Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Pocatello, ID

Pocatello is the county seat and largest city of Bannock County, Idaho, with a small portion, including its airport, extending into Power County on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation.

The 2020 census counted 56,320 residents in the city, making it the sixth most populous city in Idaho, just behind Caldwell.

The 2020 census recorded 21,651 households in Pocatello, and the median age was 33.4 years.

Pocatello was founded in 1889 and became known as the "Gate City" for being a gateway to Idaho and the Pacific Northwest.

The city is named for Chief Pocatello, a 19th-century Northern Shoshone leader, and Shoshone and Bannock peoples inhabited southeastern Idaho for hundreds of years before the Lewis and Clark Expedition crossed Idaho in 1805.

Nathaniel Wyeth established one of the first permanent settlements at Fort Hall in 1834, a few miles northeast of the modern city, and it later became a supply point for travelers on the Oregon Trail.

Pocatello grew as a railroad junction as the Union Pacific Railroad expanded, and pioneers, gold miners, and settlers passed through the Portneuf Gap south of town.

The neighboring city of Alameda was consolidated into Pocatello in 1962, briefly making Pocatello the state's largest city.

Pocatello sits on the Portneuf River in the Snake River Plain at an elevation of 4,462 feet, and the city and the Portneuf Greenway Foundation have built more than 15 miles of trails along the river.

Idaho State University, founded in 1901 as the Academy of Idaho, is based in the city.