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Earthquakes Near Me / Idaho

Idaho Earthquakes: Recent Quakes and the Largest on Record

Idaho averages 237 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more a year (2016 to 2025), and the largest in the USGS catalog since 1900 is the M6.9 of October 28, 1983, the Borah Peak Earthquake, Idaho.

Live from the USGS

Earthquakes near Boise in the last 30 days

Every quake within 155 miles of Boise, Idaho’s largest city, newest first. For your own address, enter a ZIP code.

Within
Magnitude
Reading the USGS earthquake catalog for magnitude 1.5 and up within 155 miles of Boise.

Live from the USGS earthquake catalog. Times are Mountain time; felt reports and the shaking level come from Did You Feel It? A new quake can take a few minutes to appear and its magnitude can be revised.

Idaho by the numbers

USGS catalog, read October 10, 2026
237
Quakes of M2.5+ a year
the average, 2016 to 2025
7th
Rank of 50 states
by quakes of M2.5+ a year
M6.9
Largest since 1900
October 28, 1983
6
M3+ in 2026
through October 10, 2026

Idaho averages 237 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more a year, counting 2,374 from 2016 to 2025, which ranks it 7th of the fifty states.

Since 1990

Idaho earthquakes by year

The USGS catalog lists 1,243 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more in Idaho from 1990 to 2025, the most in 2020 (291). 2016 to 2025: 733; 2006 to 2015: 113.

Magnitude 3 and up in Idaho, 1990 to 2025; the tallest bar is 291. From the USGS catalog, read October 10, 2026.
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Since 1900

The 10 largest earthquakes in Idaho

The largest earthquake in Idaho in the USGS catalog since 1900 is the M6.9 of October 28, 1983, the Borah Peak Earthquake, Idaho. The most recent of magnitude 4 or more was the M4.3 of June 8, 2025, 24 km E of Clayton, Idaho.

  1. 1M6.9
    The 1983 Borah Peak Earthquake, IdahoOctober 28, 1983, 6.2 mi (10 km) deep
  2. 2M6.5
    Stanley, IdahoMarch 31, 2020, 7.5 mi (12 km) deep
  3. 3M6.1
    37 km N of Stanley, IdahoJuly 12, 1944, 6.2 mi (10 km) deep
  4. 4M6.1
    17 km NE of Snowville, UtahMarch 28, 1975, 3.1 mi (5 km) deep
  5. 5M6.0
    44 km NNW of Stanley, IdahoFebruary 14, 1945, 6.2 mi (10 km) deep
  6. 6M5.6
    18 km ESE of Challis, IdahoAugust 22, 1984, 6.2 mi (10 km) deep
  7. 7M5.5
    Near Shoshone, IdahoNovember 11, 1905
  8. 8M5.5
    22 km E of Clayton, IdahoOctober 29, 1983, 6.2 mi (10 km) deep
  9. 9M5.4
    15 km S of Oakley, IdahoNovember 19, 1937
  10. 10M5.4
    29 km NW of Mackay, IdahoOctober 28, 1983, 4.6 mi (7 km) deep

From the USGS ComCat catalog, every magnitude since 1900, read October 10, 2026. Each place links to the quake’s USGS page.

The faults

Fault zones in Idaho

  • Lost River Fault
  • Lemhi Fault
  • Sawtooth fault
  • Eastern Bear Lake Fault
  • West Cache Fault Zone
“Notably, a M6.9 earthquake occured along the Lost River Fault in 1983, causing surface ruptures typical of earthquakes in this region as well as extensive aftershocks.”

Named by the Idaho Geological Survey, read October 9, 2026.

When it shakes

What to do in an earthquake

  1. 1

    Drop

    Drop where you are onto hands and knees.

  2. 2

    Cover

    Cover your head and neck with one arm and hand. If a sturdy table or desk is nearby, crawl underneath it for shelter. If no shelter is nearby, crawl next to an interior wall (away from windows). Stay on your knees; bend over to protect vital organs.

  3. 3

    Hold On

    Hold until the shaking stops. If under shelter, hold on with one hand and be ready to move with it when the shelter moves. If not under shelter, hold on to your head and neck with both arms and hands.

Ready.gov’s words, from Ready.gov: Earthquakes (updated Sep 9, 2026, read October 9, 2026). Practice it with The Great ShakeOut: Earthquake Drills.

Black and white aerial photograph of fresh fault scarps cutting across a sagebrush valley floor at the foot of a mountain range
Fault scarps outlining the trough left by the 1983 Borah Peak earthquake in Idaho, near Willow Creek at Doublespring Pass Road. “Fault Scarp Borah Peak Earthquake 1983”, R.E. Wallace, USGS Earthquake Information Bulletin 501, Public domain
Questions

Idaho earthquake questions

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Other states

Earthquakes in every state

Earthquakes near any ZIP code

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Sources. The live list: the USGS FDSN event service. Idaho’s counts and largest quakes: the USGS ComCat catalog, read October 10, 2026, counted inside the state’s Census boundary and within 150 km of its coast where USGS names the state. Boise: the state’s most populous city in the Census Vintage 2024 estimates. Older years hold fewer small quakes because fewer instruments were listening.

Hero photograph: the San Andreas Fault across the Carrizo Plain. “Kluft-photo-Carrizo-Plain-Nov-2007-Img 0327” by Ikluft, CC BY-SA 4.0