Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Meridian's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Meridian?
Your $100,000 in Meridian has the same purchasing power as $99,890 in the average US city.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Meridian's cost index of 100, sorted by closest match.
These are the reasons people actually move to Meridian, ordered roughly by what shows up loudest in the data. A higher-income labor market than the national norm and low unemployment, plenty of openings lead, plus 4 more things worth knowing — the rest unpacked below.
The typical household in Meridian pulls in $93,296 — comfortably above the US median. Combined with the cost of living here, the income-to-expense ratio works out better than a quick look at either number in isolation would suggest.
At about 2.7% unemployment, Meridian's labor market is running on the tight side. Easier to land a role, easier to negotiate, easier to leave one job for a better one — the practical things that matter when you're actually looking.
The reported crime rate in Meridian runs about 811 per 100,000 residents — meaningfully below the national norm. People who care about safety as a baseline rather than a feature tend to land in cities with numbers like these.
Average AQI in Meridian comes in around 39, well into the "good" band. Clean air isn't a thing you appreciate until you've lived somewhere it wasn't — and this is the side of that line you want to be on.
Average commute time in Meridian runs around 22 minutes one-way — short enough that it doesn't restructure your day. Compared to the 45-plus-minute commutes that are normal in major metros, the difference adds up to a real lifestyle gap.
Meridian has a college-educated share of about 44% among adults 25+, which is higher than the national norm. It shows up in the local job mix, in the school district's reputation, and in the kind of conversations you have at the coffee shop.
Reasons are pulled from Meridian's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Snow is a regular feature, not a surprise. With winter temperatures hovering near 27°F, Meridian sees enough snowfall that locals don't think twice about it but also enough mild stretches that nobody owns three pairs of boots.
A real winter, but not a punishing one. Meridian averages roughly 27°F in winter, with the coldest mornings dipping into the single digits a few times a year and most days landing somewhere between "chilly" and "actually cold".
Reliably warm. Meridian's summer averages around 88°F, the kind of heat where you remember to leave the house before noon for outdoor things and accept that the back of your shirt will be wet by lunchtime.
Zone 8, give or take a half-zone. Meridian's typical winter low puts it in that band on the USDA Hardiness map, which is what nurseries label plants against. Use Zone 8 as your starting filter; the USDA's interactive map is more precise for borderline cases.
Around 2,595 feet (791 m) above sea level. Visitors from the coast occasionally notice a slight shift in how dry the air feels; that's about the extent of it.
The headline number is reassuring. Meridian's reported incident rate of about 811 per 100,000 is comfortably below the US norm of around 3,500 per 100k. Specific neighborhoods always vary, but the broader picture is on the safer side.
It's a middle-of-the-road US city on cost. Meridian's index of 100 sits within a few points of the national average — your money buys roughly what it would in a typical American metro.
Meridian scores 36 out of 100 on Walk Score, which translates to "car-dependent but not aggressively so". Some neighborhoods buck the citywide average; the dense inner cores are usually noticeably more walkable than the city number suggests.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $70,077 to live in Meridian the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in Meridian runs about $1,548/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.