Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Meridian has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
370 jobs are based in Meridian for 673 working residents. Meridian grades C for jobs and income and B for walkability. Home is the office for 6% of workers (Texas 14%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Meridian stands out on work
Meridian’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Meridian is Fort Worth, 62 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (55) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
50% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Commutes from Meridian are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
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; with 673 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Meridian’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Meridian is better than 31% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Meridian’s grade up (7.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 12% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.8%) is left out: Meridian’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Meridian could be anywhere from D to B−.
How far it is to work from Meridian
About 50% 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.
About 22 minutes each way for Meridian’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Meridian workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 686 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across Texas: 83% 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.
Meridian by day and by night
On a workday 592 residents head out to work, 81 work right here, and 289 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Meridian on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
8% of working residents work in Fort Worth
Where Meridian clocks in
8% of workers
5% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Meridian
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Meridian, 2013 → 2023: 212 → 370. 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.
Most trips from Meridian start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Meridian is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Meridian near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 731 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). 6.7% of Meridian households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Meridian’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Meridian ranks: 3,293rd of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 31 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,291 | Castanea Township PA | 1,093 | $60K | 10.9% | 2.8% | 5% | C |
| 3,292 | Collinsville MS | 1,725 | $79K | 13.6% | 4.7% | 4% | C |
| 3,293 | Meridian TX | 1,403 | $66K | 7.7% | 0.8% | 12% | C |
| 3,294 | Napoli NY | 1,201 | $92K | 16.5% | 5.1% | <1% | C |
| 3,295 | Randolph Township PA | 1,683 | $76K | 11.5% | 2.3% | 4% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Texas.
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?
$65,625 (±$15,052) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Meridian?
7.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Meridian?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Meridian work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Worth (8%, 62 mi), Waco (6%, 37 mi), Clifton (5%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Meridian walkable?
Meridian is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Meridian without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
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.