2025 Compare Cities Cost of Living:
Meridian, ID vs Lake Forest, CA

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Highlights
Is it cheaper to live in Lake Forest or is it cheaper to live in Meridian?
- Lake Forest is 37.9% more expensive than Meridian.

Which city has more affordable housing, Lake Forest or Meridian?
- Lake Forest housing costs are 73.3% more expensive than Meridian housing costs.

Is Health Care more affordable in Meridian or is Health Care more affordable in Lake Forest.
- Health related expenses are 6.9% less in Lake Forest.
 Meridian, IDLake Forest, CAUnited States
 Overall  Unlock164.9100
 Food & Groceries94.0  Unlock100
 Health  Unlock93.4100
 Housing173.1  Unlock100
 Median Home Cost  Unlock$937,500$338,100
 Utilities90  Unlock100
 Transportation  Unlock111.6100
 Miscellaneous94.7  Unlock100
100 = National Average (Below 100 means cheaper than the US average. Above 100 means more expensive.)
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Reviews for Meridian    18 Reviews

Over 6 years ago

New to the area and so far we think it's a great place to live compared to Denver, where we moved from. Quality of life is so much better here! A lot less traffic than  More

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I have been here since 2013 and have watched child after child be diagnosed with Cancer. Many of the children have been diagnosed with "rare" Cancers. It has been  More

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Over 7 years ago

It has changed a lot over the years... Crime rates are still low and people are overall still nice HOWEVER way too many people are moving to my wonderful town! All the  More

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Reviews for Lake Forest    16 Reviews

I've lived in Lake Forest for over a decade, before that elsewhere in OC and also up in LA. Lake Forest isn't perfect but it's really improved over the past decade,  More

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As a retired senior who has lived in Lake Forest (formerly El Toro) since 1977 I think LF is a great place if you can afford it. When we moved here in June '77 homes  More

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I’ve lived here for 2 years. Ok, it’s more like a 4 but there are so many idiots downplaying what it’s like here and giving Lake Forest ones and twos. There are a lot of  More

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