Brace for the onslaught (Meridian makes top 50 "Best Cities") (Boise: real estate, 2015)

[volosong]

A headline on today's Drudge Report

Best place to live in the USA: Meridian, Idaho . . .

Links to a USA Today article.

America's 50 best cities to live in

What they have to say about Meridian.

1. Meridian, Idaho
> Population: 87,739
> Median home value: $193,900
> Poverty rate: 10.9%
> Pct. with at least a bachelor's degree: 27.7%
> Amenities per 100,000 residents: 169.8
Meridian, located just outside of Idaho's capital city of Boise, is 24//7 Wall St.'s best city to live in. The city is safe, and jobs have attracted growing numbers of new residents. Only 80 violent crimes were reported per 100,000 in Meridian last year, a fraction of the national violent crime rate of 366 violent crimes per 100,000 Americans.

The annual unemployment rate in the city is also quite low. At just 4.1%, it is lower than the state's jobless rate of 4.8% and well below the national jobless rate of 6.2%. Moreover, jobs are being added to the local economy faster than in most of the United States. The 7.4% increase in the number of jobs from 2012 through last year was much greater than the national job growth rate of 1.8% over that period. Prospective employment is frequently the first priority for Americans considering relocation. With the strong job market, Meridian's population has been growing dramatically in recent years. Over the five years through 2014, the city's population growth rate of 28.0% was more than four times the nationwide population growth of 6.5%.

With this publicity, the growth rate of 28.0% will probably go higher.

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Oops. Should have posted in the "Boise area" sub-forum. Mod, please move. Thank you.

[Disciple1975]

Time to start buying real estate in Meridian I guess. It's about the only positive I can see from the publicity.

Sorry Boise area folks.

[sierra don]

Saw that this morning and thought Idahoans are not gonna be happy about this.....

[VandalsLOL]

It's not like this is really going to spike the numbers any more than the 2,345 other publications listing Boise (and its surrounds) as a "Best Place" to move. Moreover, the realities of life here prohibit people from simply uprooting and coming like the lemmings the magazines expect to be (let alone the pure fact these "best of" lists are bought and paid for by various economic bureaus). Most people still have to work.

Must be something about double digit growth that people moving into Boise and Meridian love; ironically, it is this sort of growth that is causing them to move from wherever they are moving. Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

[Syringaloid]

I prefer living in the city (Boise), but can see the appeal people have towards Meridian. It is a small town that has grown into a large "suburb" of Boise. It's attractive out there, of course tidy and clean, great shopping, and they are attempting to rejuvinate the original downtown which does have some historic architecture.

[VandalsLOL]

Downtown Meridian is pretty neat; its just very small and for us Boiseans, no real reason to go out that way, I guess. I find the rest of Meridian pretty unremarkable, but I generally agree with Syringaloid's sentiments.

[Pooks1976]

I can see a lot of people liking Meridian. It is kind of "anywhere USA." You have generally the same stuff and stores as you would have in any major suburb in America. That can be familiar and comforting to people making a large move. I find that I have to go to Meridian a good bit for shopping. Also many of the job openings I see are in Meridian. I would have moved up that way, except DD already liked her school and the traffic seem heavy.

[Disciple1975]

At least they didn't give this dishonor to Sandpoint.

[volosong]

Originally Posted by Disciple1975

At least they didn't give this dishonor to Sandpoint.

I went to the USA Today's source article at '24/7 Wall Street' and took a quick gander at the fifty cities on their list, (hoping to see some NID cities). It didn't take long to notice that all the cities listed had populations more that 100,000. Going to their methodology page, they constrain the list to cities more than 65k. And then, just the top city in a county.

So, no NID cities listed. That's good in a way. No promotion/publicity, less immigration/relocation.

[ScottStielow]

Originally Posted by volosong

I went to the USA Today's source article at '24/7 Wall Street' and took a quick gander at the fifty cities on their list, (hoping to see some NID cities). It didn't take long to notice that all the cities listed had populations more that 100,000. Going to their methodology page, they constrain the list to cities more than 65k. And then, just the top city in a county.

So, no NID cities listed. That's good in a way. No promotion/publicity, less immigration/relocation.

That is the way i like it also. The town with no publicity, and less immigration/relocation.
Scott