Boise City vs Meridian

A side-by-side comparison of Boise City and Meridian: population, income, housing, and more.

Boise City and Meridian are places in Idaho. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Boise City has the higher population (235,701 vs 124,865 in Meridian). Meridian has the higher median household income ($98,686 vs $81,308 in Boise City). Meridian has the higher median home value ($485,000 vs $456,000 in Boise City).

Population, income & housing

	Boise City	Meridian
Population	235,701	124,865
Median age	38.2 yrs	37.4 yrs
Median household income	$81,308	$98,686
Median home value	$456,000	$485,000
Median gross rent	$1,359	$1,714
Housing units	104,833	46,762
Homeownership rate	63.0%	76.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.6%	44.4%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Boise City	Meridian
Population	226,115 → 235,701 (+4.2%)	101,905 → 124,865 (+22.5%)
Median household income	$60,035 → $81,308 (+35.4%)	$71,389 → $98,686 (+38.2%)
Median home value	$253,400 → $456,000 (+80.0%)	$274,900 → $485,000 (+76.4%)
Median gross rent	$957 → $1,359 (+42.0%)	$1,111 → $1,714 (+54.3%)

Boise City

Population

226,115235,701

Median household income

$60,035$81,308

Median home value

$253,400$456,000

Median gross rent

$957$1,359

Meridian

Population

101,905124,865

Median household income

$71,389$98,686

Median home value

$274,900$485,000

Median gross rent

$1,111$1,714

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Boise City	Meridian
Under 5	4.4%	5.9%
5 to 17	14.2%	20.5%
18 to 24	11.1%	8.1%
25 to 34	15.8%	12.4%
35 to 44	14.2%	14.8%
45 to 54	12.6%	13.2%
55 to 64	12.5%	10.5%
65 to 74	9.2%	8.8%
75 and over	6.1%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Boise City	Meridian
White (non-Hispanic)	80.4%	81.4%
Black or African American	1.3%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.3%
Asian	3.3%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.1%
Some other race	0.5%	0.8%
Two or more races	4.4%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	9.5%	9.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Boise City	Meridian
No high school diploma	5.2%	4.3%
High school graduate	19.3%	17.4%
Some college or associate's	28.9%	33.9%
Bachelor's degree	29.2%	29.3%
Graduate or professional degree	17.4%	15.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Boise City	Meridian
Drove alone	68.6%	73.7%
Carpooled	7.6%	6.3%
Public transit	0.6%	0.1%
Walked	3.4%	1.0%
Bicycle	2.3%	0.5%
Worked from home	15.8%	17.2%
Other means	1.6%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Boise City	Meridian
1-unit, detached	64.9%	82.7%
1-unit, attached	6.7%	3.2%
2 to 4 units	8.4%	6.1%
5 to 19 units	8.3%	4.3%
20 or more units	8.2%	2.9%
Mobile home & other	3.4%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	Boise City	Meridian
Poverty rate	10.6%	6.2%
Average household size	2.30	2.73
Mean commute (minutes)	19	22
Median year structure built	1985	2006