. For example, an Idahoan smoking one pack a day of Marlboro cigarettes would spend approximately $2,920 ($8.00 per pack x 365 days) per year on direct costs. This estimate does not include the total financial burden of the cost of smoking (Shrestha et al., 2022).

Household Income — The sum of the pretax cash income for all people aged 15 and older living in the same housing unit, whether they are related or not, as defined by the U.S. Census. Household income includes all wages, salaries, self-employment, investments, Social Security, and cash benefits. It does not include non-cash benefits like health insurance or food assistance.

Median Household Income - The middle income point of a specified area, e.g., city, county, or state, where exactly half of the households earn more money and half earn less. Median Household Income represents a typical income. It is considered a better indicator of income than average income because it is not skewed by high- or low-income extremes.

Area Deprivation Index (ADI) — A scientifically validated tool that ranks neighborhoods by social disadvantage by looking at factors beyond just income. The ADI combines data on income, employment, education, and housing to determine an ADI score between 1 (lowest deprivation) and 10 (highest deprivation). The ADI is successfully used to identify, evaluate, and improve factors that impact health and quality of life across populations (Kind & Buckingham, 2018). Research supports that low-income and minority neighborhoods can have up to five times more tobacco retailers than high income areas (Ribisl et al., 2017).

Area Deprivation Index data are from the Neighborhood Atlas.