83646Meridian, Idaho

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 83646.

77out of 100
Area Score
Top 5% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 6% of 6,210 published ZIP areas81
SchoolsTop 12% of 4,422 published ZIP areas82
GrowthTop 8% of 5,428 published ZIP areas76
Housing affordability4614th of 6,685 published ZIP areas67
Climate5450th of 6,789 published ZIP areas61
Physical resilienceTop 20% of 6,709 published ZIP areas82
Access4249th of 6,791 published ZIP areas89
Economic stabilityTop 13% of 6,742 published ZIP areas79
The quick read

83646 ranks in the top 6% of published ZIP profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.2% and median household income of $102,861.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 83646 in the top 20% for physical resilience.

A major airport is 12 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
76,023
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$102,861
Top 17% nationally
Density
2,786/sq mi
27.3 sq mi of land
Median age
37.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Meridian
Idaho
Metro area
Boise City, ID
Nearest major airport
BOI
12 mi · Boise Air Trml/Gowen Fld
Median home value
$542,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.2% is lower than 93% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 0.8% over the past year, to 74,741 employed residents.

44% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 83% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,805$102,861Top 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,922$50,348Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate5.4%Bottom 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute24.0 minBottom 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher44.3%Top 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment74,741Top 41%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)5.4%Top 4%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.8%Top 50%June 2026
Labor force77,206Top 41%June 2026
Labor force participation67.2%Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$64,530Bottom 35%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,100Bottom 39%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.1%Top 47%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.2%Bottom 7%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024103k87k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $102,861 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Boise City, ID
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers11,690$29,660
General and Operations Managers11,270$83,680
Home Health and Personal Care Aides9,850$35,850
Customer Service Representatives9,460$46,640
Retail Salespersons9,130$35,670
Office Clerks, General8,810$45,860

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Meridian, ID, the city containing this ZIP code.

61% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 70% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 18.9 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
14
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
18.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
61.4%
Top 6% in Idaho
Reading proficiency
70.2%
Top 1% in Idaho
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
OWYHEE HIGH SCHOOLJOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 21,88422.7
HERITAGE MIDDLE SCHOOLJOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 21,00321.860%81%
SAWTOOTH MIDDLE SCHOOLJOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 282921.854%71%
PLEASANT VIEW ELEMENTARYJOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 274722.066%71%
CHIEF JOSEPH SCHOOL OF THE ARTSJOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 250515.363%69%
WILLOW CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOLJOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 250317.360%66%
RIVER VALLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLJOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 246815.154%54%
PARAMOUNT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLJOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 246018.480%77%
PROSPECT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLJOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 245619.863%60%
BARBARA MORGAN STEM ACADEMYJOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 243818.370%74%
MERIDIAN TECHNICAL CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL · charterJOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 220614.7
MERIDIAN MEDICAL ARTS CHARTER · charterJOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 219113.6

24.5% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Idaho’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,892 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.3 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
22.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,892
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$542,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income5.27Top 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate80.2%Top 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±73527,957Top 1%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$69$1,892Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$19,903$542,500Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.1%Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate3.6%Bottom 15%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
76/ 100
Top 8% of 5,428 published city profiles

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 19% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 11.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
1,475
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
11.3
Top 9% nationally
Year over year
+7%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
18.5%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Meridian, ID, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 93°F and January a low of 26°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 11.5 inches, including 17.6 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 44, in the Good band, and about 35 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BOISE AIR TERMINAL, 11.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND1.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index97.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation11.5"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall17.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low26°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high93°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100352024 calendar year
Median air quality index44.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing45°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
44
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
97
90th percentile index
Days above 100
35
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

82 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are wildfire, heat wave and earthquake.

WildfireHigh
Heat waveModerate
EarthquakeModerate
LandslideModerate
AvalancheModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, strong wind, lightning, inland flooding, ice storm, volcanic activity, hail, cold wave, tornado, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Ada County records 1.2 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 12.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 12.8 per 100,000 residents in Ada County.

Homicide
1.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
12.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
18.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Ada County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 83646 rather than 83646 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 12 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Boise Air Trml/Gowen FldBOI12 mi10,000 ft
Joslin Fld/Magic Valley RgnlTWF127 mi8,704 ft
Pocatello RgnlPIH200 mi9,059 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
77
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

83646 vs Meridian

How this ZIP area compares with Meridian as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

83646
Meridian
Median household income
$102,861
vs
$100,795
Per capita income
$50,348
vs
$50,506
Population density
2,786/sq mi
vs
3,505/sq mi
Median home value
$542,500
vs
$531,600
Median gross rent
$1,892
vs
$1,805
Homeownership rate
80.2%
vs
74.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher
44.3%
vs
44.2%
Poverty rate
5.4%
vs
6.0%
Median age
37.4
vs
37.5

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.