Photo: TheDoctorWho · CC BY-SA 4.0For about two in five of its working residents, Meridian is a commute to Oklahoma City
Meridian has 5 jobs, against 5 working residents. Hardly any work in Meridian itself; outside it, Oklahoma City draws the most (40%, 30 miles). Below the poverty line: 5.6% of residents (Oklahoma 15.3%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who commutes out of Meridian, and who commutes in
On a workday 5 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 5 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 (1.00 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.
Where the trip to work from Meridian ends
Where Meridian clocks in
40% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Meridian
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Meridian, 2013 → 2023: 38 → 5. 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.
How far Meridian goes to work
About 20% 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.
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 poverty rate in Meridian?
5.6%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Meridian work?
0% work in town.
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.