Published
How many homes does Ashton build a year? The city's own permit record, 2020-2024
Where the number comes from
Every figure on this page comes from one document: the City of Ashton’s own draft comprehensive plan, dated August 18, 2026 and re-pulled from the city’s website on 21 October 2026. It is the draft, not the adopted book — and the plan is honest about that in its own text:
“The planning process extended over a XX-month timeframe, with plan adoption occurring in XX.”
— City of Ashton Comprehensive Plan 2025, draft dated 8.18.26, chapter 1. Retrieved 21 October 2026
Those two XX blanks are adoption placeholders, left unfilled. Where the document stands:
- Noticed: the city published a hearing for October 15, 2026 — “TO ADOPT an amended Comprehensive Plan & Future Land Use Map for the City of Ashton, Idaho.”
- Governing today: until adoption, the plan that governs is the one from 2008.
- Worth reading anyway: the draft already carries what nobody else publishes — the city’s own count of what gets permitted here. The city clerk’s office at 714 Main Street, (208) 652-3987, can tell you where adoption stands.
How many new homes does Ashton build a year?
The plan’s Table 2 counts every city building permit from 2020 through 2024. We re-extracted the table from the live PDF in two independent modes before printing it; both read the same. The count the whole table hangs on:
“The number of building permits can provide insight to the local growth of a community.”
— City of Ashton Comprehensive Plan 2025, draft dated 8.18.26, chapter 2, economic development. Retrieved 21 October 2026
| Permit type | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Home | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 Plex | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 8 Plex | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Addition | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Remodel | 7 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Garage | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Deck | 3 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 3 |
| Total | 12 | 10 | 13 | 12 | 13 |
Six new single-family homes in five years, including a zero in 2023. The plan’s own reading of its table: “the number of building permits over the last five years has remained steady, which is consistent with the conservative growth trends outlined in the population section.” Steady is the right word — the totals never leave the 10-to-13 band — but steady describes decks and remodels, not houses.
What Ashton actually permits: decks, not houses
Read the table down instead of across and the pattern is blunt. Decks were permitted 18 times in five years; new homes 6 times. The five-year leaderboard:
- Remodels — 19 permits, the top of the list
- Decks — 18
- Additions — 7
- New single-family homes — 6, including a zero in 2023
- Garages — 5
The two new homes permitted in 2024 equal the city’s entire 2021–2023 new-home count combined (1 + 1 + 0) — and match 2020’s two. The plan explains the shape of that list itself:
“Like many Idaho communities, the City of Ashton has an aging housing stock. Due to this condition, a significant number of homes in City limits have undergone renovations.”
— City of Ashton Comprehensive Plan 2025, draft dated 8.18.26, chapter 2, housing. Retrieved 21 October 2026
Inside the city limits, the money goes into the houses that already exist. The new construction this site writes about — the corridor acreage, the county permits, the lot-to-lot variables — happens outside this table’s reach, in the county’s jurisdiction. A buyer who wants to build new in Ashton proper is joining a six-house-per-half-decade club, and should price the rarity accordingly in the cost conversation.
The housing stock behind the permits
The plan’s housing numbers, all from 2022 American Community Survey data the plan cites:
“The 2022 median house value in the City was $171,100, a 25% increase since 2017. The median gross rent in 2022 was $781.”
— City of Ashton Comprehensive Plan 2025, draft dated 8.18.26, chapter 2, housing. Retrieved 21 October 2026
“Median monthly mortgages were reported as $1,250, which is slightly lower than Fremont County’s median monthly mortgage cost of $1,339.”
— City of Ashton Comprehensive Plan 2025, draft dated 8.18.26, chapter 2, housing. Retrieved 21 October 2026
And the line that changes how the permit table reads — the housing that exists is partly committed to visitors:
“…the City has experienced an increased number of short-term rentals (STR) within the community, contributing to nearly 13 percent of the total housing stock…as housing availability, along with buildable lots, are limited.”
— City of Ashton Comprehensive Plan 2025, draft dated 8.18.26, chapter 2, housing. Retrieved 21 October 2026
Nearly one home in eight is a short-term rental, in a town where the plan says buildable lots are limited — and where six new homes went up in five years. The plan’s conclusion is its own sentence: “There is an expressed need for additional housing options in Ashton.” The rental rules themselves changed statewide in 2026; this site walks that change separately.
How fast Ashton grows
The plan’s population section, in its numbers:
“In 2023, the population of Ashton was estimated to be 1,329 people…from 1127 people in 2010.”
— City of Ashton Comprehensive Plan 2025, draft dated 8.18.26, chapter 1, population. Retrieved 21 October 2026
That is about 15 percent across the decade. The plan then derives its forecast rate — an average annual growth rate of 1.218 percent, averaged across five datasets spanning 1990 to 2023 — and places the town in its county context:
“Today, the City of Ashton makes up approximately 10 percent of the total population in Fremont County, with a total County population of 13,519.”
— City of Ashton Comprehensive Plan 2025, draft dated 8.18.26, chapter 1, population. Retrieved 21 October 2026
Money, from the same chapter:
“In 2022, the median household income in Ashton was $62,819, which is slightly lower than the Fremont County median household income of $67,015, and statewide median household income of $70,284.”
— City of Ashton Comprehensive Plan 2025, draft dated 8.18.26, chapter 2, economic development. Retrieved 21 October 2026
| Measure (the plan’s own) | Ashton | Fremont County | Idaho |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 1,329 (2023 est.) | 13,519 | — |
| Median household income, 2022 | $62,819 | $67,015 | $70,284 |
| Median monthly mortgage | $1,250 | $1,339 | — |
| Median house value, 2022 | $171,100 | — | — |
| Average annual growth rate | 1.218% (1990–2023) | — | — |
Why a town of 1,329 that builds one house a year still matters to builders: it sits on the two state highways, 20 and 47, “that brings upwards of two million tourists through the area each year.” Demand passes through constantly; the permit count says almost nothing gets built to meet it inside city limits.
Is the plan law yet?
No — and the plan is careful about its own nature:
“A Comprehensive Plan is not a regulatory document and does not require regulations to be adopted and utilized.”
— City of Ashton Comprehensive Plan 2025, draft dated 8.18.26, chapter 1, framework. Retrieved 21 October 2026
Split the two document types apart and the rule for a reader is plain:
- What carries force today: the code the city publishes — its Title 17 development code and the rest of the city book — plus the permits the county runs on the city’s behalf right now.
- What the plan is: the vision those documents must stay consistent with, once adopted. Until the clerk confirms adoption, treat every “should” in it as aspiration — and every number in its tables as the city’s own count of the recent past, which is exactly what makes them worth reading.
The ring around town: Ashton’s area of impact
The draft plan maps an area of impact — the unincorporated band around Ashton the city and county negotiate over. The plan’s own words for what it is for:
“The intent of the AOI is to protect private property rights, ensure adequate public facilities, and encourage urban development within municipalities.”
— City of Ashton Comprehensive Plan 2025, draft dated 8.18.26, chapter 2, future land use and AOI. Retrieved 21 October 2026
And its summary of the rule change that redraws who decides on that ring:
“As of July 1, 2024, Idaho State Legislature made amendments to Section 67-6526 regarding AOI’s that allows decisions regarding properties located in the AOI in the jurisdiction of the county.”
— City of Ashton Comprehensive Plan 2025, draft dated 8.18.26, chapter 2, future land use and AOI. Retrieved 21 October 2026
In the plan’s next breath: notice to the city, input from the city, but “decision making authority will remain with the county as well as final determinations regarding AOI boundaries.” For a corridor buyer the practical translation is short — land just outside city limits is county land for permitting purposes, whatever the map’s shading suggests, and the county permit path is the one that applies.
If you are buying inside Ashton
Put the whole record together and the buyer’s picture is unusual for a Yellowstone-gateway town:
- The new-home pipeline is a trickle — six houses in five years inside city limits.
- Short-term rentals hold nearly 13 percent of the stock, in a town the plan calls lot-limited.
- The plan itself says more housing options are needed and the city intends to review the land-use rules that shape them.
None of that is a reason not to build in Ashton — it is the reason a new build there stands out, and why the lot, the utilities, and the paperwork deserve the diligence this site walks page by page. Bring the record to the lot conversation: (208) 656-1516.
Read the record yourself, in five moves
- Start at the city’s Planning and Zoning page: the draft plan, the adopted 2008 plan, and every permit form the city publishes sit as PDFs on it (retrieved 21 October 2026).
- Read Table 2 in the draft plan’s economic development chapter — five years of the city’s own permit counts, the basis of this page.
- Ask the city clerk where adoption stands: 714 Main Street, (208) 652-3987, before you rely on any of the plan’s recommendations.
- If your target land sits outside city limits, take the county path — whoever holds the permit and the county’s document set decide the timeline.
- Then bring the numbers here: (208) 656-1516 — we build in the gap between a six-house decade and two million annual travelers.
A town that permitted six new homes in five years is not a town that stopped growing — it is a town whose growth happens somewhere else. The city’s own draft plan is the first document that says so in numbers.
Common questions
How many new homes were built in Ashton from 2020 to 2024?
Six. The city's draft comprehensive plan counts new-home permits at two in 2020, one in 2021, one in 2022, zero in 2023, and two in 2024 - out of 60 total permits across those five years.
How many building permits does Ashton issue per year?
Between 10 and 13. The plan's Table 2 totals 12 in 2020, 10 in 2021, 13 in 2022, 12 in 2023, and 13 in 2024 - a band the plan itself calls steady, consistent with conservative growth.
What is the most common building permit in Ashton?
Decks and remodels. Decks were permitted 18 times across 2020-2024 and remodels 19 times, versus six new homes total. The plan ties the remodel count to an aging housing stock that has undergone renovations.
Is the 2026 comprehensive plan adopted?
Not as written. The draft dated 8.18.26 leaves its own adoption date blank, a public hearing to adopt the amended plan and future land use map was noticed for October 15, 2026, and the 2008 plan governs until the city council acts. Confirm current status with the city clerk at (208) 652-3987.
What is the median home value in Ashton?
$171,100 as of 2022, a 25 percent increase since 2017, per the plan's housing chapter. Median gross rent was $781, and median monthly mortgages of $1,250 run slightly below the Fremont County median of $1,339.
How much of Ashton's housing is short-term rental?
Nearly 13 percent of the total housing stock, per the plan - in a city where the plan also notes housing availability and buildable lots are limited, and only six new homes were permitted in five years.
How fast is Ashton growing?
The plan estimates 1,329 people in 2023, up from 1,127 in 2010 - about 15 percent a decade - and derives an average annual growth rate of 1.218 percent from data spanning 1990 to 2023. Ashton is about 10 percent of Fremont County's population of 13,519.
Does the comprehensive plan change zoning?
No. The plan states a comprehensive plan is not a regulatory document and does not require regulations to be adopted. Zoning force lives in the city's Title 17 development code and permit decisions; the plan guides them once adopted.
Who decides what gets built just outside Ashton city limits?
The county. The plan's own summary of the 2024 amendment to Section 67-6526: decisions on properties in the area of impact sit with the county, which must notice the city and may hear its input, while final authority stays with the county.
Are apartments being permitted in Ashton?
A few. The permit table shows one 4-plex in 2022, two 4-plexes and one 8-plex in 2023, and one 4-plex in 2024 - five multifamily buildings in five years, alongside the six single-family homes.
Where can I read Ashton's permit record myself?
On the city's Planning and Zoning page, which posts the draft plan and the adopted 2008 plan as PDFs, plus the city's permit forms and the planning commission minutes. Paper copies are reviewable at City Hall, 714 Main Street.