History Degrees in Idaho

Idaho’s 1889 constitution required voters to swear they did not practice or advocate polygamy, or belong to any organization that did. In practice that disqualified members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints whatever their own conduct, something on the order of 10,000 to 12,000 people in a state of about 88,000 at statehood. The Supreme Court upheld it in 1890. The legislature stopped enforcing it in 1893, and the words stayed in the state constitution until 1982. Idaho’s cheapest history degree today is at a Latter-day Saint university, which is the sort of thing a hundred years of documents will do.

Idaho has 7 colleges and universities offering history degrees, with 12 programs among them: 8 bachelor’s degrees, 3 master’s degrees, and 1 doctorate.

That single doctorate is at the University of Idaho, and no institution in the state holds R1 research classification for the subject.

Top History Schools in Idaho

Seven Idaho schools offer history, so we publish a top three. Our scoring uses the same four factors as every state we cover: history degree offerings and program variety (40%), student outcomes (25%), reputation (20%), and affordability (15%). Idaho and Boise State tie for depth at 3 programs each. Outcomes go to Boise State at 60% and Idaho at 57%. Reputation cannot separate them, because all three are R2 and none is R1. Affordability is close as well: $8,610, $9,048, and $9,084. Here are Idaho’s best history degrees.

Most Affordable History Degrees in Idaho

Most affordable history degrees in Idaho

Rank	School	Program	Tuition per year
1	Brigham Young University-Idaho	B.A. in History	$4,800
2	Lewis-Clark State College	Bachelor's in History	$7,610
3	Idaho State University	Bachelor's in History	$8,610
4	Boise State University	Bachelor's in History	$9,048
5	University of Idaho	B.A. in History	$9,084
6	The College of Idaho	Bachelor's in History	$37,845
7	Northwest Nazarene University	B.A. in History	$40,794

Annual in-state tuition and fees. This is the whole field, not a top ten: seven schools is all Idaho has. Note that the cheapest option is a private college, which is true on almost no other page.

History Education in Idaho

Idaho reverses the usual price pattern. The cheapest history degree in the state is at a private college: Brigham Young University-Idaho at $4,800, which undercuts every public university here and is the third-lowest published figure for a history degree anywhere in the country, behind only Georgia and North Carolina. BYU-Idaho is subsidized by its church, which is why it sits where it does; on nearly every other state page the cheapest option is public.

The rest of the private sector is at the opposite end. After BYU-Idaho the next private college charges $37,845, so Idaho’s three private institutions occupy both extremes of the cost list and nothing in the middle.

The public universities cluster tightly between $7,610 and $9,084, and the three ranked schools sit at $8,610, $9,048, and $9,084. Price is not the deciding factor between them; what they offer is.

Research capacity is the state’s clear limit. Idaho has no R1 history department and one doctorate, at the University of Idaho. Anyone planning doctoral study has exactly one in-state option, and anyone wanting an R1 environment will be leaving.

Boise State is the school to look at for range. It offers the state’s only Bachelor’s in History of Art and Visual Culture alongside a general history degree, and it runs two of Idaho’s three online programs. Our guide to online history degrees covers the wider distance field.

Transfer works on General Education Matriculation, and the threshold matters more than the framework. All public institutions in Idaho recognize GEM course articulation, and a transfer student arriving without an associate degree who has at least 36 GEM semester credits is treated as core certified. You do not need to finish the degree first, only to accumulate the credits, which protects students who move partway through. The Idaho State Board of Education publishes the framework.

Becoming a History Teacher in Idaho

Idaho’s arrangement is unusual and worth understanding before you plan a degree. A Social Studies endorsement requires an additional endorsement in either political science or history. The broad credential does not stand alone; it has to be paired with a subject one.

For a history major that is good news, because the history endorsement is the natural companion. It does mean the planning is two-part instead of one, and the coursework needs to satisfy both.

The content assessment is the Praxis Social Studies test, code 5581, which took effect in October 2025. Because that is a recent change, check the current test and passing score with the Department instead of relying on older guidance.

Confirm current requirements with the Idaho State Department of Education before choosing a program.

History Careers in Idaho

History Careers in Idaho

Occupation	Idaho jobs	Idaho median	vs. U.S. median
Secondary school teachers	6,570	$61,690	-14%
Curators	50	$62,190	-2%
Archivists	30	$58,370	-10%
Postsecondary history teachers	not published	not published	n/a
Historians	not published	not published	n/a

Employment and wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Idaho’s figures for postsecondary history teachers and historians were withheld entirely, both counts and wages.

Two of the five rows are suppressed, which is common in states this size, and what remains is closer to national than most small states manage.

Curators earn $62,190, only 2% below the national median, which is effectively level. The count is 50 positions, so this is a small market paying at the going rate rather than a large one paying badly.

Archivists are 10% below national on 30 jobs, and secondary school teaching is 14% below across 6,570 positions, which is where nearly all the employment sits.

The absence of published figures for college teaching is worth noting given the state has only one doctoral department. Idaho does not generate enough postsecondary history posts for the Bureau to report them, which is consistent with a state holding a single history Ph.D. program.

History Resources in Idaho

• Idaho State Archives and Research Center, on Old Penitentiary Road in Boise. Public access to state records of legal, administrative, and cultural value. Appointments are generally booked 48 hours ahead, with the reading room open Wednesday to Saturday, so plan a visit instead of turning up.
• Idaho State Historical Society, Boise, which runs the archives alongside the state museum and a government records program, so the collecting and the public interpretation sit under one agency.

Frequently Asked Questions