Meredith Public Library · Photo: Ken Gallager · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Meredith are higher than in 65% of U.S. towns
About one in four stay in Meredith for work; outside it, Laconia is the main destination (13%, 4 miles). 7.7% of residents are in poverty (New Hampshire 7.2%). The two grades for Meredith are B− for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Meredith, in brief
Meredith trades workers with the towns around it
Meredith has about as many jobs (3,088) as working residents (2,729), but they are mostly different people: 2,098 residents leave for work each day while 2,457 people come in. Only 20% of the jobs in Meredith are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Meredith’s workforce skews older
36% of Meredith’s working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Meredith
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Meredith is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #97 of 126 in New Hampshire. Household income holds Meredith’s grade up ($87,019, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Meredith could be anywhere from C− to A−.
How a workday changes Meredith
On a workday 2,098 residents head out to work, 631 work right here, and 2,457 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 (1.13 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 3,088 jobs in Meredith are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Meredith, 2013 → 2023: 2,581 → 3,088. 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 Meredith’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Meredith’s working residents head each day
Where Meredith clocks in
13% of workers
6% 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.
From Meredith, about 26 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Meredith workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,289 commuters (the 24% who work from home are left out). Across New Hampshire: 87% 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.
The commute from Meredith, by distance
About 18% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Meredith
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Meredith is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #18 of 126 in New Hampshire. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.6% across New Hampshire, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,999 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.5% of Meredith households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Meredith’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Meredith is 1,719th among 3,229 U.S. towns of 4,800 to 9,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | Auburn NH | 6,336 | $153K | 2.5% | 1.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 131 | Hollis NH | 8,819 | $169K | 1.9% | 2.0% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 138 | Brookline NH | 5,858 | $171K | 0.6% | 0.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,717 | Bellefonte PA | 5,862 | $63K | 13.1% | 0.7% | 11% | B− |
| 1,718 | Deerfield Township MI | 5,802 | $72K | 8.9% | 2.0% | 5% | B− |
| 1,719 | Meredith NH | 6,854 | $87K | 7.7% | 3.7% | 23% | B− |
| 1,720 | Millersville TN | 6,438 | $72K | 10.5% | 5.4% | 1% | B− |
| 1,721 | Nolanville TX | 7,983 | $72K | 13.8% | 3.0% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,229 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Meredith, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
Bordering towns draw 17% of Meredith’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Meredith workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meredith | – | B− | A− | 26 min | $87,019 |
| Gilford | 4% | A− | C− | 22 min | $116,635 |
| Laconia | 13% | B− | B+ | 17 min | $73,218 |
| Center Harbor | under 2% | B+ | B− | 25 min | $104,313 |
| Sanbornton | under 2% | B+ | C | 31 min | $113,750 |
| New Hampton | under 2% | B | B− | 33 min | $95,250 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Laconia. Darker towns draw more of Meredith’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 Meredith: questions
What is the median household income in Meredith?
$87,019 (±$18,824) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Meredith?
7.7%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Meredith?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across New Hampshire and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Meredith work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Laconia (13%, 4 mi), Concord (6%, 28 mi), Gilford (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Meredith walkable?
Meredith is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Meredith without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Meredith, from the people who make the trip.
More of Meredith
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.