Meridian, Mississippi
Employer Industry type Employees
NAS Meridian Military 3,000
Rush Health Systems Healthcare 2,465
Anderson Regional Health System Healthcare 1,343
Mississippi Air National Guard Military 1,200
Meridian Public School District Education 1,000
East Mississippi State Hospital Healthcare 943
Lauderdale County School District Education 938
Walmart Retail 695
City of Meridian Government 530
iQor Customer Service 420
Alliance Health Center Healthcare 350
Meridian Community College Education 325
Avery Dennison Manufacturing 250
Peavey Electronics Manufacturing 250
Van Zyverden , Inc Flower Bulb Distribution 250
Structural Steel Services Manufacturing 236
Atlas Roofing Manufacturing 220
Newell Paper Wholesale 215
Lockheed Martin Manufacturing 200
Tower Automotive Automotive 200
Economy
Meridian is the seventh largest city in the state of Mississippi, United States. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County and the principal city of the Meridian, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area. Along major highways, the city is 93 mi (150 km) east of Jackson, Mississippi; 154 mi (248 km) southwest of Birmingham, Alabama; 202 mi (325 km) northeast of New Orleans, Louisiana; and 231 mi (372 km) southeast of Memphis, Tennessee. Established in 1860, at the junction of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and Southern Railway of Mississippi, Meridian built an economy based on the railways and goods transported on them, and it became a strategic trading center. During the American Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman burned much of the city to the ground in the Battle of Meridian (February 1864). Rebuilt after the war, the city entered a Golden Age. It became the largest city in Mississippi between 1890 and 1930, and a leading center for manufacturing in the South, with 44 trains arriving and departing daily. Union Station, built in 1906, is now a multi-modal center, with access to Amtrak and Greyhound Buses averaging 242,360 passengers per year. Although the economy slowed with the decline of the railroad industry, the city has diversified, with healthcare, military, and manufacturing employing the most people in 2010. The population within the city limits, according to 2008 census estimates, is 38,232, but a population of 232,900 in a 45-mile (72 km) radius and 526,500 in a 65-mile (105 km) radius, of which 104,600 and 234,200 people respectively are in the labor force, feeds the economy of the city. The area is served by two military facilities, Naval Air Station Meridian and Key Field, which employ over 4,000 people. NAS Meridian is home to the Regional Counter-Drug Training Academy (RCTA) and the first local Department of Homeland Security in the state.