Living in Meridian Idaho - Boise’s Best Suburb

Are you thinking about moving to the Treasure Valley and Meridian is on your list? We're going to cover everything you need to know about Living in Meridian, Idaho.

There are really some fantastic reasons why people love living here. For instance, it is so centrally located. You're just 20 minutes to almost any of the other cities in the Treasure Valley, 20 minutes to Boise, 20 minutes to Nampa, 20 minutes to Eagle, 20 minutes to Kuna or less depending on where you are in the city. That is certainly a huge reason why people live in Meridian along with a lot of others.

The Village

We're starting with shopping, and there's a reason for that because The Village really is the absolutely premier shopping center in all of Treasure Valley. When this was built right around 2005, it put Meridian on the map and it's an incredible outdoor shopping mall that has all kinds of boutique shops, as well as some of the bigger box shops as well.

It has these really cool streets that wind through it. There's a playground for the kids. There's an ice rink in the winter time. There's water fountains and just really awesome restaurants and things to do for the family. People come here from all over Treasure Valley, not just people from Meridian, people from Nampa, Boise, Kuna and Eagle, all come to the Village.

When the Village was built, it put Meridian on the map and that's when the explosion of population growth and building really ramped up as more and more people were moving to Idaho. And that's really what started up the Meridian building craze.

That's what I'm starting with the Village and it even has Lululemon. If you're coming from California, then you may like Lululemon. I like Lululemon, I wear it all the time. And the Trader Joe's is actually right around the corner from here as well.

Types of Homes in Meridian

Another reason people love Meridian is for the homes as well. This is why people absolutely love living here. There are gorgeous, beautiful homes, a lot of these were built again around the time of the Village would in place some before in the 1990s, of course you used to have homes still in the 1970s on larger lots. But a lot of the homes were built in the 2000s-2010s. And so these neighborhoods are much more established.

They're not brand new construction. There's not a whole lot of new construction in Meridian, as far as central or north Meridian. A little bit more in south. However, because these neighborhoods are more established, you have tree-lined streets. And it doesn't feel like a new neighborhood.

New construction is great, but it does feel like you're in a new neighborhood. The trees aren't growing up yet. A lot of people really love this cause they just move in. There's already tons of families there, new construction. You might be the only family on the block for a while, depending on how new that new construction subdivision is.

It's already an established neighborhood with tons of schools with lots of infrastructure here, more well-designed for vehicle traffic. There's tons of parks already built here as well. The infrastructure is already in place. And that is an issue with the Treasure Valley in general is that the infrastructure just wasn't quite there for all the influx of people that have been moving into the Treasure Valley.

Areas like Nampa, those have less infrastructure in place. And so that can be a bit of an issue as far as potentially traffic and that kind of things. Depending on where you're at in Meridian, you still can get a lot of traffic, especially on Eagle Road, as you're heading up into Eagle. A lot of people that live in Meridian and an Eagle really hate that road because it really, really backs up.

Main Areas of Meridian (North, Central, South) 

Essentially you have North Meridian, Central Meridian and South Meridian.

South Meridian is going to be South of I-84, Central Meridian is going to be between I-84 and Ustick. And then North Meridian is between Ustick and Chinden. And then just above that, and you get an Eagle.

Central Meridian is certainly the most centrally located part of Meridian in the whole Treasure Valley. Super convenient to get anywhere within Meridian and around the Treasure Valley.

The Village is here as well. This is where everyone's coming to, and you've also got the Trader Joe's, like I mentioned here as well. There's only two Trader Joe's in the Treasure Valley, one here in Meridian, the other one over in Boise.

Again, a Central Meridian is located between I-84 and Ustick. And there are a couple of really great parks here in Central Meridian. One is Kleiner Park. It has walking trails, huge grassy fields that you can play volleyball on in the springtime and summertime.

And it also has huge playground. It also has a pond that you can fish on as well. There's also Settlers Park. Settlers park is right on the border of Central Meridian and North Meridian. And it also has a massive, massive grassy field baseball fields, tennis courts, a huge playground, and a splash pad as well. And it also has a pond for fishing as well.

A lot of the homes in Central Meridian are going to be, have been built in the early 1990s and 2000s-2010s as well. And these are awesome, beautiful homes, a lot of 4 bedroom and 5 bedrooms, very established neighborhoods with tree lined streets.

And a lot of these subdivisions have their own communities, parks pools within them as well. That is absolutely awesome about so many of the subdivisions here in Meridian as are so many amenities included in the neighborhood that you're living in.

North Meridian is between Ustick and Chinden. It's going to be closer to Eagle if you're looking to be closer to the foothills and the hiking opportunities that you have in Eagle, as far as hiking and mountain biking and that kind of thing around the foothills.

That's going to be a little bit closer. There's also going to be a lot of homes in these area that are also built in the early 2000s-2010s. And these are also going to be much more established neighborhoods as well. You're going to find some older homes as well, built in the 1990s or even before in the 1970s.

And you will start finding more homes on larger lots out here that are older homes. Any newer home is certainly going to be built on smaller lots, generally 7,000 to 10,000 square feet. And the homes are going to range in size anywhere from about 1,800 up to 3,000 square feet.

There is the Costco here in Meridian, and there's only three Costco’s in the Treasure Valley, and that is Nampa, Meridian and Boise. If you're looking to be near the Costco, then this is the place to be.

Even though it's mostly built out, of course, there are still a lot of green spaces available, not necessarily for building, some of them are of course, but there's still a lot of green space and something to keep in mind too, as you're in Meridian, that if you're doing any sort of outdoor activities, Boise and Eagle, they have the Boise River Greenbelt that runs through, and it has lots of hiking opportunities, foothills, that kind of thing.

You can do a lot of trail running or running along the river in Meridian is mostly going to be running along the spike, sidewalks along roads or left along irrigation canal pathways as well.

North Meridian is also home to the Spurwing Golf Course, and there are homes that rim the golf course as well. These are going to be large custom homes. They're going to range in price from $1.5million to $5 million.

Most of the homes in Meridian, these are going to range anywhere from about $500 up to about a $1 million, depending on where you're at in Meridian and the amenities at that specific home has to offer.

Then we head into South Meridian again. South Meridian is a south of I-84. This is going to be the quieter part of Meridian. You're still going to have a little bit more farmland out here. It is still being built out a bit. You're going to have a mix of tract homes as well as custom homes on large lots.

Those are going to certainly be much more pricier than the tract homes, but again, this is going to be a quieter part of Meridian. A lot more 2-lane roads versus the 4-lane roads that you typically see in Central and North Meridian.

South Meridian is also home to Wahooz Family Entertainment Center and Roaring Springs Waterpark. And what's really cool is TopGolf is coming to Central Meridian soon as well.

Also for all of you that are moving from California, Arizona, wherever you might find In-N-Out, they did sign a contract recently to open a store in Meridian, but it's still going to be awhile, probably not till 2025 when that goes in.

Schools in Meridian

As far as schools in Meridian is certainly one of the top rated school districts and is home to the West Ada School District. It has 9 high schools and 9 elementary schools and 30 elementary schools, all a mix of public charter and magnet schools.

There's also a lot of private schools here in reading as well. It's also home to Ambrose, which is a classical education based a Christian school that a lot of folks really like to send their kids to, to prepare their kids for college.

Things to Do in Meridian

As far as things to do in Meridian, there are so many parks here. There are actually 20 city parks that you can find with playgrounds and splash pads and grassy fields, walking trails, pawns. I mentioned a couple of the big ones earlier: Settlers Park and Kleiner Park. There's also a Wahooz like I mentioned, a family entertainment center and Roaring Springs, which is a fantastic water park as well.

There's also the Meridian Speedway and there's a community pool here in Meridian as well. And as far as golfing in Meridian, you have Lakeview, Spurwing and Touchmark well.

That is an overview of Meridian, Idaho in beautiful Treasure Valley.

Curtis Chism, Realtor
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boise@chismteam.com 
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