How to Meet People if You're From Malad City, Idaho
If you're from Malad City, Idaho, you know the feeling: you open a dating app, scroll through the options, and you've seen everyone before. Malad City is a city of about 2,300 people in Oneida County, Idaho, and a pool that size only goes so far.
Malad City in numbers
| Population (2025 estimate) | 2,338 |
|---|---|
| County | Oneida County |
| Change since 2020 | +1.7% |
| Size rank in Idaho | 62 of 198 cities and towns |
| Larger than | 69% of Idaho's cities and towns |
| Other cities and towns within 30 miles | 8 (9,900 people combined) |
| Nearest city of 25,000 or more (OR, ID, WA, MT) | Pocatello, Idaho: 48 miles (59,000 people) |
Population estimates by year:
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,296 | 2,301 | 2,288 | 2,354 | 2,345 | 2,338 |
Why dating close to home runs out
Add up every incorporated city and town within 30 miles of Malad City and you get 8 places with about 9,900 people between them, not counting Malad City itself. Within 60 miles it's 24 places and about 101,000 people. Those totals count incorporated places only, so people outside city limits would add to them, but the point stands: an app that starts with whoever lives closest builds your options from a small circle, so you keep seeing the same few profiles.
| Distance from Malad City | Other cities and towns | People in them |
|---|---|---|
| Within 10 miles | 0 | 0 |
| Within 30 miles | 8 | 9,917 |
| Within 60 miles | 24 | 101,358 |
| Within 100 miles | 45 | 245,898 |
Why Pocatello is out of reach for you on the big apps
Dating in Malad City is hard, and meeting someone in Pocatello can be harder. Many dating apps lean on distance to decide who you see, and Tinuiti's analysis of Tinder's algorithm says proximity is a key factor in who it shows you. Pocatello is 48 miles away and has about 59,000 people, and most of the people there live nearer to each other than to you. When someone in Pocatello opens a distance-ranked app, their own neighbors come first, so you land behind them in their deck whatever your photos and profile say.
Pocatello has about 25 times as many people as Malad City, so a member from Malad City is outnumbered there roughly 25 to 1 before the ranking even starts. There are 18 other incorporated places closer to Pocatello than Malad City is, with about 123,000 people between them, and they tend to come ahead of you in Pocatello's deck.
On Amarbis, ranking isn't based on distance. Choose Idaho as your region and Pocatello is in your pool with everyone else in Idaho, so you aren't placed behind the person's next-door neighbor because of where you live.
Bigger places within reach of Malad City, each with its own guide:
- Pocatello, ID: 58,771 people, 48 miles away
- Chubbuck, ID: 16,823 people, 52 miles away
- Blackfoot, ID: 13,361 people, 70 miles away
- Burley, ID: 12,409 people, 82 miles away
- Ammon, ID: 20,119 people, 90 miles away
How region-based dating changes it
On dating apps that sort by distance, the people nearest you come first. On Amarbis you choose your region, so who you meet isn't decided by how close they live to Malad City. Choose Idaho and you're meeting people from a state of about 2.0 million. The nearest city of 25,000 or more to Malad City is Pocatello (48 miles away).
Other places near Malad City
- Preston, ID: 6,177 people, 20 miles away
- Franklin, ID: 1,155 people, 26 miles away
- Soda Springs, ID: 3,165 people, 47 miles away
- Pocatello, ID: 58,771 people, 48 miles away
- Montpelier, ID: 2,710 people, 50 miles away
- American Falls, ID: 4,785 people, 51 miles away
Browse every city and town in Idaho.
How to start from Malad City
- Join free and add a real photo of your face; photos are screened before anyone sees them.
- Pick your region. All of Idaho is the obvious first choice from Malad City.
- Message first. One good question costs nothing, and you can decide later how far to travel. If they write in another language, chat translation handles it.
It costs nothing to look. Amarbis gives you 25 free likes a day, unlimited messaging with your matches and built-in chat translation (5 free translations a month), with no credit card needed. Start at Amarbis.
More from Amarbis
- Why Amarbis is the best dating app for small towns
- Singles in the United States
- International dating guide
- Overcoming language barriers in love
- Meeting someone safely for the first time
- Plans and pricing
Population figures are U.S. Census Bureau estimates for July 1, 2025. Distances are straight-line miles between place center points, so road distances are longer. Counts of nearby places include incorporated cities and towns in Oregon, Idaho, Washington and Montana only.