Things have changed a bit since you were here last. About 1/2 a million people live in the Treasure Valley, including 205,000 in Boise. We even have indoor plumbing now!
Hey, I moved to a state that people routinely criticize. It’s no big deal, to each his own. I love my adopted home state.
Boise is still far to small for what I consider “job security.” There are about 1.5 million in Phoenix alone. A half million in Boise PLUS surrounding areas is very small, especially considering the isolation. Boise is not even in the top 100 US cities for population.
Boise is still 5-6 hours from what I’d consider a major city (for my purposes). You get laid off, you have a good chance of relocating quite far away. Since we moved, my husband has been laid off twice. Both times he’s been able to find a better job within a week. If worse came to worse, we’d have to relocate about three hours away, in many different directions. Since almost all of our family followed us when we moved, it’s very important to us that we are all able to stay fairly close to each other. Three hours away would suck but is acceptable for a day trip. Six hours is not acceptable to me.
Idaho is beautiful and has many things to offer, but this is what killed it for me. YMMV, obviously.