Concept
The Idaho Panhandle—locally known as North Idaho—is a salient region of the U.S. state of Idaho encompassing the state's 10 northernmost counties: Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Idaho, Kootenai, Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, and Shoshone (though the southern part of the region is sometimes referred to as North Central Idaho). The Panhandle is bordered by the state of Washington to the west, Montana to the east, and the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north. The Idaho panhandle, along with Eastern Washington, makes up the region known as the Inland Northwest, headed by its largest city, Spokane, Washington. Coeur d'Alene is the largest city within the Idaho Panhandle. Spokane is around west of Coeur d'Alene, and its Spokane International Airport is the region's main air hub. Other important cities in the region include Lewiston, Moscow, Post Falls, Hayden, Sandpoint, and the smaller towns of St. Maries and Bonners Ferry. East of Coeur d'Alene is the Silver Valley, which follows Interstate 90 to the Montana border at Lookout Pass. The region has a land area of , around 25.4% of the state's total land area; there is also of water area. As of the 2010 Census, the population of the Idaho Panhandle was 317,751, around 20.3% of the state's total population of 1,567,582. The eastern border of Idaho follows the Bitterroot Range, producing the narrow northern border. No resident of North Idaho has been elected governor since the re-election of Cecil Andrus (D) in 1974. An Oregon native raised in Eugene, Andrus had lived at Orofino and was a resident of Lewiston when first elected in 1970. (Boise was his residence during his later campaigns of 1986 and 1990). The most recent member of the U.S. Congress from the Panhandle is Compton I. White Jr. (D) of Clark Fork, last elected in 1964. North Idaho leans Republican, as does the state as a whole. Latah County, home of the University of Idaho in Moscow, is the only one of the region's 10 counties that does not.
