The Census just came out with 2015 demographic numbers for all places with at least 65,000 people. Given that half the decade is over, it’s a good point to look at where Columbus stands relative to its national/Midwest peers in a foreign-born comparison. A few days ago, I gave numbers for GDP. In the next few posts, I will look at the people that make up the populations of these places.
First up, let’s take a look at foreign-born populations. I have looked at this topic some in the past, but I have never done a full-scale comparison for this topic.
Total Foreign-Born Population Rank by City 2000, 2010 and 2015 2000—————————————-2010———————————-2015 1. Chicago, IL: 628,903———–1. Chicago: 557,674—————1. Chicago: 573,463 2. San Jose, CA: 329,750——–2. San Jose: 366,194————-2. San Jose: 401,493 3. San Antonio, TX: 133,675—-3. San Antonio: 192,741———-3. San Antonio: 208,046 4. Austin, TX: 109,006————4. Austin: 148,431——————4. Austin: 181,686 5. Las Vegas, NV: 90,656——-5. Las Vegas: 130,503————-5. Charlotte: 128,897 6. Sacramento, CA: 82,616—–6. Chalotte: 106,047—————6. Las Vegas: 127,609 7. Portland, OR: 68,976———7. Sacramento: 96,105————-7. Sacramento: 112,579 8. Charlotte, NC: 59,849——–8. Columbus: 86,663—————-8. Columbus: 101,129 9. Minneapolis, MN: 55,475—–9. Portland: 83,026—————–9. Nashville: 88,193 10. Columbus: 47,713———–10. Indianapolis: 74,407———–10. Portland: 86,041 11. Milwaukee, WI: 46,122—–11. Nashville: 73,327—————11. Indianapolis: 72,456 12. Detroit, MI: 45,541———–12. Minneapolis: 57,846———–12. Minneapolis: 70,769 13. Providence, RI: 43,947—–13. Milwaukee: 57,222————-13. Milwaukee: 58,321 14. Nashville, TN: 38,936——-14. Providence: 52,926————14. Providence: 53,532 15. Indianapolis, IN: 36,067—-15. Orlando: 43,747—————-15. Orlando: 50,558 16. Virginia Beach, VA: 28,276–16. Virginia Beach: 40,756—–16. Omaha: 48,263 17. Orlando, FL: 26,741———17. Omaha: 39,288—————–17. Detroit: 39,861 18. Omaha, NE: 25,687———18. Kansas City: 35,532———18. Virginia Beach: 38,360 19. Kansas City, MO: 25,632—19. Detroit: 34,307—————-19. Kansas City: 37,787 20. Cleveland: 21,372————20. St. Louis: 23,011————–20. Pittsburgh: 28,187 21. Grand Rapids, MI: 20,814–21. Pittsburgh: 18,698————21. St. Louis: 21,802 22. St Louis, MO: 19,542——-22. Cleveland: 17,739————-22. Grand Rapids: 19,176 23. Pittsburgh, PA: 18,874—–23. Grand Rapids: 16,615——–23. Cleveland: 18,830 24. Cincinnati: 12,461———–24. Cincinnati: 16,531————-24. Cincinnati: 16,896 25. Toledo: 9,475—————–25. Toledo: 11,559—————–25. Akron: 10,024 26. Akron: 6,911——————26. Akron: 8,524——————–26. Toledo: 9,257 27. Dayton: 3,245—————-27. Dayton: 5,102——————-27. Dayton: 7,381 28. Youngstown: 1,605———28. Youngstown: 3,695————28. Youngstown: 1,058
Here’s the 2000-2015 total change.
And the 2000-2015 change by %.
So Columbus has an above average total and growth compared to its peers nationally.
What the numbers suggest is that Columbus was performing at a middle-mediocre level in the first half of the 2001-2015 period, and has generally been performing significantly better in the latter half. In Ohio, Columbus is poised to become Ohio’s largest metro economy over the next few years.
Over the years, there have been endless claims about how the Columbus economy is dominated by jobs related to state government and OSU. These claims are usually made from other Ohioans complaining that Columbus has an unfair advantage and is mooching public dollars from the rest of the state to prop up the economy.
Let’s first address two points made: 1. That the number of government jobs is far above what they are in all other major Ohio cities, and 2. That overall, government jobs are becoming a larger slice of the metro economy.
The first claim is easy to look into. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, produces numbers every single month on job industry numbers by metro area. The most recent numbers are from June 2016. Here are the total government jobs for Ohio’s largest cities. Columbus: 162,600 Cleveland: 138,800 Cincinnati: 124,200 Dayton: 62,300 Toledo: 44,800 Akron: 40,600
So as to the first claim, that the total of government jobs in Columbus is higher than the other cities, that is true. As the state capital, this is no surprise. However, how dependent on government jobs is Columbus really versus those other cities? To find out, you have to divide government jobs by all total jobs within the metro. In June 2016, here was the percentage of the total.
Interestingly enough, Columbus is not the top government-dependent city. That spot goes to Dayton.
Now onto the 2nd claim- that Columbus is increasingly reliant on those government jobs. Let’s look at the % of total jobs that government jobs made up going back to 1990. The figures are for June of each year given.
So it does not appear that Columbus has become more or less dependent on government jobs over the last 26 years. Indeed, if there is any pattern at all, it appears that during economic downturns, the number of government jobs increase, and during periods of stability/recovery, government jobs decline. The early 1990s and late 2000s had high levels of governments jobs, both periods of recession. In June 2016, nearly 85% of the local economy was not government-related, not statistically much different than other Ohio cities.
Finally, let’s look at how total government jobs have changed since the beginning of this decade, 2010, by Ohio city. The figures are for June 2010 and June 2016.
So that brings us to the actual makeup of the Columbus metro economy. What are the industries that most people work for? What are the industries that have the greatest % of the total jobs? Let’s compare June 1990 and June 2016.
1990 Trade/Transportation/Utilities: 20.51% Government: 17.97% Manufacturing: 13.49% Professional and Business Services: 11.46% Health and Education: 9.41% Leisure and Hospitality: 8.63% Financial Activities: 8.26% Mining/Logging/Construction: 4.30% Other Services: 3.46% Information: 2.51%
2016 Trade/Transportation/Utilities: 18.37% Professional and Business Services: 17.11% Government: 15.30% Health and Education: 14.43% Leisure and Hospitality: 10.89% Financial Activities: 7.63% Manufacturing: 6.84% Other Services: 4.10% Mining/Logging/Construction: 3.75% Information: 1.57%
If anything, Columbus’ economy is actually more diverse in 2016 than it was in 1990, not less.
The Random Columbus Photos 4 edition takes a look back at Downtown in the 1980s.
Date Photo Taken: 1989 Photo Location: Looking west on Broad Street from LeVeque Tower. This photo is interesting for a few reasons. First, it shows the beginning of construction to replace the Broad Street Bridge over the Scioto River. After the Great Flood of 1913 destroyed an earlier Broad Street Bridge, the one in the photo was finished in 1921. By the early 1980s, the bridge was rapidly deteriorating and the decision was made to replace it. It’s reconstruction start, however, was delayed until 1988 due to a contract to keep the Columbus 500 auto race going, which used the bridge. The nearly identical new bridge was completed in 1992 at a cost of $13.2 million. Across the bridge is the Scioto Peninsula. On the right is Vets Memorial, built in the 1950s and recently demolished to make way for a new memorial and museum as part of the redevelopment of the peninsula. On the left is the old Central High School, years before it was converted into COSI’s new location. Also of note are warehouse and other buildings that still existed on the peninsula, remnants of when this area was largely manufacturing. These were mostly demolished in the 1990s and early 2000s and were left as vacant lots for well over a decade, some of them becoming parking lots for COSI. These lots will soon become part of a large mixed-use development and park.
