Twenty years ago, it was fair to call Meridian a bedroom community, a suburb where people live but not where most of them work.
In 2002, the city was home to just over 23,000 working people, but fewer than 3,800 of them stayed to work. The other 84% commuted to jobs elsewhere, mainly in Boise.
But things are changing, according to newly released data from the Idaho Department of Labor and the U.S. Census Bureau. As growth in the region has pushed west and commercial development has accelerated beyond Boise, Idaho’s second-largest city has added jobs, boosted wages and caught the eye of employers eager to set up shop in a central location and cut their workers’ commute times…