R.H. and Jessie Bell House · Photo: Tamanoeconomico · CC BY-SA 4.0Work means Boise City for about two in five of Meridian’s working residents
Measured by household income, Meridian is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Meridian A; getting around on foot earns it B+. About one in four work in Meridian itself; outside it, Boise City draws the most (44%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Meridian: the gist
Meridian trades workers with the towns around it
Meridian has about as many jobs (57,938) as working residents (56,799), but they are mostly different people: 43,336 residents leave for work each day while 44,475 people come in. Only 23% of the jobs in Meridian are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Meridian has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Meridian went from 33,421 in 2013 to 57,938 in 2023, +73%. The jobs ↓
Most Meridian residents work close to home
71% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. Only 7% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Meridian’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Meridian is better than 88% of U.S. towns, #2 of 59 in Idaho. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Meridian’s grade. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Meridian could be anywhere from A− to A.
Meridian by day and by night
On a workday 43,336 residents head out to work, 13,463 work right here, and 44,475 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.02 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
What the 57,938 jobs in Meridian are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Meridian, 2013 → 2023: 33,421 → 57,938. 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 Meridian’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Meridian
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.
The places Meridian commutes to
Where Meridian clocks in
44% of workers
9% of workers
4% 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.
About 22 minutes each way for Meridian’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Meridian workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 54,280 commuters (the 19% who work from home are left out). Across Idaho: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Most of Meridian commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Meridian is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #31 of 59 in Idaho. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.5% across Idaho.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 67,354 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 42% 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). 2.4% of Meridian households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Meridian’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
For jobs and income, Meridian is 25th of 254 U.S. towns of 100,000 to 193,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 2 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 3 | Fishers IN | 104,812 | $130K | 4.0% | 2.8% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Downers Grove Township IL | 149,599 | $117K | 6.2% | 4.3% | 14% | A |
| 24 | Schaumburg Township IL | 131,411 | $99K | 6.7% | 3.4% | 16% | A |
| 25 | Meridian ID | 142,988 | $101K | 6.0% | 2.7% | 24% | A |
| 26 | Wheeling Township IL | 154,050 | $106K | 6.9% | 3.7% | 14% | A |
| 27 | West Jordan UT | 116,812 | $108K | 6.1% | 3.8% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 121 | Nampa ID | 120,384 | $74K | 11.5% | 3.1% | 29% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 254 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Meridian, the top three, the last and three more from Idaho.
Next door is work for 49% of Meridian
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Meridian workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meridian | – | A | B+ | 22 min | $100,795 |
| Boise City | 44% | B+ | A | 19 min | $83,904 |
| Kuna | 1% | A | C+ | 29 min | $96,219 |
| Eagle | 4% | A | A− | 24 min | $122,894 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Boise City. Darker towns draw more of Meridian’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 Meridian: questions
What is the median household income in Meridian?
$100,795 (±$2,565) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Meridian?
6.0%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Meridian?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Meridian work?
24% work in town.
Is Meridian walkable?
Meridian is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Meridian without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Meridian, from the people who make the trip.
More of Meridian
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.