Meridian is a medium-sized city located in the state of Mississippi. With a population of 33,816 people and 22 associated neighborhoods, Meridian is the eighth largest community in Mississippi.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Meridian is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Meridian is a city of sales and office workers, service providers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Meridian who work in sales jobs (13.50%), office and administrative support (11.24%), and healthcare (8.35%). Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Meridian spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 18.39 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be. Even though Meridian is not a small city, it doesn't have a public transportation system that anybody uses for their daily commute to work.The percentage of adults in Meridian who are college-educated is close to the national average for all communities of 21.84%: 20.22% of the adults in Meridian have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree. The per capita income in Meridian in 2022 was $25,172, which is middle income relative to Mississippi, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $100,688 for a family of four. However, Meridian contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Meridian also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 32.44% of its population below the federal poverty line.Meridian is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Meridian home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Meridian residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Meridian include English, Irish, German, African, and Scottish. The most common language spoken in Meridian is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Langs. of India.
