These 11 Idaho Hometowns Named Best Small Cities in America

No matter which part of the state you live in, chances are you’re watching cities in your area transform with new restaurants, businesses and neighborhoods. Sometimes it feels like they just pop up overnight.

Watching that growth is why this news likely won’t surprise you. A new study just ranked the “Best Small Cities in America.” Not only did Idaho perform very well on the list, one Idaho city was sitting pretty close to the top of the list in one very important category.

READ MORE: Idaho's Snobbiest Cities - See the Top 15 Rankings

For their new list, WalletHub claimed to have selected 1,318 small to mid-sized cities across the nation and compared them across five major categories: affordability, economic health, education and health, quality of life, and safety.

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While it feels really weird to call Meridian a “small city,” it landed in the 95th percentile, which means that it’s performing better than 95% of similarly sized cities. Not too bad for Boise’s little sister that absolutely no one has heard of unless they’ve lived in Idaho or visited family here.

Why Did Meridian Rank So High?

Overall, Meridian ranked #70 with a total score of 66.26. But here’s where things get really interesting. When it came to the economic health category that included factors like population, income and job growth, unemployment rates, debt to median earnings, and credit scores, Meridian ranked #4 in the entire country.

That’s a reflection of what we’ve seen over the last few years. Businesses want to be in Meridian. That goes for places like Top Golf, Scheels, and In-N-Out Burger that chose Meridian as the place for their first Idaho locations, as well as other well-known brands that have chosen to expand their reach into all the development along Ten Mile. For example, Target’s looking at the District at Ten Mile as a possibility for its next Treasure Valley location.

With new businesses come new job opportunities, and that’s why Meridian is thriving on this list.

Idaho Cities Shine in the Rankings

Meridian was far from the only Idaho city that showed up on WalletHub’s list. Below is how ever Idaho city on the list ranked.

Rexburg’s ranking is largely made up of its #1 ranking in the crime category. That means the city had low rates of violent crime, property crime, motor vehicle crash deaths, pedestrian fatalities, and alcohol-impaired driving fatalities.

• Meridian — Percentile: 95 | Score: 66.26
• Eagle — Percentile: 84 | Score: 63.63
• Coeur d'Alene — Percentile: 81 | Score: 63.01
• Moscow — Percentile: 73 | Score: 61.54
• Rexburg — Percentile: 73 | Score: 61.42
• Post Falls — Percentile: 72 | Score: 61.40
• Idaho Falls — Percentile: 63 | Score: 59.80
• Nampa — Percentile: 60 | Score: 59.33
• Pocatello — Percentile: 48 | Score: 57.44
• Lewiston — Percentile: 47 | Score: 57.40
• Caldwell — Percentile: 47 | Score: 57.33