State report · National rank #6 of 50
Idaho
Idaho is excellent zombie-survival territory for groups prepared to live remotely. It combines mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, farmland, livestock, hydropower, and a relatively small population spread across large areas. Rugged terrain provides defensible refuges and multiple ways to isolate a community. The catch is wildfire, severe winters, difficult mountain travel, limited medical access, and dependence on a few transportation corridors for supplies and movement between population centers.
Personal assessment
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Idaho scored three times
A state that handles shamblers can get erased by sprinters. Here is how Idaho performs under each outbreak model.
Slow zombies reward distance, local food, water, defensive terrain and the luxury of time. Idaho starts with about 2,029,733 people, but the real advantage is the resource-to-population ratio once you leave the main cities — 11.5 million farm acres across 22,400 operations, and 2.50 million cattle and calves.
Fast zombies turn transportation into a timing problem. A six-lane highway is useful right up until six lanes stop moving. Idaho scores well because Boise is the only real concentration and the rest of the state is lightly populated, but canyon roads and mountain passes can choke.
Yes, we know they're not technically zombies. This is about keeping a settlement alive for years rather than surviving one bad afternoon. Idaho's food output is not stored supplies — it is a functioning production base, backed by hydroelectricity and real wilderness.
What helps
- Mountains, canyons, forests, high desert, river valleys and enormous federal wilderness
- The Snake River system, mountain snowpack, aquifers, reservoirs, lakes and extensive river networks
- 11.5 million acres across 22,400 farm operations
- 2.50 million cattle and calves
- 18.258 billion pounds of milk, 138.38 million hundredweight of potatoes, 106.56 million bushels of wheat and 54.88 million bushels of barley in 2025
- 5,548 MW of net summer capacity in 2024, with hydroelectricity as the primary energy source
- Mountain Home Air Force Base, Gowen Field and Idaho National Guard forces
What hurts
- Wildfire, drought, winter storms, flooding, earthquakes and landslides
- Rural isolation trades safety for thinner medical and repair capacity
- Major transport corridors become liabilities when everyone moves at once
- Mountain routes and fire can isolate communities entirely
Personal assessment
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Get my free ZSI scoreThe reason for the score
Idaho's zombie superpowers
Mountains, canyons, forests, high desert, river valleys and enormous federal wilderness define how infected move, where people can hide, and which roads become mandatory. The best refuge is not simply the remotest place — it is where terrain, water, food, energy and access overlap.
1 · Mountains everywhere
Idaho's terrain does exactly what survivors want from geography: it slows movement, creates observation points, separates valleys and makes large-scale swarms much harder to move efficiently.
2 · Food far beyond its population
USDA lists 11.5 million farm acres, 2.5 million cattle, more than 18 billion pounds of milk and enormous potato, wheat and barley output.
3 · Hydropower
Hydroelectricity is Idaho's primary power source, which is a genuine renewable-generation advantage in a long collapse.
4 · Real wilderness
Idaho has genuine backcountry, not suburban green space with a trailhead attached.
The catch
Fire, distance and winter
Wildfire
The same forests and mountain communities that look perfect can become evacuation traps when fire closes a canyon road.
Medical distance
The farther you go into the good terrain, the farther you get from advanced medicine and parts.
Winter
Cold hurts zombies. It also punishes anyone who thought a sleeping bag was a heating system.
The framework
25 survival factors, scored 1–10
Every state is measured on the same 25 factors. Weighting shifts by scenario — terrain matters more against sprinters, agriculture matters more in a long collapse.
Tactics
What works, by scenario
| Strategy | Walking Dead | World War Z | Last of Us |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rural farm or ranch with independent water | Excellent | Very good if reached early | Excellent |
| Small agricultural town | Very good | Good | Excellent |
| Remote site with no food system | Good early | Very good for isolation | Poor long-term |
| Major highway evacuation | Good early, bad late | Terrible late | Poor after collapse |
| Major metro shelter | Poor | Terrible | Poor |
| Distributed renewable power | Very good | Good | Excellent |
| Hunting and fishing supplement | Very good | Good | Very good |
| One-road refuge | Risky | Risky | Risky |
Geography
Where to be
Central Idaho, Salmon-Challis fringe
Water, mountains, forests, small communities and exceptional separation from anything crowded.
- Reliable river or snowpack water
- Working agriculture within reach
- Mountain barriers limiting approaches
- More than one road out — this matters in fire season
Rural northern Idaho
Forests, lakes and agriculture with low population exposure and real timber for heat.
Snake River Plain farm country away from Boise
Excellent food and water depth, but more open terrain and corridor exposure.
Where not to be
Boise and the Treasure Valley
The state's largest population concentration and its primary transport corridor, both at once.
One-road canyon communities during fire season
Beautiful until the exit disappears, and then not beautiful at all.
Remote cabin with no winter logistics
Isolation is not self-sufficiency. They are different things and only one of them feeds you.
Verdict
88 out of 100 · Grade B+ · Rank #6
Idaho is excellent zombie-survival territory for groups prepared to live remotely. It combines mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, farmland, livestock, hydropower, and a relatively small population spread across large areas. Rugged terrain provides defensible refuges and multiple ways to isolate a community. The catch is wildfire, severe winters, difficult mountain travel, limited medical access, and dependence on a few transportation corridors for supplies and movement between population centers.
Walking Dead 93. World War Z 88. Last of Us 83.
Method & sources
Where the numbers come from
The Zombie Survival Index is a fictional entertainment ranking that uses real public data as its inputs. Every state is scored on the same 25 factors under three outbreak models, and the overall number blends those results. All fifty states have been assessed and normalised against the same national scoring set.
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 Population Estimates and QuickFacts
- USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2025 State Agriculture Overview
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, State Electricity Profile
- State water-resource and environmental agencies
- State emergency-management agencies
- U.S. Department of Defense and National Guard installation sources
- State wildlife, hunting and fishing agencies
- NOAA and state climatology and hazard sources