Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Meriden (8.0%) than in 88% of U.S. towns
Meriden grades C+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 4.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 31.8 in Stamford. About one in seven work in Meriden itself; outside it, Wallingford draws the most (10%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What’s behind Meriden’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Meriden is better than 43% of U.S. towns, #139 of 155 in Connecticut. Job access by car holds Meriden’s grade up (ahead of 90% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Meriden could be anywhere from C+ to B−.
Meriden quiets down on a workday
On a workday 22,994 residents head out to work, 4,599 work right here, and 15,829 people come in from elsewhere.
About 54,000 people are in Meriden on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.74 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Meriden goes to work
Where Meriden clocks in
6% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The kinds of work in Meriden
20,428 jobs are based in Meriden.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Meriden, 2013 → 2023: 21,362 → 20,428. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Meriden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Meriden’s commute takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Meriden workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 26,014 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Connecticut: 82% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The commute from Meriden, by distance
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Meriden, walking beats the bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 28,451 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 83% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 37% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 80% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 10.1% of Meriden households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Meriden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Meriden is 545th among 712 U.S. towns of 43,000 to 82,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Southington CT | 44,242 | $124K | 4.9% | 3.4% | 17% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 121 | West Hartford CT | 64,242 | $130K | 6.3% | 4.1% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 154 | Wallingford CT | 44,406 | $105K | 5.4% | 3.9% | 21% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 543 | Pawtucket RI | 77,065 | $68K | 13.3% | 7.3% | 12% | C+ |
| 544 | Cleveland Heights OH | 43,750 | $73K | 15.9% | 6.8% | 7% | C+ |
| 545 | Meriden CT | 60,810 | $71K | 13.2% | 8.0% | 17% | C+ |
| 546 | Bloomington Township IN | 46,702 | $45K | 33.6% | 6.3% | 32% | C+ |
| 547 | Ypsilanti Township MI | 53,721 | $70K | 14.8% | 6.5% | 6% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 712 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Meriden, the top three, the last and three more from Connecticut.
21% of Meriden works in a town next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Meriden workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meriden | – | C+ | A | 23 min | $71,253 |
| Cheshire | 3% | A | A− | 29 min | $146,528 |
| Berlin | under 3% | A+ | B− | 21 min | $113,598 |
| Wallingford | 10% | A | B+ | 24 min | $104,773 |
| Southington | 3% | A | C+ | 24 min | $124,309 |
| Middlefield | under 3% | A− | C+ | 25 min | $99,837 |
| Middletown | 5% | B | A | 23 min | $79,438 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Wallingford. Darker towns draw more of Meriden’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Meriden: questions
What is the median household income in Meriden?
$71,253 (±$4,299) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Meriden?
13.2%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Meriden?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Meriden work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wallingford (10%, 5 mi), New Haven (6%, 17 mi), Middletown (5%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Meriden walkable?
Meriden is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.5 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Meriden without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 37% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Meriden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Meriden
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.