Living in Meridian, MS
Small city in Mississippi
Meridian is a small city in Mississippi, home to about 34,000 people, with 58,000 living within 31 mi. Day to day, a car is essential. Life moves at a slow, calm pace, and homes are a mix of apartments and houses.
Is Meridian a good place to live? Pros and cons
👍 Pros
- Affordable housing: a typical 3-bedroom home is about $101k and rents for $1,200 a month
👎 Cons
- Smaller job market: about 58,000 people live within 31 mi
- Quieter on culture: few museums and attractions nearby
- Fewer graduates: 21% of adults have a bachelor's degree or higher
- Fewer family amenities than most places
Whether it's a good place for you depends on what you value. Take the quiz to see how Meridian ranks against your own priorities.
Key facts
Living in Meridian: common questions
What is the cost of living in Meridian?
A typical 3-bedroom home is worth about $101k, and a 3-bedroom rents for about $1,200 a month including utilities. Overall living costs are below the US average (index 87, where the US is 100).
What are taxes like in Meridian?
Mississippi collects about $803 in state income tax per resident, and homeowners here pay about 1.33% of their home's value in property tax each year.
Is Meridian safe?
Violent crime is somewhat above the national rate (1.3× in FBI 2019 data).
How are the schools in Meridian?
Public schools in Meridian test well below the US average in math and reading (2018–19 state tests, put on one national scale with NAEP), with about 15 students per teacher.
What is the weather like in Meridian?
Meridian has mild winters: winter days average around 61°F and summer days around 93°F.
Does Meridian get natural disasters?
Natural disaster risk is moderate, mainly from cold waves, flooding and tornadoes: 9 federally declared disasters have hit the county since 2000, and FEMA expects about 2.33 deaths or injuries per 100,000 residents a year.
What is the nearest major airport to Meridian?
The nearest major airport is BHM, about 138 mi away.
How Meridian scores
Each bar compares Meridian with the other 1,990 places in Best Life Fit Me. A dot shows where it sits between two ends, such as major metro and small town; neither end is better. Coloured bars run from poor (red) to excellent (green).
Places like Meridian
These places have the most similar overall profile across all 24 aspects.
The circle is each place's all-round score out of 100: the average of its 15 quality scores, from red (poor) to green (excellent).
Nearby
See all the best places to live in Mississippi.
Is Meridian right for you?
Answer 27 quick questions and see how it ranks against your priorities.