Columbus, Ohio at a Glance
Often overshadowed by more prominent cities, Columbus, Ohio is a treasure hiding in plain sight. This Midwest metropolis on the Scioto River has long been a retail mecca, with brands like the Gap and Abercrombie & Fitch calling Columbus home and headquarters. But the economic portfolio of Columbus is as diverse as its cultural one, so you can make a career in medicine, fintech or insurance in this popular capital city.
Now with nearly a million residents and counting, Columbus is the 14th-largest city in the nation, and it’s grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade. Families love the diverse attractions, from Clippers games to the Zoo and Aquarium and COSI, the Center of Science & Industry. The city’s numerous colleges keep the city youthful and vibrant, especially The Ohio State University, which is practically a city unto itself (go Buckeyes!) And, Columbus’ welcoming atmosphere has earned it an LGBTQIA+-friendly reputation — more than 700,000 people participated in the 2023 Stonewall Pride Parade, now in its fourth decade.
With a thriving economy, a low cost of living, and four true Midwestern seasons — watch out for intense summers and winters — there are hundreds of reasons to move to Columbus. Learn more about the city below, including our pro-tips on how to move to Columbus.
15 Reasons Ohio – the 14th-Largest City Might Just Be Your Next New Home
- Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams started here. (Do you really need 14 other reasons to move to Columbus?)
- Columbus has affordable real estate and gorgeous, historic brick architecture.
- It’s a college town. Columbus is the home of The Ohio State University. Never forget the the.
- Ohio has the nation’s 7th-largest state economy.
- Columbus has recreated a painting by Georges Seurat…in topiary!
- It’s nerdy in a good way. There are 32 rooms of books in the Book Loft of German Village, and the annual Ohioana Book Festival is crawling with bookworms.
- Pancake balls. See Katalina’s for details.
- It has a pro-volleyball team! The Columbus Fury joins the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Columbus Crew SC on the pro-scene in 2024.
- The historic Lincoln Theatre. This gorgeous, historic performance space is a jazz landmark and national treasure. Plus, its rooftop Wine Wednesdays in the summer are the only place we want to be.
- Its public art: the giant Slingshot, the lounging deer, the bulging biceps of an eight-foot-tall Arnold Schwarzenegger. So many larger-than-life wonders!
- Relatedly: the Arnold Sports Festival. Feats of strength and body-sculpting are on full, unbridled display at this perspirational ode to the Terminator. Plus, the festival’s Medieval Fighting competition involves 14th-16th-century weapons and armor. BYO pole axes.
- The Columbus Park of Roses. It has more specimens than Portland’s International Rose Test Garden.
- Columbus is the host of the 2024 U.S. Chess National Elementary School Championship. Meet the kids who are already smart enough to run the world…but may still need a little help making a PB&J.
- Buckeyes. The Division I sports team, the tasty cookie and the native Ohio buckeye tree are all causes for celebration in this city.
- Midwest is best! Don’t listen to those coastal snoots as they’re flying over you.
Columbus’s Job Market is Growing
It may surprise you to learn that the middle of middle America is a bastion of fashion design, but some of the world’s biggest brands are based here: Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, DSW and even Victoria’s Secret make their HQs in Columbus. Because its diverse population closely mirrors the demographics of the U.S., Columbus has long been known “Test Market USA,” a place where retail experiments come to fly or die.
But fashion isn’t the only thing driving capital in this capital city. With the 7th-largest state economy in the U.S., Columbus’ nonfarm labor market has 1.2 million workers, and trade, transportation and utilities; professional and business services; and education and health services dominate the commercial sector. Some of the biggest employers outside the aforementioned fashion retailers include JP Morgan Chase, Nationwide, CardinalHealth, Honda, DHL, Bath&BodyWorks and Huntington — all Fortune 1000s — making Columbus a leader in everything from at-home facials to fintech.
Although unemployment has been on the rise, Columbus’ rate sat at 4% in March. And Columbus has a ready workforce, eager to enter the job market for the first time. With its 60,000 undergraduates, Ohio State University is the largest college in the area and one of the largest in the nation, drawing students from every single county in the state and from regions all across the world.
Columbus’s Cost of Living is Low
Like many Midwestern cities, Columbus enjoys a low cost of living, and housing, food and transportation prices all fall significantly below the national average, here.
The median home value in Columbus, OH is just $212,500 — $70,000 less than the average American will spend on residential real estate — and the median gross rent is just over $1,100/month.
But wages are also lower in Columbus, with workers making $1.31 less an hour than their U.S. counterparts and households bringing home only $62,994, compared to the U.S. median of $75,149. This affects workers across the career spectrum, from higher wage-earners like mechanical engineers, to real estate agents and registered nurses.
It Has Beautiful Historic Neighborhoods and Homes
So, where are some of the best places to live in this city with a low cost of living? There are lots of places we’d love to live, but here are three of our favorite neighborhoods in Columbus, OH.
Just beyond the high-rises and high-energy downtown scene lies the distinctly different vibe of German Village. This laid-back, creative area will woo you with its warm, brick buildings and walkways, where you’ll find dozens of great restaurants, bars and boutiques. The high walkability of the area is one of its central charms, from the walk-up window at Jeni’s to the piled-high sandwiches at Katzinger’s Delicatessen to the houseplant shop, Stump. Coffee bars like Stauf’s entice with their single-origin roasts like the Ethiopia Moka Harrar and their aromatic Bai Mu Dan white teas. But there’s no better place to hang out in German Village than the Book Loft. The nerdiest nook in Columbus, you’ll love getting lost in this pre-Civil War building and will come out with your arms full of literary goodies. Housing in this historic district is certainly on the spendy side, but these spacious brick and clapboard townhomes ooze enchantment.
Similarly alluring, Victorian Village lives up to its name with its colorful Queen Annes and its artsy vibes. Bookended by Goodale Park to the south and Thompson Park to the north, this trendy neighborhood is equidistant from downtown and OSU. One of the city’s favorite restaurants — Brassica — has a location tucked into the Short North area at the southern tip of this neighborhood, and whenever you need a Mediterranean fix, just make a beeline here.
The sprawling Olde Town East and Near East Side neighborhoods are filled with eclectic shops and destinations. This lively, in-town district anchored by the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens draws hungry crowds to the East Market, where they line up for Winston’s famous waffles, NOLA-inspired snowballs and gluten-free vegan donuts from Monster Baby. On the OTE’s western edge, you can visit the Kelton House Museum & Garden, an important stop on the Underground Railroad. Real estate in this area runs from modest to pricey, with cozy bungalows, elegant multi-families and impressive estates. There’s a good mix of old and new here, so if you like the look of old houses but not the maintenance, you might be able to score a contemporary townhouse across from an old beauty and have the best of both worlds.
Note: If you’re planning to move to Columbus, it’s important to thoroughly research the neighborhoods and areas in the city you might be interested in living. Before you decide where you are going to reside, make sure you understand the neighborhood’s cost of living, commute time, tax rates, safety statistics and schooling information.
The City Offers Tons of Recreation Activities
Columbus often flies well below the national cultural radar, which is a shame, because this is a city with some serious spark.
The arts are just one of the areas where this capital city shines, both outdoors and in. Janet Echelman’s magical public sculpture, Current, commissioned by the Columbus Museum of Art (CMOA), weaves the city together through the air above Gay Street. At the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University, Hope Ginsburg creates an immersive, meditative installation that brings the world below the surface of the seas to landlocked Columbus. In the summertime, the Columbus Arts Festival draws tens of thousands to the downtown riverfront. And, let’s not forget the talented students at OSU and Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD), whose end-of-year exhibitions are always impressive.
If the Midwest knows how to do anything categorically well it’s state fairs, and the Ohio State Fair is no exception. This annual exposition of agricultural and culinary achievement isn’t just a gingham-printed festival of yore. This is a 12-day, must-see-and-be-seen extravaganza that has been going strong since 1850. Ice Cube is headlining the 2024 event, and in between beats you can visit the Butter Cow, raise your chainsaws for your favorite lumberjack duking it out in the carving competition, see the daredevilry of the nerve-wracking Nocks in their 80-foot Giant Sway Pole Show and — best/most metaphorical of all — watch the Ohio state legislature compete in the Pork Off, where senators and reps test their grip strength, their gumption and their guts in a hog-holding face-off in the swine barn. Check your politics and your egos at the door, lawmakers.
But after the deep-fried pleasures have dispersed, you realize it’s the everyday attractions in Columbus that make it such a stellar place to live. The downtown riverfront is graced with 175 acres of greenspace along the Scioto Mile, where you can bike, stroll and splash to your urban heart’s content. Neighborhood haunts like Schiller Park, with its beloved “Umbrella Girl” statue, Topiary Park, with its recreation of Seruat’s Sunday Afternoon, and Scioto Audubon Metro Park, with its free, 35-ft. climbing wall, make it easy to escape into nature without ever leaving city grounds.
Indoors, the exploration continues at venues like COSI — the Center of Science and Industry — where kids can explore everything from the wreckage of the Titanic to the meaning of color. One of the highlights of COSI is their Motion Simulator capsule, which is not for the carsick at heart. Hop into this lime green machine and embark on a journey through time and space. If you dislike the idea of confined capsules but like the idea of immersion, visit Otherworld, a trippy, mixed-reality experience created by more than 40 artists and 200,000 LEDS.
This capital city has lots of attractions for history buffs, too, from the National Veterans Memorial and Museum to the Ohio History Museum and the Ohio Railway Museum, where you can even ride their Pullman passenger car.
But, if you just want a little splurge, head to Easton. After all, you are living in one of the retail capitals of America, so why not enjoy it? Easton has over 250 places to shop, dine and be entertained — including a LEGOLAND and a two-story arcade — making it an easy crowd-pleaser, even with a cranky crew.
It’s a Mecca for Sports Enthusiasts
Columbus may not have all the pro-sports, but it does have all the home team spirit. There may not be pro-football or basketball, but college sports are king, here, and minor-league teams like the Columbus Clippers bring some big games to Huntington Stadium.
There is pro-hockey in Columbus, and there are no more devoted fans in the NHL than there are for the Columbus Blue Jackets, even if they suffered some stinging losses in the 2023-24 season.
2024 also ushered in a new sports era for the city with the arrival of pro volleyball. Watch for the Columbus Fury to burn up the courts at PVF games this year.
Soccer enthusiasts may remember that the Columbus Crew SC was a part of the league’s original 10 clubs, and in this team’s 30-year history, they’ve won two MLS Cups, most recently in 2020.
Big Ten fans will rejoice in knowing that the Ohio State Buckeyes have joined the conference, and their home season opener is scheduled for August 31 against new rival Southern Mississippi.
The city has also played host to numerous other competitions, from the 2024 DIII Women’s Basketball Championship to the 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships to the Major League Pickleball Championship of 2022. Our ears are still ringing from that one.
Columbus’s Food Scene is Thriving
Columbus has been busy making a name for itself in the restaurant biz since way back in 1886, when Schmidt’s Sausage House was founded. And whether you’re hungry for some seriously old-timey German indulgences like their Hunter Schnitzel and spätzle or you’re looking to be spoiled with the six-course tasting menu at Agni, Columbus has a menu for every mood.
If you’re just in need of an alibi, head to the speakeasy of the same name in Columbus’ Short North district. Alibi’s famous no-tell, prohibition-style elixirs are no secret in town, but that doesn’t make their cheeky concoctions any less delish. Order the berry-forward Situationship when you just don’t want to get into it, and order an herby, bittered, rye Trouble Maker when you do.
The best cure for your unfortunate hangover is breakfast at Katalina’s. This creative establishment in a revamped filling station fuels the city with “peace, love, and pancake balls,” but we love them for their Mean Green Vegan Machine Sammy that’s made with smoked avocados, and their crazy-good breakfast tacos with house-made chorizo.
It seems every city is trying to show off its distinct style of pizza these days, and the Columbus is no outlier. Their pies, which aim for the goldilocks zone between cracker-thin and NYC-chewy, are topped like there’s no tomorrow. Sliced into grids instead of wedges, Columbus-style pizza is a minimally crustless variety that successfully sued Pizza Hut for pizza infringement when they debuted “The Edge.” Whether you enjoy your slice litigiously or just smothered in pepperoni is up to you. Try the pies at Massey’s or Tommy’s for an old-school slice.
Just across High Street from German Village, Columbus’ Brewery District leans hard into its hoppy heritage, keeping the state capital on the U.S. map of great craft beer cities. Dozens of sudsy establishments like Plank’s Bier Garten and the Daily Growler line the streets, so it’s easy to get lose yourself in a Little Fish Balaclava in the wintertime or throw back one of Ache’s Orange Creamsicle Sours when the temps heat up in the summer.
Speaking of frozen treats, one of America’s favorites was born right here in Columbus — Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. You can still visit the original location in the North Market, though founder Jeni Britton may not be scooping your darkest chocolate. The market is a great destination any day of the week, really, where you can get your favorite foods from around the world, from Flavors of India to Somali cuisine at Hoyo’s Kitchen and Moroccan specialties at Tajine.
Columbus, Ohio, offers a compelling blend of opportunity, diversity, and community, which makes it an ideal destination for individuals and families seeking a vibrant and fulfilling lifestyle. So why wait? Discover the charm of this capital city. When you’re ready to make Columbus your next place to call home, let Mayflower® help get you there.
Tips for Moving to Columbus, Ohio
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Learn more about the Buckeye State in our Moving Guide to Ohio, and check out other popular places to move in the U.S. in our state guides and city guides
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