Boise is the biggest city in the Treasure Valley in southwestern Oregon. The metropolitan area has a little more than a half of a million people, making it the largest metro area in the state. It’s also one of the most remote metropolitan areas in the country (the nearest international airport is in Salt Lake City a few hundred miles away), so the residents of the area have a tight knit, unique sense of community. The city of Boise has about 200,000 residents. It is often cited as having an exceptionally high standard of living in national publications.

Boise is the capital of Idaho and the county seat of Ada County. Boise was named by French trappers in the area. Cottonwood trees line the river, so the trappers named it Boise, meaning “wooded” in French. Boise’s nickname is “The City of Trees.”

The original Ft. Boise was a little west of where the city is now. It was founded by the Hudson Bay Company originally in the 1830s, and then used by the US Army during the Civil War. Boise was incorporated as a city during the war, in 1864, and then established as the state capital the following year.

Many major corporations have either headquarters or large branches in the area. Some of those are Idaho Power, Albertsons, Simplot, the Washington Group, Hewlett Packard, and Microsoft. There’s a group of high-tech companies in the area specializing in e-commerce and customer support centers.

Being the state capital, the government is one of the main employers in the city, as is Boise State University, the largest university in Idaho.

Note that if you pronounce Boise “Boy-Z,” you’re going to quickly be pegged as a visitor. Local pronunciation is “Boy-C,” with a soft “s” sound. Say it that way, and you’ll blend right in.