Columbus

United States of America COUNTRY

2,424,831 CITY POPULATION

City Council GOVERNMENT TYPE

Introduction

Columbus is the state capital and the most populous city in the US State of Ohio. With a population of 892,533 as of 2018 estimates, it is the 14th-most populous city in the United States and one of the fastest-growing large cities in the nation. Columbus is the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, Illinois. It is the core city of the Columbus, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses ten counties.

With a population of 2,106,541, it is Ohio's second-largest metropolitan area. Columbus is the county seat of Franklin County. The city has a diverse economy based on education, government, insurance, banking, defence, aviation, food, clothes, logistics, steel, energy, medical research, health care, hospitality, retail, and technology. As of 2018, the city has the headquarters of five corporations in the US Fortune 500 companies

Data and Facts

GDP of Columbus in 2016 was $131 billion.

Forty-eight percent of Americans live within 600 miles of Columbus. Major cities like Atlanta, Chicago, and New York City are less than a day’s drive away.

Columbus is an incubator for fast food empires. The very first Wendy’s restaurant opened on East Broad Street in November 1969. Today, the franchise is headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus.

Burger chain White Castle was founded in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921, but has been based in Columbus since 1933.

Famous Columbusites include R.L. Stine, author of the bestselling Goosebumps novels, and celebrity chef Guy Fieri.

Administration

The city is administered by a mayor and a seven-member unicameral council elected in two classes every two years to four-year terms at large. Columbus is the largest city in the United States that elects its city council at large as opposed to districts. The people elect the auditor, municipal court clerk, municipal court judges, and city attorney. As Ohio's capital, Columbus hosts numerous federal, state, and city government offices and courts.

Franklin County operates the Franklin County Government Center, a complex at the southern end of downtown Columbus. Near City Hall, 77 North Front St. holds Columbus's city attorney office, income-tax division, public safety, human resources, civil service, and purchasing departments.

Economy

Columbus has a generally strong and diverse economy based on education, insurance, banking, fashion, defence, aviation, food, logistics, steel, energy, medical research, health care, hospitality, retail, and technology. In 2010, it was one of the 10 best big cities in the country, according to Relocate America, a real estate research firm. MarketWatch ranked Columbus and its metro area as the No. 7 best place in the country to operate a business in 2008.

In 2012, Forbes Magazine ranked the city as the best city for working moms. In 2007, the city was ranked No. Columbus was ranked as the seventh strongest economy in the United States in 2006, and the best in Ohio, according to Policom Corp. Louis, the GDP of Columbus in 2016 was $131 billion.

During the recession beginning in late 2007, Columbus's economy was not impacted as much as the rest of the country, due to decades of diversification by long-time corporate residents, business leaders, and political leaders. Because Columbus is the state capital, there is a large government presence in the city. Including city, county, state, and federal employers, government jobs provide the largest single source of employment within Columbus. In 2019, the city had five corporations named to the US Fortune 500 list.

Business Environment

Columbus is the best city in Ohio to start a business, according to a new ranking, but that doesn't amount to much nationally. 1 in Ohio in WalletHub's Best Large Cities to Start a Business, but only No. WalletHub looked at 18 factors in three categories and Columbus got its worst score for the business environment, which looked at things such as startups per capita, the growth in small businesses, the five-year business survival rate and the variety of industries here. The Columbus area ranked 16th among 40 large cities.

With a highly-diversified base of companies operating alongside top universities within Ohio’s capital, the Columbus Region offers a stable environment for companies looking to grow in a variety of sectors.

The longtime home of global brands such as Honda and Victoria’s Secret paves a path in manufacturing and retail, and next-generation technology companies are stepping out in industries such as cybersecurity, e-commerce and IT.

Infrastructure

Locations of numbered streets and avenues

The city's street plan originates downtown and extends into the old-growth neighborhoods, following a grid pattern with the intersection of High Street and Broad Street at its center. Even-numbered addresses are on the north and east sides of streets, putting odd addresses on the south and west sides of streets. This street numbering system does not hold true over a large area. The area served by numbered avenues runs from about Marble Cliff to South Linden to the Airport, and the area served by numbered streets covers Downtown and nearby neighborhoods to the east and south, with only a few exceptions.

There are quite a few intersections between numbered streets and avenues. Furthermore, named streets and avenues can have any orientation. For example, while all of the numbered avenues run east–west, perpendicular to High Street, many named, non-numbered avenues run north–south, parallel to High.

Highways

Columbus is bisected by two major Interstate Highways, Interstate 70 running east–west, and Interstate 71 running north to roughly southwest. The Interstate 270 Outerbelt encircles most of the city, while the newly redesigned Innerbelt consists of the Interstate 670 spur on the north side , State Route 315 on the west side, the I-70/71 split on the south side, and I-71 on the east. Due to its central location within Ohio and abundance of outbound roadways, nearly all of the state's destinations are within a 2 or 3 hour drive of Columbus.

Bridges

The Columbus riverfront hosts several bridges. The 700 ft Main Street Bridge opened on July 30, 2010. The Rich Street Bridge opened in July 2012 adjacent to the Main Street Bridge, connecting Rich Street on the east side of the river with Town Street on the west. The Lane Avenue Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge that opened on November 14, 2003, in the University District.

Mass transit

Columbus maintains a widespread municipal bus service called the Central Ohio Transit Authority . Columbus does not have passenger rail service. The city's major train station, Union Station, that was a stop along Amtrak's National Limited train service until 1977 was razed in 1979, and the Greater Columbus Convention Center now stands in its place. Louis Railroad.

As the city lacks local, commuter, or intercity trains, Columbus is now the largest city and metropolitan area in the U. The Ohio Hub project, created in 2009, proposed a high-speed rail service connecting Columbus with Cincinnati and to a proposed hub in Cleveland and onward to the east.

Cycling network

The city has put forth the 2012 Bicentennial Bikeways Plan as well as a move toward a Complete Streets policy. All this activity occurs despite Columbus's frequently inclement weather. The Main Street Bridge, opened in 2010, features a dedicated bike and pedestrian lane separated from traffic. The city has its own public bicycle system.

Technology

From a billion-dollar unicorn startup solving one of healthcare’s biggest problems to a leading global financial service firm’s innovation lab keeping your account convenient and secure, companies count on the Columbus Region and its workforce for their technology operations.

As employers around the world report challenges in finding IT talent, KLG Advisors determined the Columbus Region to be the top U.S. metro for IT staffing potential. The ranking is based on concentration of IT talent, growth of IT labor force, and university and college output.

And New Geography reported that the “critical fuel of tech growth—educated labor—is expanding faster in places like Columbus than in Boston, San Jose and San Francisco.”

Social Wellness and Human Resources

The Columbus Metropolitan Library has served central Ohio residents since 1873. With a collection of 3 million items, the system has 22 locations throughout the area. This library is one of the country's most-used library systems and is consistently among the top-ranked large city libraries according to «Hennen's American Public Library Ratings.» CML was rated the No. 1 library system in the nation in 1999, 2005, and 2008. It has been in the top four every year since 1999 when the rankings were first published in American Libraries magazine, often challenging up-state neighbor Cuyahoga County Public Library for the top spot.

Annual events include an arts festival, the state fair, and Oktoberfest. Olentangy Indian Caverns, just north of the city, has caves once used by Iroquoian-speaking peoples.

During the Statehouse's 22 year construction, seven architects were employed. The Statehouse was opened to the legislature and the public in 1857 and completed in 1861. It is at the intersection of Broad and High Streets in downtown Columbus.

Established in 1848, Green Lawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in the Midwestern United States.

Within the Driving Park heritage district lies the original home of Eddie Rickenbacker, the World War I fighter pilot ace. Built-in 1895, the house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

Some museums in the city include the Central Ohio Fire Museum, Pizzuti Collection, and James Thurber House downtown.

Columbus is the home of many performing arts institutions including the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Opera Columbus, BalletMet Columbus, the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, CATCO, Columbus Children's Theatre, Shadowbox Cabaret, and the Columbus Jazz Orchestra.