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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-MERIDEN-IA · Meriden, IA 130 pop · income 25th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Meriden
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Meriden on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Jacksonville · lowest
35,000
Jacksonville · lowest
35,000 median HH income
40.4% of the leader · rank #1
Meriden · this city
53,661
Meriden · this city
53,661 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #2
Walnut · near
53,661
Walnut · near
53,661 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #3
Edwardsburg · near
53,661
Edwardsburg · near
53,661 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #4
Elgin · near
53,661
Elgin · near
53,661 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #5
Sunset Lake · near
53,663
Sunset Lake · near
53,663 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #6
Luther · highest
86,667
Luther · highest
86,667 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Meriden on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 130.
Meriden ranks in the 25th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
25th
percentile, household income
9th
percentile, home value
11th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Meriden, IA
Iowa's Meriden is a small town, with 130 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Meriden households earn a median of $53,661 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.3%. Home values in Meriden run a median of $98,300, and the median resident age is 43.5 years. Educational attainment runs 11.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 75.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Living costs in Iowa run below the national norm: the state registers 87.8 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $989 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $212 across Iowa, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 39.7 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Meriden's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from work and mobility to housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Meriden, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Meriden?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 88.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
How far does income reach against housing in Meriden?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -4 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.3% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Which cities make useful reference points for Meriden?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Harper (130 residents, $70,417 income); Luther (130 residents, $86,667 income); Rutland (130 residents, $82,895 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Gu-Win, AL (130 residents); Lester, AL (130 residents); Copper Hill, AZ (130 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Below median income · poverty 6.3% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
D
City profile score · Meriden, IA
48/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A+
87.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Poverty rate C
6.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$53,661
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
11.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Meriden profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Poverty rate: 57/100 (C) · 6.3%
Household income: 25/100 (F) · $53,661
Bachelor's+ share: 11/100 (F) · 11.6%
How does Meriden compare to other US cities?
Here's how Meriden stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income25% higher than other cities
Home value9% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Meriden against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Iowa only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Iowa-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Meriden near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Meriden ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Meriden only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#685 of 845
19th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#546 of 849
36th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#399 of 858
53rd percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#660 of 858
23rd percentile in Iowa
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Iowa only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
25th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Meriden's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$98,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 91% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Meriden's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,095 of 15,516
More affordable than 93% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,059 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.8×, Meriden sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,095 of 15,516 and #1,059 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$53,661Meriden, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Meriden, IA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Meriden, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)11.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)75.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
130
Median Income
$53,661
Median Home Value
$98,300
Median Age
43.5
Poverty Rate
6.3%
Labor force participation
75.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
11.6%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Meriden's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
172 residents
2021
170 residents
2022
169 residents
2023
173 residents
2024
170 residents
2025
168 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
88.0%
Carpool
9.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.7%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 75 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Iowa statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $212
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Iowa at $212 (electricity about $95 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Iowa statewide averages, not a meter reading for Meriden. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Iowa's BEA cost-of-living index is 87.8 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Meriden is $989/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Iowa statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 39.7 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Iowa statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Meriden sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Meriden compares to similar-size Iowa cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.